Night-Bloom by Herbert Lieberman Read Free Book Online Page A

supposed to think? It never crosses your stupid mind that we’d be worried sick …”
    “It was supposed to be a surprise,” Watford whined pathetically. “Not only for her but for you, too. I thought I was doing you a big favor, taking her off your hands for the day. Giving you a vacation. I thought you and Edgar would be delighted. I thought you’d find it funny. A big joke. Ha, ha.”
    “Oh, God,” she blanched and covered her mouth with her hands. “I still haven’t called Edgar.”
    She bolted from the room, and in the next moment, he could hear the hasty, clicking sound of the dial, and her low, husky voice speaking rapidly into the phone. When she came back she looked ashen. “Look, Charley—”
    “Renee—Don’t …”
    “Please don’t interrupt me, Charley. Just let me get this off my chest. Edgar’s about ready to wring your neck. He’s furious. He has been for months. How long has it been now? Eight months? Nine months?”
    “Sissy, look. Just …”
    “No Sissy stuff, Charley. Not now. Please.” She backed away as he slowly approached her, that look of puzzlement and hurt on his face. “I didn’t mind taking you in after the hospital. You were recuperating. You were still weak. Also, I didn’t want to see you go back to the house all by yourself.”
    “Listen, Renee. I wasn’t going to say anything until it was certain. I think I’ve got a job lined up …” She paused, hooked in midsentence, her head cocked to one side. “How long?”
    “A couple of days. A week at the most.” He watched her closely, dangling more bait before her wary eyes. “It’s a traveling job. Sales. Hardware. Machinery. That sort of thing. This guy, the manager … he’s just got to clear it with home office.” Sensing her growing skepticism, Watford’s speech quickened and grew slightly frantic.
    She wavered a moment, indecisively, torn between loyalty to both brother and husband. At last she shook her head back and forth, first slowly, then with gathering momentum. “No. No—Charley. Not this time. We’ve been down this road before. The last time …”
    “I couldn’t help that, Sissy.”
    “No Sissy stuff, I told you.”
    “Irene— You know yourself I couldn’t help that. The guy promised me. It just fell through. I can’t help that.”
    “I can’t help it either, Charley. Not anymore. You’ve got to go now. It’s not only your welfare that’s at question. It’s now a question of my family, my marriage, my life. Edgar simply won’t stand for another day of this. We’re all stretched to the …”
    “Well, for gosh sakes,” Watford laughed bitterly. “I take my niece to the circus, and for that I get tossed out into the cold.”
    “It’s not cold, Charley. It’s May. Spring. The lilacs are blooming outside in the yard.” Her voice suddenly went soft and she spoke very slowly as though she were cajoling a child. “You can stay here tonight, but that’s it. Tomorrow, out. Go home. Go back to the house. It ought to be lovely up that way now.”
    His fingers fumbled with a jacket button and he started to speak. But before he could she waved him to silence. “Don’t, for God’s sake, say another word, Charley. Don’t try to play on my feelings ‘cause I’m just about ready to bust.” Her eyes were red and glistening.
    “But I don’t have …”
    “Don’t worry about that,” her hands fluttered at him again. “I’ve got a few hundred stashed away. You can have it all. But you’ve got to go.”
    She watched him slump down into a chair. “Don’t think I enjoy kicking my only brother out. I’m sorry, sweetie. I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry about Mom and Dad. I’m sorry about you. You’ve had nothing but rotten luck. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. But I can’t help it. I’m trying to make some kind of life for myself out here, and I’m afraid it just doesn’t … can’t possibly include you.”
    She blew her nose into her apron, then cocked an ear at