Private affairs : a novel by Judith Michael Read Free Book Online

through the arched entry hall to open the front door, and found Tony, leaning casually against the garden wall, arms folded, waiting for her.
    "If I'd called first," he said calmly, "you would have found some reason to teD me not to come."
    "Tony, you should have called; this is a terrible time—"
    "But we had a date. Four weeks ago you gave me permission to come for lunch. You may have forgotten, but I didn't." He walked past her through the shadowed entry hah to the brightness of the living room. He paused so his eyes could adjust to the clear desert light pouring through a wall of paned windows and a paned double door leading to the courtyard. The room came into focus, with its white walls, dark vigas, or beams, half embedded in the low stucco ceiling, and vivid Indian rugs in red, blue, and black scattered on the cream-colored, tiled floor. "Always takes me by surprise," he mused aloud. "The air ... the light , . . after the smog of my beloved Los An—-"
    He stopped abruptly as he became aware of Matt, unmoving in his armchair, wearing a bathrobe. "Matt! What's wrong? Ailing? Wounded? Hangover?" Smoothly shifting from Elizabeth's private visitor to a warm friend of the family, he pulled a chair close to Matt's and sat down. "Don't glower at me; I don't stand on ceremony with long-time friends. Did someone beat you up? I'll avenge you as soon as I can assemble an army; I myself am a man of peace." He waited, but Matt, his face expres= sionless, said nothing. "You and your horse disagreed on which direction to go? One of your printing machines ran amok? Or another Indian uprising, though I rather thought those had ended a century ago. Elizabeth, won't you sit down and join us?"
    Taken aback by his sudden, overwhelming presence, Elizabeth stood still, gazing at him- Fame had made him sleek and breezy, and his tall, handsome confidence, especially beside Matt's depression, made him even more attractive and dominating than she remembered- The air around

    him was electric, as if he were a messenger from a world filled with excitement and success, buzzing, bustling, bursting with energy, while she and Matt sat in their static little house in their quiet little town, waiting for the Tonys of that world to bring them news of all they were missing.
    Matt must feel it, too, she thought, seeing his scowl, and she took a step forward, phrasing a graceful way to get Tony out of the house. But he had settled back in his chair, listening attentively to Mart's brief description of his accident, then, in turn, regaling him with the antics of the producer of his television show, called "Anthony." And when Matt chuckled at something he said—the first time in weeks Matt had come close to a laugh—it occurred to Elizabeth that maybe it was good that Tony was there. Matt needed amusement, something to think about other than himself and Zachary.
    And maybe Tony's forceful presence could break down the wall of Matt's self-absorption. Sometimes it took someone from outside to get a husband and wife talking to each other again.
    "You'll stay for lunch?" she asked, ignoring Matt's deeper scowl at her invitation.
    "Of course," Tony said, smiling easily. "It's been too long since I've seen ... the two of you. Nothing fancy, though; if you spend hours in the kitchen I won't have a chance to talk to you before my plane leaves."
    "We'll talk in the kitchen," Elizabeth responded. "All of us. Matt? Please? Tony can tell us all the gossip from Los Angeles."
    "And you can fill me in on the scandals that shake Santa Fe," said Tony, offering Matt a hand.
    Matt stood up by himself. "Few scandals shake Santa Fe. We natives are cautious, ingrown, and very protective of our little backwater."
    "Do I hear a note of dissatisfaction?" Tony asked. "Why don't you leave?" He kept pace with Matt's slow steps as they walked into the kitchen and sat in wicker chairs in an alcove opening onto the courtyard. "I've often wondered why you haven't."
    "My father was here,"