Entr'acte by Frank Juliano Read Free Book Online Page A

this.”
    Doug sat with his suitcase on his lap and admitted that he hoped to change her mind and “look out for you, at least in the beginning, until you get settled.”
    It took a little prying but it soon came out that Joyce’s father had encouraged Doug to pursue his daughter to New York, and coincidentally to see how she was doing and report back.
    This enraged Joyce. “What makes you think you can stay with us, anyway? Who the hell do you think you are?”
    Debbie, sitting in the back seat, said nothing. Doug pressed himself against the door handle looking like a puppy caught making a mistake on an Oriental rug.
    No one said much when the three of them got back to the 49
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    apartment. Debbie took out her spare set of linens and a blanket and tossed them onto the sofa.
    Doug got the idea right away, especially after Joyce went into her room and closed the door.

    * * * *
“I don’t have time to talk about our relationship!” Joyce shouted in exasperation. The three were having breakfast and Doug was insisting that he and Joyce “do the city” and talk.
    “Sounds like you don’t have a relationship,” Debbie muttered, as she poured coffee.
    “Let me go with you while you look for work,” Doug said to Joyce. “It’ll be fun. Maybe I’ll get a part too.”
    The two young women looked at each other over his head, and Joyce shrugged as if to say, “What am I going to do? I did love him once, for very good reasons.”
    “Maybe we can go for lunch to one of those places people are always being discovered in, just for a goof,” Doug said.
    “You’re thinking of Schwab’s Drugstore,” Joyce answered dryly. “That’s in L.A., it’s out of business, and nobody’s sure that ever happened anyway.”
    “There must be a place where all the people in the business go to eat,” Doug said.
    “The BUSINESS?” Joyce giggled. “Where’d you get that,
    “Entertainment Tonight’?”
    “There IS Cipriani’s,” Debbie mused. “Everybody who is anybody is seen in there.”
    Joyce glared at her roommate, who just smiled impassively back at her.
    “There you go,” Doug almost shouted. “Let’s go there. We can meet at 1 o’clock. It’s on me, your welcome to New York lunch.”
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    ENTR’ACTE
    “I’d grab that,” Debbie said to Joyce. She shook the nearly-empty cereal box for emphasis.
    I’m looking forward to my rid-of-Doug lunch, Joyce thought.
    Why would I want to be seen in a place like Cipriani’s, let alone with Doug? But she bit her tongue and kept quiet.
    A few minutes later, Debbie slid the strap of her shoulder bag up her arm and took her MetroCard out of her purse. “Are you going to be all right here?” she quietly asked.
    Joyce walked her to the front door, apologizing for the disruption Doug was causing. “He’s not a bad guy really. He really does care about me; sometimes I worry I may not find that again.”
    “I wouldn’t worry about that,” Deb answered.
    “Would it be all right if I let him stay here until the weekend, when I’ll have more time to deal with this? He’d stay on the couch, and I’d get him to chip in for expenses.
    “It’s going to take me awhile to get free of him,” Joyce went on. “I have to do it in my own way.”
    “Sure,” Deb agreed on her way out. “Knock ’em dead today.”
    The couple set their lunch plans as they drove back to the Theater District. Joyce left the Bug in the same lot, and nonchalantly flipped the keys to the attendant who was there the day before. When the young man touched the brim of his Yankee cap and smiled at Joyce, she felt her soon-to-be ex tense up beside her.
    “Who was that?” Doug wanted to know as soon as they got out of the attendant’s earshot. “I told you I’d be meeting new people,” Joyce said, exasperated. She gave Doug a peck on the cheek and he brightened up a bit.
    A few moments later they mumbled an awkward goodbye, and Doug headed off to the museums along upper Fifth