Read Online Deadly Rich by Edward Stewart - Free Book Online Page B

times a week. We’re in computer-science class together. Big deal.” Her tone was playful but with something really there beneath the playfulness. “He was returning my call. I phoned him because I had a question about iterative programs.”
    “ What programs?”
    “Yeah. That’s why I needed help.”
    Cardozo went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to find something to drink.
    “Your dinner’s behind the lemonade,” Terri called.
    He moved the pitcher of fresh lemonade and found dinner for one, cold chicken and potato salad, neatly covered in Saran Wrap. “How much does he help you?” he called.
    “You don’t need to shout, I’m here.” She was standing in the doorway. “Josh helps me a lot.”
    “Sounds like you’re going with him.”
    “I’m not going with anyone.”
    “That wouldn’t be a white lie to keep your old man from worrying?”
    “Why should I worry about you worrying? You never worry.”
    “I’m just good at fooling you.”
    “Besides, there’s nothing to worry about.” She watched as he poured a glass of lemonade and slid the pitcher back into the refrigerator. “Aren’t you going to eat your dinner?”
    “Maybe later. Right now I’m just thirsty.”
    “You should eat. Otherwise you’ll wake up in the middle of the night.”
    “You’re not changing the subject, are you?”
    “Why would I change the subject?”
    “Because you might be going with someone and not telling me.”
    She gave him a long glance, and from across the room Cardozo opened the windowshades of all five senses, trying to catch the vibration that was suddenly coming off her.
    “Don’t look at me like that,” he said. “It happens, you know. Sometimes kids don’t tell their parents.”
    “I’m not a kid.”
    “That’s why I’m asking.”
    “No, Dad, you’re asking because you think I’m still a kid.”
    The glass of lemonade stopped halfway to his mouth. “Okay, you’re not still a kid, that means I can’t ask about your life anymore? Because I’ll tell you something. You could be a grown woman, you could be an old woman—as long as I’m around I’m going to be interested in what’s happening to you.”
    “I want you to be interested. I’m glad you ask.”
    He drained the glass in two gulps. “I’d be glad if you’d answer.”
    “I’m trying to answer.”
    “Try harder. Tell me how much you’re seeing of this guy.”
    “Not a lot.”
    “Maybe I will have that chicken.” He took the platter from the refrigerator to the kitchen table. He went back for a jar of mayonnaise and a jar of pickles. “Then you are seeing him. A little.”
    “Right.” She shrugged. “A little.”
    “Not a lot.”
    “No, Dad, not a lot.” She brought a place setting to the table. “We haven’t reached that stage.”
    “I don’t need the fork. I’m going to eat with my fingers.”
    “You’re not going to eat potato salad with your fingers.”
    “I’m not going to eat potato salad. Then tell me, you’re planning to reach that stage?”
    “Planning doesn’t come into it. I’m not planning, I’m not not planning.”
    He pulled out the chair and sat. He spread a knife-load of mayonnaise on the chicken breast. “Sounds like you wouldn’t mind if you reached that stage.”
    “How do I know?”
    “Come on, you’re, an intelligent kid.” He ground a generous layer of pepper over the mayonnaise. “How can you not know?”
    “I’m sorry, Dad. There, are things I don’t know till they happen. I may think about them, I may think I want them to happen, but till they do I don’t know.”
    Are we talking about sex ? he wondered. “Then you want it to happen with this kid, this Josh.”
    “Do I want what to happen?”
    He picked up the breast in both hands and took a bite. “You want to reach that stage, is what I’m saying.”
    “What stage?”
    He felt he was trying to ride a tricycle on a tightrope. “Have you reached that stage with anyone?”
    “What