Body Surfing by Anita Shreve Read Free Book Online

heard. A moment of awkward silence is blessedly broken by Ben. "I'll take that up," he says, gesturing toward Victoria's bag.
    Up where? Sydney wonders again.
    With mumbled excuses, Victoria slips away from the gathering. Though willing to travel by bus, the woman was apparently unable to use that vehicle's facilities.
    It is impossible not to hear, from the front-hall bathroom, the sounds of tinkling, an unmistakable sigh of relief, and the wobbling of the loose toilet-paper roll. To cover the noise, Mr. Edwards clears his throat and then blows his nose into a white handkerchief he keeps in his back pocket.
    "You made good time," he says to Jeff.
    Having discovered the unfortunate acoustics early in her stay with the Edwardses, Sydney has contrived never to have to use the front-hall bathroom.
    When Victoria emerges, she gives a shy smile and walks directly through the house to the porch door. Jeff joins her.
    "My god," she says of a view she must have seen a thousand times.
    From the front hallway, Wendy and Art and Mrs. Edwards study Victoria's narrow back.
    "She's lovely," Wendy says.
    "A looker," Art agrees.
    "Mark and I are hoping either this weekend or the next. . .," Mrs. Edwards confides.
    "An announcement?" Art inquires.
    "Really?" Julie asks, surprised.
    Mrs. Edwards glances with some alarm at her daughter, whom she has apparently forgotten. The mother mimes "sealed lips" in Julie's direction.
    Sydney, too, gazes at the lovely woman in the porch doorway. What is there not to like about Victoria? Vicki, actually, who does not resemble in the slightest the computer image of earlier, even with its many alterations. The crime artist will have to be fired.
    Mr. Edwards announces that lunch will be served on the porch. He retreats to the kitchen, and Sydney willingly follows. Mr. Edwards appears to like the challenge of cooking, a skill he learned only later in life. In Troy, her father never went near the kitchen.
    Sydney offers, when she has finished hulling the strawberries, to set the table, a task that requires carrying armloads of dishes and glasses and silverware out to the round teak table in the corner of the porch. A tricky screen door that wants to catch the back of her ankle has to be negotiated. Napkins have to be anchored in the stiff breeze.
    When she makes her last trip, Sydney discovers that Ben and Victoria and Jeff are sitting in the heavy teak chairs around the table.
    "Can I help?" Victoria asks.
    "Thanks, but I'm all done," Sydney says.
    "Join us, then," Ben says.
    Jeff catches Sydney's eye. An invitation or a warning? The moment passes before it has fully registered.
    Sydney sits, not liking the rudimentary math. Jeff and Victoria. Ben and Sydney. She wishes for the emergence of one other person, even Mrs. Edwards (perhaps especially Mrs. Edwards, with her knack for rendering Sydney invisible) to change the sum.
    Ever since Victoria arrived, Sydney has been aware of shifting configurations. Mrs. Edwards, hands clasped together at her breast, her posture slightly tilted back, presenting Victoria as if the young woman might have distant royal blood. Mr. Edwards, casually draping an arm around Julie. Jeff discreet, not needing to hover over or touch his girlfriend; perhaps they already kissed passionately in the Land Rover on the way back from the bus station. Ben, Diet Coke in hand, perched on the landing of the stairs, surveying the scene from on high.
    Because of the bright sunshine, dark glasses are de rigueur on the porch at lunch. An entire family incognito. The sandwiches that Mr. Edwards delivers are sublime--confections of mozzarella, tomato, basil, and olive oil between slices of crusty bread. Mrs. Edwards stares at the panini her husband sets in front of her as if to ask, What am I supposed to do with this? Doubtless she would like to pry apart the slices of bread and scrape out only the cheese, but she cannot do so in polite company. Certainly not in Victoria's presence.
    Victoria is asked