The Silver Linings Playbook - By Matthew Quick Page 0,25

I ask, "Odd how? Odd like me?"

His face drops, and then he says, "No. I didn't mean ... It's just that Tiffany is seeing a therapist - "

"So am I."

"I know, but - "

"So seeing a therapist makes me odd?"

"No. Just listen to me for a second. I'm trying to be your friend. Okay?"

I look down at the grass as Ronnie walks over to me. I don't really want to hear Ronnie talk his way out of this one, because Ronnie is the only friend I have, now that I am out of the bad place, and we have had such a great day, and the Eagles have won, and my father put his arm around me, and -

"I know Tiffany and you went out to dinner, which is great. You both could probably use a friend who understands loss."

I don't like the way he collectively uses the word "loss," as if I have lost Nikki - as in forever - because I am still riding out apart time and I have not lost her yet. But I don't say anything, and let him continue.

"Listen," Ronnie says. "I want to tell you why Tiffany was fired from her job."

"That's none of my business."

"It is if you are going to have dinners with her. Listen, you need to know that ..."

Ronnie tells me what he believes is the story of how Tiffany lost her job, but the way he tells it proves he is biased. He tells it just like Dr. Timbers would, stating what he would call "facts," with no regard for what was going on in Tiffany's head. He tells me what coworkers wrote in their reports, he tells me what her boss told her parents and what the therapist has since said to Veronica - who is Tiffany's designated support buddy and therefore has weekly phone conversations with Tiffany's therapist - but he never once tells me what Tiffany thinks or what is going on in her heart: the awful feelings, the conflicting impulses, the needs, the desperation, everything that makes her different from Ronnie and Veronica, who have each other and their daughter, Emily, and a good income and a house and everything else that keeps people from calling them "odd." What amazes me is that Ronnie is telling me all this in a friendly manner, as if he is trying to save me from Tiffany's ways, as if he knows more about these sorts of things than I do, as if I had not spent the last few months in a mental institution. He does not understand Tiffany, and he sure as hell doesn't understand me, but I do not hold it against Ronnie, because I am practicing being kind rather than right, so Nikki will be able to love me again when apart time is over.

"So I'm not telling you to be mean or to gossip about her - just protect yourself, okay?" Ronnie says, and I nod. "Well, I better be getting home to Veronica. Maybe I'll drop in this week for a lifting session? Cool?"

I nod again and watch him jog away from me, the bouncy steps suggesting that he thinks his mission is accomplished. It is obvious he was only allowed to watch the game because Veronica wanted him to talk to me about Tiffany, probably because Veronica thought I might take advantage of her nymphomaniac sister, which makes me very mad, and before I know it, I'm ringing the Websters' doorbell.

"Hello?" Tiffany's mom says to me when the door opens. She is older-looking, with gray hair and a heavy sweater-coat, even though it is only September and she is inside.

"May I speak with Tiffany?"

"You're Ronnie's friend, right? Pat Peoples?"

I only nod, because I know Mrs. Webster knows who I am.

"Do you mind if I ask what you want with our daughter?"

"Who's there?" I hear Tiffany's father call from the other room.

"It's just Ronnie's friend, Pat Peoples!" Mrs. Webster yells. To me she says, "So what do you want with our Tiffany?"

I look down at the football in my hand and say, "I want to have a catch. It's a beautiful afternoon. Maybe she would like to get some fresh air in the park?"

"Just a catch?" Mrs. Webster says.

I hold up my wedding ring to prove I do not want to have sex with her daughter, and say, "Listen, I'm married. I just want to be Tiffany's friend, okay?"

Mrs. Webster looks a little surprised by my answer, which is odd because I