There Was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron Read Free Book Online Page B

bland look and adjusting the afghan around her.
    He looked back at her with that lethal combination of exasperation and bemused contempt. “It’s Saturday. I don’t work weekends, remember? And I told you I was coming over.” He shot his cuffs before folding his arms and narrowing his eyes at her. “You do remember, I told you I was coming back?”
    Of course she remembered. But she’d long ago learned that with Brian, evasion worked out better than engagement. “I must have forgotten to write it on my calendar.”
    Mina heard water running in the kitchen and the tink of bone china. The girl was washing up. She seemed awfully sweet, but Mina hoped she’d be careful. That gold-rimmed service that once belonged to her mother had only a few cracks and a single chip.
    â€œSo did you look at the papers I left?” Brian asked.
    â€œButton your shirt, Brian,” Mina said. “And don’t you think you should be wearing socks?”
    â€œDo you even still have them?” Brian asked.
    â€œI’m sure they’re here.” Mina waved a vague hand, a gesture her mother had perfected to avoid answering inconvenient questions. “Somewhere.”
    The water stopped running, and the old pipes thunked. A moment later the girl peered into the room from behind Brian. She was holding a dish towel. “I’d better be going,” she said. She snapped the towel and folded it smartly.
    Mina pushed the afghan off her lap and started to get up.
    â€œDon’t bother. I can let myself out,” the girl said.
    â€œIt’s no bother,” Mina said, following the girl out and pointedly ignoring Brian.
    At the door, the girl turned to face her. “Would you mind if I came back another time? You see, I was starting to tell you about my work for the Historical Society. We’re mounting a new exhibit, and I’d love to talk to you some more about what it was like, working in the Empire State Building back then. That’s when the plane hit the building. We have surprisingly few first-person accounts.”
    Mina forced a smile and said, “Of course. Come back any time. Though I hope you won’t be disappointed. My memory is not as reliable as it once was.”
    â€œWho knows, maybe talking will bring back what it was like to work in that building.”
    As if that were something Mina could forget. As the girl trotted down the steps, Mina could almost feel the Empire State souvenir that she’d slipped into her pocket growing hot.

Chapter Ten
    â€œWhat building?” Brian asked, his voice startling Mina. She was still standing at the open door, watching as the girl made her way back to her mother’s house.
    â€œI have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    â€œSo what was she asking about?” Brian reached around her and pushed the door shut.
    Mina went into the kitchen. The girl had left the dishes neatly stacked on the counter. “Just this and that.”
    Brian was right behind her. “This and . . . ?” He shook his head. “So it’s her crazy mother who lives next door?”
    Mina didn’t answer.
    â€œThat heap is an accident waiting to happen, if you ask me. If the inside is anything like the outside—”
    She turned to face him. “Good thing it’s not your problem.”
    He rolled his eyes. “So what did she want ?”
    Mina sighed. “Not everyone wants something, Brian.”
    â€œDid you look at the papers I left?”
    She wondered if he grasped the irony of this exchange. Annabelle had had such high hopes for her little boy. Instead, they’d gotten this.
    â€œWhat papers?” she said.
    â€œThe papers I brought over last week.”
    â€œDid you?”
    â€œDon’t you remember? We talked. You promised you’d read them.”
    Mina didn’t say anything.
    Brian narrowed his eyes. “You forgot all about it, didn’t you? Or