ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT? (Running Wild) Read Free Page A

right? You’ll be gettin’ paid to have a good time, if you see what I mean?" He laughed. "Maybe we could split expenses on this one?”
    Bull. Work was work. Writing was hard work, sex or no sex. Harry trailed down the hall after Sadie and tamped down his irritation. “A writer's gotta stay detached if the story's gonna be any good, Oscar; you know that. And in order to do a good job, I’ve gotta put in the time.” He tried to sound reasonable, but his impatience came across anyway.
    “Daddy, I can't get these off.” Sadie sounded frantic, and Harry tugged at her striped tights, but it was a two-handed job. Why were little girls’ tights so damned tight? Why was Sadie such a nutcase about what she wore? She’d had these red-and-blue horizontally striped circus things on for three days now, and even by his relaxed standards, they needed to go in the laundry.
    "How about I call you back on this, Oscar?”
    “Can’t be done. See, I’m goin’ down to San Diego on a two-week golfing holiday, leavin’ today. I want this in the bag before I walk out of here. Let's see, I guess we’ll agree to reimburse you.” He named a figure that in Harry’s estimation was low, but still more than he’d expected Sullivan to cough up.
    “Just see you don’t go getting addicted to this phone sex stuff, okay, Harry?” Sullivan laughed again as Harry finally managed to get the tights unglued and peeled down.
    “Sure, Oscar. And what about the finished piece? How much?"
    Again, Sullivan surprised him by naming a figure that was well above what Harry had expected. The editor was obviously thinking of this as a lead story, maybe even a cover item, which might give Harry a little bargaining power. He thought of the negative balance in his checking account, mentally crossed his fingers, and talked fast.
    “How about I do some research during the next couple weeks, write you out a general outline of what I figure the story could be, and if it's all that you expected, you pay me half the article fee at that point?”
    There was a longer silence than before, and then Sullivan sighed. “You know that ain’t the way it goes, but okay, Harry. What the hell, I know you'll do a decent job."
    Harry’s spirits soared as he hung up and reached out to plop his daughter on the throne. She scowled at him and pointed an imperious finger at the door. “Go ’way, Daddy. I can do it my own self.”
    He grinned and shook his head at her contrariness. “Okay, button. Call me when you’re done.”
    The bathroom was off the kitchen, and he went over to the coffeemaker and poured himself a fresh cup while he waited for Sadie’s summons. He sipped and absently scratched his face, which was itchy because he hadn’t shaved in three days.
    A few weeks before, he’d watched a program about stay-at-home moms on the Women's Television Network, about women who pursued their high-powered careers from home while they raised a family. One of them, a former fashion model turned graphic designer, warned that the first thing to go was personal grooming.
    Harry had wanted to call in to the program to confirm how right she was. In his former life as an advertising executive, he wouldn’t have dreamed of starting a day without shaving. He would never have worn sweatpants that sagged at the knee and bagged at the ass. But that was before Sadie. Kids changed a guy, all right.
    He leaned on the counter that held the grisly remains of last night's supper as well as this morning’s breakfast and contemplated his life and the timeliness of this new assignment.
    The transmission was going on his old Chevy. His laptop was five years old, and he had nightmares of the hard drive crashing. Three years ago he’d cashed in most of his retirement savings to make the down payment on this house, so Sadie would grow up in a real home, in a family neighborhood. Financially, he was barely making it, which should keep him awake nights but didn’t.
    The truth was, he was happier