The Private Lives of Pippa Lee Read Free Page B

It’s no favor to him.’
    â€˜Of course he knows if he’s ever really in trouble …’
    â€˜He has me.’ Dot hugged Pippa and left.
    Ben bit into an apple. ‘What were you right about?’
    â€˜I have no idea,’ said Pippa. ‘She said her son was half-baked, and I said sometimes you have to accept things the way they are.’
    â€˜Well, she left satisfied, anyway.’
    â€˜Half-baked?’ said Herb, who had come in when he heard Ben’s voice. ‘Is that code for half-wit?’
    Pippa took a blood pressure cuff from a drawer, Velcroed it onto Herb’s arm, and started pumping it up. Ben stood to read the dial with her.
    â€˜Since when are you two on the staff of Mount Sinai?’ asked Herb. ‘Don’t get mad,’ said Pippa. ‘Your blood pressure goes up.’
    â€˜How about if I hang myself?’ said Herb with a grim smile. ‘What happens then?’
    â€˜A little appreciation for your ministering angel, Dad,’ said Ben in a jocular, warning tone. Herb slid the local paper across the table, scanned the front page, grimacing. He hated having his blood pressure taken in front of people, even the kids. Pippa could feel his petulance rise up in her like a tide. She should have waited till Ben had gone. Shit, she thought. Oh, well. She poured Ben a bowl of Grape-Nuts cereal and listened to the swift animal crunch his teeth made when he ate it, the same crunch they had made when he was five. She loved that sound. ‘Oh, by the way,’ Ben said. ‘Stephanie brought a cat home from the pound.’
    â€˜Another one!’ she exclaimed, laughing. Ben’s girlfriend couldn’t resist lame animals. She was a dear, earnest person. Pippa was sure they would produce a fine family, as long as Ben didn’t get distracted by someone more exciting. But he didn’t seem to crave thrills, strangely enough.
    Ben stood up. ‘Back to the salt mines,’ he said.
    â€˜Are you still working on that same paper?’ she asked.
    He nodded, pushing his glasses back up his nub nose. ‘The paper that ate Ben Lee.’
    â€˜You’re just thorough,’ Pippa said.
    â€˜I actually think I might be onto something,’ he said.
    â€˜Isn’t that great,’ she said, beaming. As she walked him out to his car, he put his arm around her.
    â€˜Mom,’ he said. ‘Come to the city next week and we can have lunch. Or dinner. You can stay over.’
    â€˜We’re having lunch with Grace on Wednesday.’
    â€˜Oh. Right. If you want to get together another time, call me, okay?’
    â€˜I will,’ she said. ‘Of course I will. Stop worrying about me, will you?’
    â€˜I just want you to have a little fun,’ he said.
    After Ben drove off, Pippa stood quietly staring after him. The list, which had rolled by under Dot a couple of times while she was talking, came into full view now: cheese … dry cleaning … plant fertilizer …
    It was only three minutes to the mini-mall. Pippa drove over, picked up all the things she needed at the grocery store, dropped off the dry cleaning, then eased herself back onto the searing car seat and started creeping through the parking lot. She was in terror of mowing over one of the aged people, dressed in pink and pistachio, their tanned faces collapsed, shriveled skin coming away from knees and elbows.
    *
    The relentless buzzing of a lawn mower dragged Pippa from a black sleep like a body from a river. As she opened her eyes, she felt a dull pain in her temples. She wanted water, and coffee. Sitting up in the bed, she glanced at Herb. As a rule she tried not to look at him when he was sleeping. Eyes shut tight, mouth slack, he looked like an ancient, fragile old man. She turned away and stood. She knew that when his icy blue eyes, with their conquering stare, opened, she would feel reassured again. She loved this man so much. It was a