Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy Read Free Book Online Page B

pints.”
    “And did that help?” She seemed genuinely interested.
    “At first it did a bit. It’s not working now and I’m just annoyed with myself for staying off it for all those days and nights and now running straight back when I get a bit of an upset.”
    “Did you sort out the upset?” She was completely nonjudgmental. She looked at him, inviting him to share whatever it was, but she would have left if there was no information to hear.
    “Please sit down, Emily,” Noel begged, and he told the whole story, haltingly and with a lot of repetition. Mainly he said that he could not have fathered a child without remembering it.
    “I have so little sex, Emily, that I’m not likely to forget the little bit I
do
have.”
    She was very still as she sat and listened to him. Her face changed from time to time. It was concerned and distressed when she heardhow gaunt and painful Stella’s face had become. She inclined her head to show sympathy as Noel told how Stella had said that if she were to choose a father from anyone in the world he would be the very last choice—a drunk who was a loser and still lived with his parents.
    It was only when Noel came to the end of his tale, when he got to the part where he had walked away from Stella, the hospital and the problem, that Emily’s face became confused.
    “Why did you do that?” she asked.
    “Well, what else could I do?” Noel was surprised. “It has nothing to do with
me
. There’s no point in my being there—it’s adding to the whole charade. The girl’s head is unhinged.”
    “You walked out and left her there?”
    “I
had
to, Emily. You know what a tightrope I’m walking. Things are quite bad enough already without inviting the Lord knows what kind of fantasies in on top of me.”
    “You say that things are bad enough for you, Noel? Right?”
    “Well they
are
bad.” He sounded defensive.
    “Like you have terminal cancer?” she asked him. “Like you were abused when you were in foster care? Like you are going to be dead a month from now, before you see the only child you will ever have? No, indeed, Noel, none of these things has happened to you, yet you just said things are very bad for
you.
”
    He was stricken.
    “That’s all you think. You think how things are for
you
, Noel. Shame on you,” she said, her face full of scorn. This was the nearest he had come to having a best friend and now she was turning against him.
    “Emily, please sit down. You asked me what was wrong, so I told you.”
    “Yes, you did, Noel.” She made no movement to sit down.
    “So? Won’t you stay and discuss it?”
    “No. Why should I join in this charade, as you call it? Don’t make faces at me, Noel. These are your words. Why should I not think of the perilous tightrope that
I
am walking in my life? I’msorry, but everyone in all this is becoming … what did you call it—‘unhinged in the head’? Why should I let people surround me with their fantasies?” She was almost at the door.
    “But they’re not fantasies, Emily. It’s what happened.”
    “That’s right. They’re not fantasies. It’s what actually happened. But hey, what the hell? It’s got nothing to do with
you
, Noel. Good night. I’m sorry, but that is all I feel capable of saying.” And she was gone.
    He had thought that this day just couldn’t get any worse. That’s why he had told her. In a few short hours two women had turned away from him in disgust.
    And somehow it had made the day worse than ever.

    Betsy,
    There is a drama unfolding here which we would have considered compelling when we were kids and went to the movies on Saturday afternoons. But oddly it’s too sad to talk about just now. I will tell you how it turns out.
    OF COURSE you should go out with Eric! I told you a hundred times he is not interested in me. He just said that as a devious way of getting to know you better.
    I know! I know! But the longer I live, the more crazy I think everyone