Read Online When It All Comes Down to Dust (Phoenix Noir Book 3) by Barry Graham - Free Book Online
Authors: Barry Graham
Ads: Link
clothes,” he said.
“Too bad. I was enjoying the view.”
“The feeling’s mutual. You can always stay naked.”
“Sure.”
He went to the bedroom and came back wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Laura sat perched on the counter, still naked, and watched as he added some eggs to the pan, put two bagels in the toaster oven and brewed coffee. When the food was ready and they were about to sit down at the kitchen table, Laura said, “Okay, this isn’t fair. I need to get dressed...”
“Nope. How about this for a plan?” He pulled off the T-shirt, then the shorts, dropped them on the floor and took a seat at the table.
“I like your idea better,” Laura said.
––––––––
I t was another two hours before she left. It didn’t take them long to eat breakfast, but they went back to bed, as both of them had known they would, and it was as good as it had been before. As Laura drove home, her hair still damp from the shower that she and David had taken together, she thought about what he’d said as they were toweling each other dry.
“Something I feel like I should probably tell you — remember all the stuff I told you about my mom and dad and how I left San Antone?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“Well, usually when I do that it’s a technique...”
“What?”
“Don’t get pissed yet. Listen, okay? Usually, when I want information from somebody, I tell them something about me. Just a little bit, a little bit of personal stuff, and it makes them feel like I’m their friend. They think we’re sharing something. And after that, they’ll tell me everything I want to know. Sometimes I won’t even have to ask them, it just spills out because they think we’re intimate.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I tried to do that with you last night, but I didn’t have to, because you told me what I wanted to know anyway. And after you’d done that, I still told you my damn life story. Hell, I never do that. Most of my friends don’t know as much about me as I told you last night.”
“Why did you tell me?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what that was about. I don’t know what it means, except it means I really want to see you again.”
“You will. Since your article’s probably made me unemployable, we’re going to dinner someplace nice, and you’re paying.”
He laughed. “That seems fair.”
Now, as she got on 202 and headed for Tempe, she tried to get her head around everything that had happened since she’d left her apartment the night before. Twelve hours ago, she’d considered herself David Regier’s sworn enemy. Now it looked like she was dating him. What the hell, maybe I’ll start hanging out with Frank once they spring him...
She was almost shocked to find herself having a sense of humor about Frank’s parole. She couldn’t believe how good a mood she was in, compared with the state of her life.
Tubby Franklin began meowing indignantly before she even put her key in the door. As soon she was inside the apartment, he ran to his food bowl and stood beside it, glaring balefully at her.
“Oh, shut your stripy face. You’re a cat. You can’t tell the time. You don’t actually know your breakfast’s late...” But the guilt trip was working on her. She gave him some wet food along with the dry.
There was a new message on her answering machine. “Hi, Laura, this is Todd at Keating Accounting. Please give me a call at...”
She knew she had the job. She was still going to make David pick up the tab for as much sushi as she could keep down.
THREE
––––––––
F rank recognized nothing. The weight of the sunlight was the same as it had been, and the dryness of the air, but everything else seemed new. Twenty years ago Phoenix was a town, a town that everybody said had a future, a town that was growing. But it was still a town.
Now it was something else, and Frank couldn’t name what it was. The papers called it a city, and that seemed right,
“Too bad. I was enjoying the view.”
“The feeling’s mutual. You can always stay naked.”
“Sure.”
He went to the bedroom and came back wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Laura sat perched on the counter, still naked, and watched as he added some eggs to the pan, put two bagels in the toaster oven and brewed coffee. When the food was ready and they were about to sit down at the kitchen table, Laura said, “Okay, this isn’t fair. I need to get dressed...”
“Nope. How about this for a plan?” He pulled off the T-shirt, then the shorts, dropped them on the floor and took a seat at the table.
“I like your idea better,” Laura said.
––––––––
I t was another two hours before she left. It didn’t take them long to eat breakfast, but they went back to bed, as both of them had known they would, and it was as good as it had been before. As Laura drove home, her hair still damp from the shower that she and David had taken together, she thought about what he’d said as they were toweling each other dry.
“Something I feel like I should probably tell you — remember all the stuff I told you about my mom and dad and how I left San Antone?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“Well, usually when I do that it’s a technique...”
“What?”
“Don’t get pissed yet. Listen, okay? Usually, when I want information from somebody, I tell them something about me. Just a little bit, a little bit of personal stuff, and it makes them feel like I’m their friend. They think we’re sharing something. And after that, they’ll tell me everything I want to know. Sometimes I won’t even have to ask them, it just spills out because they think we’re intimate.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I tried to do that with you last night, but I didn’t have to, because you told me what I wanted to know anyway. And after you’d done that, I still told you my damn life story. Hell, I never do that. Most of my friends don’t know as much about me as I told you last night.”
“Why did you tell me?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what that was about. I don’t know what it means, except it means I really want to see you again.”
“You will. Since your article’s probably made me unemployable, we’re going to dinner someplace nice, and you’re paying.”
He laughed. “That seems fair.”
Now, as she got on 202 and headed for Tempe, she tried to get her head around everything that had happened since she’d left her apartment the night before. Twelve hours ago, she’d considered herself David Regier’s sworn enemy. Now it looked like she was dating him. What the hell, maybe I’ll start hanging out with Frank once they spring him...
She was almost shocked to find herself having a sense of humor about Frank’s parole. She couldn’t believe how good a mood she was in, compared with the state of her life.
Tubby Franklin began meowing indignantly before she even put her key in the door. As soon she was inside the apartment, he ran to his food bowl and stood beside it, glaring balefully at her.
“Oh, shut your stripy face. You’re a cat. You can’t tell the time. You don’t actually know your breakfast’s late...” But the guilt trip was working on her. She gave him some wet food along with the dry.
There was a new message on her answering machine. “Hi, Laura, this is Todd at Keating Accounting. Please give me a call at...”
She knew she had the job. She was still going to make David pick up the tab for as much sushi as she could keep down.
THREE
––––––––
F rank recognized nothing. The weight of the sunlight was the same as it had been, and the dryness of the air, but everything else seemed new. Twenty years ago Phoenix was a town, a town that everybody said had a future, a town that was growing. But it was still a town.
Now it was something else, and Frank couldn’t name what it was. The papers called it a city, and that seemed right,
Similar Books
