Leap Year by Peter Cameron Read Free Book Online Page B

with people, all elated at the weather, wearing shorts for the first time, eating ice cream cones. Cars drove by, windows open, leaking music into the night. This is New York, Loren reminded herself, this is me in New York. She thought about the City of Angels. She had only been there once, several years ago, for a business conference. She had liked it. She had liked the sun and the cars, the bare, tanned backs of women and the white, confident teeth of men. The palm trees. Here in New York if you looked closely, everyone seemed to be falling apart. I have been falling apart, Loren thought. Maybe I should move to L.A. and put myself back together. She pictured herself driving on the freeway, calm and purposeful. I could learn Spanish, she thought, I could swim in the ocean. I could reinvent myself.
    When she got home, Lorendiscovered Gregory in bed.
    “Surprise,” he said. “I escaped.”
    Loren sat down on the bed, leaned over, and kissed him.
    “I have to go back tomorrow,” said Gregory. “The writer’s strike is fucking everything up. You wouldn’t believe it out there.”
    “Why did you come back?”
    “To see you,” said Gregory. “Come to bed.”
    “Okay,” said Loren. She went in the bathroom. Gregory sat up in bed, waiting. Loren emerged, and he watched her undress. When she got into bed he held her very tightly. He parted her long hair, exposed her nape, and rested his lips there. He moved them, silently.
    “What are you saying?” Loren asked. “I can’t read lips.”
    Gregory pulled his mouth slightly away from her neck. When he spoke Loren could hear his words and feel them, too, bouncing against her skin. Each word was interspersed with a kiss: “Will you marry me?”

CHAPTER 8
    “D AVID?” J UDITH CALLED through the door. “Is that you?”
    “Yes,” said David. It was Friday night, and he had arrived at Loren’s for their dinner date.
    “Just a second. I have to figure out these locks.”
    David heard the sound of canisters tumbling and chains swinging. Loren’s security system was designed around the premise that more is better. The door opened.
    “Come on in,” said Judith.
    David stood in Loren’s front hall, wondering what the proper etiquette was involving ex-in-laws. Was kissing expected, tolerated, or forbidden? He opted for a hug and pressed cheeks. He had always liked Judith.
    “It’s good to see you,” he said. “How are you?”
    “I’m fine,” said Judith. “I’m having fun here in New York.”
    “And how’s Leonard doing?”
    “The last I heard, fine, although he’s not the best correspondent.”
    David followed her down the hall. Loren was standing in the kitchen, talking on the phone. She turned to David. “I’ll be ready in a minute. Kate wants to see you. She’s in her room.”
    David went to see his daughter. She was playing with her Little Pony dolls. They were all stacked on top of one another, in trios and pairs, an equine orgy. David leaned down and kissed the top of Kate’s head.
    “What are they doing?” he asked, indicating the fornicating ponies.
    “They’re riding each other,” said Kate. “See.” She helped a pair of them scale the side of her bed.
    “Wow,” said David. “They can fly!”
    “No they can’t,” said Kate. “They’re horses.”
    Kate knocked the pair of horses off the bed, flinging them to the floor. “They’re dead,” she announced.
    “That’s too bad,” said David. “Listen, what’s new? How’s daycare?”
    “Okay,” said Kate. “I’m going to a birthday party.”
    “Great,” said David. “Whose?”
    “Kate’s,” said Kate.
    “There’s another Kate?”
    “There are two Kates,” said Kate. “And three Caitlins.”
    Kate had been Loren’s choice. David had voted for Claire.
    “What happened to your potato?” he asked.
    “What potato?”
    “Remember the potato we bought? That you needed for arts and crafts?”
    “Oh,” said Kate, resuscitating the dead horses. “That was for doo