The Colossus by Ranjini Iyer Read Free Book Online Page A

slim young woman wearing pencil jeans that looked sprayed on walked up to the desk. Max tried to smooth the front of her wrinkled cotton skirt with her palm.
    *
*     *
    Dr. Julian McIntosh leaned back.
    Classes were over, exam papers corrected. Why was he not feeling the sense of accomplishment he normally felt at this time? His choices for the summer were not unexciting. Dr. Jackson had requested his help to conduct research for a textbook he was writing on religion and related architecture, with a focus on Vietnam and Cambodia. A trip to the Angkor Wat was in order. Dr. Jackson was a brilliant man, if tedious at times. Still the work would—might—make up for that. Julian rubbed his eyes. And he mustn’t forget the paper he had started working on for the conference in Prague next summer—use of Japanese iconography all over the world. With a special focus on Japan’s Buddhist iconography. Fascinating subject.
    He suppressed a yawn. He wasn’t bored, surely. No, what he was was tired. He had been up late keeping Raquel company while she worked. My Raquel Stanton, he thought with pride. Girlfriend, banker extraordinaire, beautiful beyond compare, independent. And yet somehow, horribly insecure.
    Raquel was the kind of person who liked to make and check off lists of high-powered weekend activities—sky diving, hot air balloon rides, jet skiing. She compared notes with colleagues about what everyone had done over weekends. “Did you check out the new jazz club on Huron? Tim Robbins played there last night,” some colleague might say. And Raquel would spend all her free time trying to get tickets to some other frou frou show to compete, with the expectation that Julian would join her regardless of the event. All he wanted to do was sit in a coffee shop with a nice book and—
    Stop , he told himself. He always philosophized when bored.
    The phone rang. He grabbed it. “McIntosh here.” He listened for a while, “Sorry, my area isn’t South Asia but—pardon? Yes I know a little about the Indus Valley. Sure, I’ll see her now.”
    The distraction would be a welcome one.
    Julian walked over to the washroom and splashed water on his face. He returned to his desk and clicked on email. Dr. Jackson had some questions about an ancient Vietnamese text. The second was from Raquel—would he be coming over for dinner to her place tonight? She was going to try and make it an early night. She had a ton of work to do.
    Julian sighed.
    *
*     *
    Max stood outside Dr. Julian McIntosh’s office. It was a tiny room with one small window facing 59th Street. The door was slightly open.
    As she was about to knock, her cell phone rang. It was Kim, her assistant.
    “Hi,” Kim said, “You wanted me to remind you about the sausage-making class at the Butcher and Larder at 11:30. Oh, but you’re busy today, aren’t you?”
    Max put a hand over her mouth. She had rescheduled all her meetings for the day but had forgotten about the sausage class. She had been wanting to go for weeks. Maybe she could start her research after…but the class would last two hours.
    “I forgot,” she said, her voice a disappointed croak. “Do you want to take the class?”
    “I’d love to!” Kim said. Max felt a surge of envy burn through her chest. “And don’t worry,” Kim went on, “our handsome interns have the deliveries covered.” A bell rang in the background. “Oh, that must be the free-range meat guy you asked me to meet.”
    Max fought an urge to run to the market to shop for fresh vegetables, head for her cozy kitchen after, and start cooking, never to stop. She wanted to go to Dirk’s Fish and Gourmet shop and talk about the day’s catch. She wanted to do all this so badly that it hurt. She hungup. Tears sprang into her eyes. She wiped them with a vigorous palm and knocked on the door of the professor’s office.
    “Come in!” a friendly voice called.
    She walked in. “Hello, I’m Maxine Rosen. Err…Max.” Max’s