Holding Hands Read Free Page B

to leave work a little early.”
    “ I can’t cancel my office
hours just because you decided on a whim that you wanted to go to
Cape Cod. What do you even know about this place?”
    “ It’s owned by a friend of
Diane’s,” she said, wondering whether young, accommodating Caitlin
was planning to visit his office during those Friday afternoon
office hours. “I gather it’s kind of rustic. It’ll be fun. An
adventure.”
    “ What are you going to do
with the dog?” he asked. “Bring him along?”
    “ I’ll ask a neighbor to look
after him. Or maybe Diane can take him for the weekend.”
    Scott exhaled. He looked pained as he
regarded the food on his dinner plate: a mound of last night’s
stir-fry, a few forkfuls of salmon, a chunk of rib-eye steak.
    Maybe this getaway plan was as poorly planned
as the meal. Just a last-minute idea: toss something out and hope
it works. Like a Hail-Mary pass in one of Scott’s beloved football
games.
    “ We really need to do this,
Scott,” she said. “We—”
    The phone rang.
    Rolling her eyes, she pushed away from the
table and lifted the receiver. “Hi, honey, it’s Mom,” her mother
said.
    “ I can’t talk right now,”
Meredith told her, glancing at the table. Scott dug into his food,
but he didn’t appear to be enjoying it much.
    “ I just wanted to tell you,
Charlie said he’d love to meet you. I was thinking maybe you could
come over next weekend. This weekend is no good—we’re going on a
trip to the casino down in Connecticut on Saturday, and Sunday is
Evelyn’s eightieth birthday party. I told you her kids are planning
a big thing, catered and everything, right? I bought her this cute
little vase. She loves dust-collectors. Don’t ask me why, but she
does.”
    “ That’s nice, Mom, and I’d
like to meet Charlie, too. But next weekend is no good for me.
Scott and I are going away.” She eyed Scott as she said this. He
shot her a lethal look, then shook his head and resumed eating. “I
really can’t talk,” she said again. “I’ll call you back later,
okay?”
    “ Okay. Do you think I did
the right thing getting that vase for Evelyn? It’s pretty, but
maybe she’s already got enough dust-collectors.”
    “ I’ll call you back,”
Meredith said firmly, then hung up. She moved back to the table,
slumped in her chair and stared at Scott. “Do you really not want
to go away with me?” she asked, unable to disguise the quiver in
her voice. Suddenly she was not just worried about the state of her
marriage. She was scared. Maybe he was having an affair with Caitlin. Or
some other student. Or a whole bunch of them. Why else would he be
so angry about this trip?
    “ It’s not that I don’t want
to go away with you,” he said, his tone thick with forced patience.
“But you made this plan without even asking me. The start of the
term is a crazy time. I’m teaching three classes and an independent
study this semester, I’m working on the new book, I’m supposed to
present a paper at the APSA conference, I’ve got a shitload of
proposals to review for the governor, and you go and book a weekend
getaway. You should have checked with me first.”
    “ If I had, you would have
said no.”
    His gaze met hers. She remembered the first
night she’d met him, at that noisy, crowded frat party. She
remembered the thumping music, the floor sticky with spilled beer,
the throngs dancing and shrieking and drinking...and the tall,
dark-haired boy who’d magically materialized in front of her and
smiled. His eyes had riveted her then, and they riveted her now,
even thought they were shimmering with anger.
    “ I would have said no,” he
agreed.
    So much for spontaneity. “Well, I’ve already
paid for the cabin,” she informed him. “If you don’t want to go
with me, I’ll take Skippy.” Or she’d pass the reservation along to
her mother and Charlie. They could spend the weekend in a cozy,
romantic cabin, holding hands. Or whatever.
    She dropped her