stepped onto the porch with her, but left the door open for Gloria’s sake.
“Sorry if I made trouble for you,” Joan whispered.
“You didn’t.”
“Don’t bet on it.”
He wanted to hold her. He kept his hands at his sides. “Take it easy, huh?”
“You too.”
He watched her walk to her car. Then, with a sigh, he entered the house and closed the door.
“You two must’ve had quite a party,” Gloria said.
“We had a tough day. Both of us.”
“Did you enjoy consoling one another?”
He leaned over the table and filled his glass with champagne. He took it to the rocker.
“Oh, that’s nice. Keep your distance.”
“You’re in a lousy mood.”
“Oh, and I should be delighted to walk in and find Joan here, half-smashed?”
A few choice disclaimers ran through Dave’s mind: it’s not what you think; nothing happened; there’s no reason to be jealous.
Lies.
“What was I supposed to do?” he asked. “Send her away?”
“And miss out on the sheer pleasure of her company? I hardly think so.”
“She doesn’t come in and start giving me a hard time.”
“Oh, I suspect she gave you a very hard time. I saw that cute little dress she was wearing. I saw the guilt on her face…and yours. What were you doing before I put in my untimely appearance? More than drinking, I should imagine.”
“Don’t push it, Gloria.”
“Oh, I touched a nerve?”
“I got stabbed today. I’m really not in any mood for one of your scenes.”
“Didn’t she kiss it and make it all better?”
“What’s happened to you?”
“To me?” Her eyebrows darted high.
“You’ve turned into a real bitch. All of a sudden, the past couple of weeks, you’ve been acting like your chief goal in life is to give me grief. If it isn’t my eating habits, it’s my politics. If it isn’t that, you’re giving me shit about Joan. I’m sick of it.”
“And I’m sick of her. Has that occurred to you as a possibility? It’s not enough you spend eight hours a day with your golden girl, you insist upon inflicting her on me all the time. It’s Joan did this, Joan said that. We even had her to a goddamn barbecue so you wouldn’t be deprived of her presence on your day off.”
“Calm down.”
“Do you know how many times we’ve fucked since she came into the picture?”
Dave didn’t answer. He took a drink of champagne.
“Not once. Not once!”
“Well…”
“You’ve been putting it to her all along, haven’t you? Haven’t you!”
“I think you should leave now.”
“You and that slut have been—”
“Shut up!” He lurched to his feet and pointed at the door. “Get out. I’ve had enough.”
Gloria sprang up, glaring at him, shaking her head. “Oh, this is cute. This is very cute.” Back rigid, she walked toward the door. “So long, Gloria,” she said, not looking back. Her voice was a quiet, lilting singsong. “Ta-ta. I had my fun with you, time to throw you away. You’re no match for the golden Amazon bitch. Ta-ta. Fuck off, now, there’s a good girl.”
“Wait,” Dave said.
He didn’t want her to wait; he wanted her gone, but not like this. It shouldn’t end this way, Gloria jabbering about being discarded like trash, sounding like a madwoman.
She opened the door.
“Gloria.”
She stopped. She turned around and raised her eyebrows. “Did the pig speak? Is it sorry? Is it feeling guilty? And what does the pig have to say?”
Forget it, he thought. What he said was, “Oink.”
Seventeen
Instead of calling it quits at six, as she had done yesterday, Robin took a short break. She ate a hot dog, then stationed herself above the main stairs to the beach and resumed playing and singing.
It hardly seemed worth the effort.
Few people had remained at Funland after the fog rolled in, and even fewer seemed willing to stand around and listen to her music. She was cold herself. Though the windbreaker kept her top warm, the chill, moist air seemed to soak through her jeans. She couldn’t play with gloves on. Between songs, she tucked her hands into the warmth under her armpits.
As she stood there in the cold, playing for two or three people and sometimes gaining a quarter for her efforts, her mind wandered to all the places she would rather be. Warm places. A café, the movie theater, her sleeping bag. She even imagined herself checking into a motel and settling into a bathtub full of hot, hot water.
But she had to be here instead. Thanks to Poppinsack.
Working for a few coins to build up her stake. So she could afford warm places, so tomorrow or