Read Online A Fine Line by William G. Tapply - Free Book Online Page B

nodded. “You told me that Mr. Duffy . . .”
    “Yes. Walt died.”
    She frowned and nodded. “Are you okay?”
    I shrugged. “Not really.” I wanted to tell her that Walt had apparently been murdered, but Detective Mendoza had instructed me not to. It was hard to keep any kind of secret from Evie.
    She put her arm around my waist and laid her cheek against my shoulder. “I’m so sorry,” she said.
    I turned and kissed the top of her head. “Shit happens, I guess.”
    “That it does,” she said. “So what’s with the dog?”
    “How’d you like to adopt a loving, well-behaved Brittany for a few days?”
    “You’ve got to be kidding.”
    “No. I’m serious. Henry would love it here, with all your tame mallards for entertainment. Brittanies are excellent bird dogs, you know.”
    “Brady, for heaven’s sake, I can’t take care of a dog.”
    “You can take care of a dog better than I can,” I said. “At least you live on the first floor, and you’re out here in the country, practically. If Henry shits on the lawn, nobody will even notice with all the duck and goose turds around. Me, I live on the sixth floor in the middle of the damned city. No place for an outdoorsy dog like Henry. So it seems to me . . .”
    Evie grinned and shook her head.
    “I don’t get it,” I said. “Nobody wants him. He’s a great dog. It would probably only be for a few days. Until Ethan shows up.”
    “Ethan?”
    “Walt’s son.”
    “Where’s Ethan?”
    “I don’t know. That’s another story. Right now, I’ve got to figure out what to do with Henry. He’s taken over my life.”
    “So put him in a kennel.”
    I looked down at Henry, who was sitting there on Evie’s stoop looking up at us. “I can’t do that. He’d hate it in a kennel.”
    “Well,” said Evie, “bring him inside, anyway. It looks to me like you brought us some wine. Let’s open one of those bottles, let it breathe for a few minutes, then have some.”
    “I also brought dog food.”
    “So we’ll feed the dog, too. Come on.”
    We went in. Henry wandered through the downstairs, sniffing the furniture, then lay down in the middle of the living-room carpet where he could keep an eye on things.
    I went upstairs to Evie’s bedroom, where I kept a few changes of clothes, and got out of my suit. When I got back to the kitchen, Evie had one of the wine bottles uncorked, and Henry was eating from a mixing bowl.
    “You fed him,” I said.
    “Yes. And I’m going to feed you pretty soon, too. But first, you strike me as a man who could use a nice, soothing massage.”
    An hour later Evie and I were lying naked under the sheets in her bed sipping wine. Henry had followed us upstairs to the bedroom. He was asleep on the floor by the door.
    “I was thinking,” said Evie.
    “Oh, oh,” I said.
    “I was thinking maybe it’s time you moved. Find someplace where you can keep a dog. You love dogs. You’ve been in that place in the city ever since you got divorced. You keep saying it’s temporary, and it’s been, what, ten years?”
    “Eleven,” I said.
    “So what are you waiting for?”
    “I don’t know. It’s inertia, that’s all. I have no reason to move. I mean, it would be one thing if you and I were going to move in together, but . . .”
    “We’ve talked about that,” she said. “It would put too much pressure on us. Neither of us is ready. We agreed on that, remember?”
    “Speak for yourself.”
    She sat up and frowned at me. “What are you trying to say, Brady?”
    I shrugged. “When I’m not with you, I miss you. When—when bad things happen, I feel like I need you to be withme. Talking on the phone is great, but it’s not the same thing.”
    She nodded. “I feel that way, too.”
    “So maybe we should think about it some more.”
    “Living together?”
    I nodded.
    She lay back and gazed up at the ceiling.
    After a minute, I said, “What are you thinking?”
    “I’m trying to imagine it,” she said