They're talking about Mrs. B.!
"Why does she keep goats? I think she told Mary-Lynnette it would help since she couldn't get out that much anymore."
"How strange," the guy said. He had a lazy, careless-sounding voice. "I wonder what she meant bythat."
Mary-Lynnette, who was now peering intently through the kitchen while keeping absolutely still,saw Claudine give one of her slight, charming shrugs.
"I suppose she meant the milk-every day she has fresh milk now. She doesn't have to go to the store. But I don't know. You'll have to ask her yourself." She laughed.
-252Not going to be easy, Mary-Lynnette thought. Now, why would some strange guy be here asking questions about Mrs. B.?
Of course. He had to be police or something. FBI.But his voice made her wonder. He sounded too young to be either, unless he was planning to infiltrate Dewitt High as a narc. Mary-Lynnette edgedfarther into the kitchen, getting a better view.There-she could see him in the mirror.
Disappointment coursed through her.
Definitely not old enough to be FBI. And much asMary-Lynnette wanted him to be a keen-eyed, quick witted, hard-driving detective, he wasn't. He was only the handsomest boy she'd ever seen in her life.
He was lanky and elegant, with long legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed under the coffee table. He looked like a big amiable cat. He had deancut features, slightly tilted wicked eyes, and a disarming lazy grin.
Not just lazy, Mary-Lynnette decided. Fatuous. Bland. Maybe even stupid. She wasn't impressed by good looks unless they were the thin, brown, and interesting kind, like-well, like Jeremy Lovett for instance. Gorgeous guys-guys who looked like bigash-blond cats-didn't have any reason to develop their minds. They were self-absorbed and vain. With IQs barely high enough to keep a seat warm.
And this guy looked as if he couldn't get awake orserious to save his life.
I don't care what he's here for. Ithink I'll go upstairs.
it was then that the guy on the couch lifted onehand, wiggling the fingers in the air. He half-turned. Not far enough actually to look at Mary-Lynnette,but far enough to make it dear he was talking to somebody behind him. She could now see his profilein the mirror. "Hi, there."
"Mary-Lynnette, is that you?" Claudine called.
"Yes." Mary-Lynnette opened the refrigerator doorand made banging noises. "Just getting some juice. Then I'm going out."
Her heard was beating hard-with embarrassmentand annoyance. Okay, so he must have seen her in the mirror. He probably thought she was staring at him because of the way he looked. He probably had people staring at him everywhere he went. So what, big deal, go away.
"Don't go yet," Claudine called. "Come out here and talk for a few minutes."
No. Mary-Lynnette knew it was a childish and stupid reaction, but she couldn't help it. She banged a bottle of apricot juice against a bottle of Calistoga sparkling water.
"Come meet Mrs. Burdock's nephew," Claudine called.
Mary-Lynnette went still.
She stood in the cold air of the refrigerator, lookingsightlessly at the temperature dial in the back. Then she put the bottle of apricot juice down. She twisted a Coke out of a six-pack without seeing it.
What nephew? I don't remember hearing about any nephew.
But then, she'd never heard much about Mrs. B.'s nieces either, not until they were coming out. Mrs. B.
just didn't talk about her familymuch.
So he's her nephew. . . that's why he's askingabout her. But does he know? Ishe in on it with those girls?
Or is he after them? Or .. .
Thoroughly confused, she walked into the living room.
"Mary-Lynnette, this is Ash. He's here to visit withhis aunt and his sisters," Claudine said. "Ash, this isMary-Lynnette. The one who's such good friends with your aunt."
Ash gotup, all in one lovely, lazy motion. Just like a cat, including the stretch in the middle. "Hi."
He offered a hand. Mary-Lynnette touched it withfingers damp and cold from the Coke can, glanced up at his face, and said "Hi."
Except that it didn't happen that way.
If happened like this: Mary-Lynnette had her eyeson the carpet as she came in, which gave her a good view of his Nike tennis shoes and the ripped kneesof his jeans. When he stood up she looked at his T-shirt, which had an obscure design-a black floweron a white background. Probably the emblem of some rock group. And then when his hand entered her field of vision, she reached for it automatically, muttering a greeting and looking up at his face justas she touched it. And This was the part that was hard to describe.
Contact.
Somethinghappened.
Hey, don't I know you?
She didn't. That was the thing. She didn't know him-but she felt that she should. She also felt as if somebody had reached inside her and touched herspine with a live electric wire. It was extremely not enjoyable. The room turned vaguely pink. Her throat swelled and she could feel her heart beating there.
Also not-enjoyable. But somehow when you put it alltogether, it made a kind of trembly dizziness like ...
Like what she felt when she looked at the Lagoon Nebula. Or imagined galaxies gathered into dusters and superclusters, bigger and bigger, until size lost any meaning and she felt herself falling.
She was falling now. She couldn't see anything except his eyes. And those eyes were strange, prismlike, changing color like a star seen throughheavy atmosphere. Now blue, now gold, now violet.
Oh, take this away. Please, I don't want it.
"It's so good to see a new face around here, isn'tit? We're very boring out here by ourselves,"
Claudine said, in completely normal and slightly flustered tones. Mary-Lynnette was snapped out of her trance, and she reacted as if Ash had just offered her a mongoose instead of his hand. She jumped backward,looking anywhere but at him. She had the feeling of being saved from falling down a mine shaft.
"O-kay," Claudine _ said in her cute accent."Hmm." She was twisting a strand of curly dark hair, something she only did when she was extremely ner vous. "Maybe you guys know each other already?"
There was a silence.
I should say something, Mary-Lynnette thoughtdazedly, staring at the fieldstone fireplace. I'm acting crazy and humiliating Claudine.
But what just happened here?
Doesn't matter. Worry later. She swallowed, plastered a smile on her face, and said, "So, how long are you here for?"