[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.She was wearing a black silk skirt, and as she crossed her legs and faced me, her hemline rose to mid-thigh, a very sexy and shapely thigh.“Did you really beat up Mr.Delgado?”“Yes.”“I defended him once on an assault charge.He was collecting from a man, when the man’s two friends objected, soon after that, the man and his friends were treated for serious injuries at the local ER.Mr.Delgado would not have been an easy man to beat.” Tori reached over and squeezed my biceps.“You must be very strong.”I sent her an ‘aw shucks’ shrug as I said.“My strength is as the strength of ten because my heart is pure.”She leaned back in her seat, a surprised look lighting her beautiful face.“My my, poetry, I guess we’re not all brawn after all.”I sat quietly.She wasn’t done yet and I thought I’d let her get to it in her own time.“How old are you Johnny?”“I’m nineteen,”She shook her head.“So young, so much energy and staying power, so much to learn… and be taught,”“I think you told Felicia you had questions for me?”“Yes, after you take her home, could you be back here by five?”“I could, but why would I?”She smiled at me brilliantly.“I leave work at five.”“Thanks, but no thanks,”She suddenly looked bewildered.“What?”“Nothing personal, but Felicia and I are serious.”“I’m sure she’s a yummy snack, but I’m offering you a gourmet meal.”I laughed in her face then.I shouldn’t have, but I did.She turned a variety of red and got up to stand at the window with her back to me.Tori was silent for a few moments, then, she took a deep breath and a swipe at her eyes before turning around and asking me a question.“That quote, what poem is it from, do you know?”“Sir Galahad,”She gave a slight shrug.“Is it just something you’ve memorized?”“Sir Galahad was written by Lord Alfred Tennyson in 1834; Galahad was a knight of King Arthur’s round table and also reputed to be the son of Sir Lancelot.Tennyson later revised the poem in 1842 by cutting a stanza, something about Galahad’s invincibility, but I don’t recall it verbatim right now, sorry.”That bought me a smile.“I take it you read a lot?”“I prefer it to TV,”Tori retook the seat behind her desk.“What are you reading now?”“Anna Karenina, among others,”Tori gave a little laugh.“That’s my favorite book.”We sat gazing across the desk at each other in silence.A moment later, there came a knock at the door.Tori reached to a corner of her desk and pressed a button to unlock the door, and then Felicia was escorted into the room by her assistant, and retook her seat.Tori spent the next few minutes being a very businesslike lawyer with Felicia, while making it a point not to look in my direction.As we were leaving, she called out my name.“I enjoyed our chat, well, most of it.”“It was nice meeting you Ms.Jameson.”“And you as well Mr.Faron,”* * *In the elevator, Felicia was full of questions.“Why did she want to talk to you alone? And why was the door locked when I came back? She came on to you didn’t she?”“She flirted some,”“I knew it! I could tell by the way she was looking at you.”Once we were in the car, the questioning continued.“Did you think she was beautiful?”I laughed.“Baby, that woman is nearly in your league, but I have no interest in her.I love you, period.”“She was beautiful, elegant even; I guess I was a little jealous.”“Then we’re even, I didn’t like the attention you were getting from David the other day.”She grinned.“He was handsome.I’ve only seen men who look like him in the movies.”I had just placed the car in gear, but now I shut off the engine and stared at her.“When you move to New York State we won’t be seeing each other as much, Westchester County is a fair distance away.”“I was thinking about that Johnny, why don’t you move to New York too? You’re the best mechanic around; you could get a job there easy.”I made a helpless gesture.“My grandfather, he’s spry for his age, but I can’t leave him alone.”She looked as if she were about to cry.“You’re right.It’s just that I’ll hardly ever see you.”“I’ll see you every weekend and in less than two years you’ll be eighteen and can live where you want.We’ll get through this baby.”She gave me a playful punch in the stomach.“Stay away from women who look like Tori Jameson; I don’t want you tempted.”I kissed her.“God hasn’t made the woman that could tempt me from you.”* * *We arrived at the Thorne Estate on a drizzly Saturday afternoon.I was driving an old Mustang that I had tinkered with, and as I calculated the distance to gas ratio, I was pleased to see that I had barely used a quarter of a tank.Before my altering of the carburetor and fuel pump, the trip would have eaten up well over half a tank.I had been obsessed for years with finding a way to increase gas mileage and at last it looked like I might be on to something [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]