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Having tea with Emmaline was my first mistake. Her insistence on taking me to lunch indirectly led to my botched interview, and that’s how I wound up working for a super-secret agency.
Given how things turned out, it was far from my only mistake.
The day had dawned dank and dreary with the promise of snow in the air. Though the year was well into its third month, spring seemed far away.
We met at our old haunt, the Blue Moon. I had just enough bus fare to get to my job interview after lunch, so that meant I’d have to make do with a cup of tea and pretend to be slimming again. I hoped Em wouldn’t hear my stomach growl. Since it wasn’t possible to sustain life on the sheer odor of food alone, I’d have to drown my tea in sugar to avoid an unladylike faint. With luck, the sugar would carry me through lunch.
The first time I’d laid eyes on Emmaline Prentiss was at Bryn Mawr. When I entered my dorm room at the college, I’d discovered Em already entrenched, lounging in a lacy negligee while popping a chocolate cream between her pink, plump lips. A fuzzy mule slipper hung off one foot as she bounced a leg. The other foot was bare.
The jiggling stopped when I walked in and set my suitcase down. I’d swept the small room with a glance, flabbergasted by the way my new roommate had converted a soulless box into a decadent boudoir. The study lamps wore frilly shades, and half a dozen bouquets lined one of the desks. The room smelled like a florist. Another pair of fluffy mules lay on their sides where they’d been kicked off, and an expensive mink coat spilled across the chair beside them. When my gaze fell back upon Em, her hard assessing stare seemed quite at odds with her brunette bombshell appearance. All at once her expression had softened, and she’d given me the most beatific smile.
She’d stretched out a hand with languid grace. I have no idea why I stepped forward to take her soft, white fingers in mine, but I did. I’d hoped she didn’t expect me to kiss her knuckles. I drew the line at that. Not to mention, I might break a tooth on all those rings.
“I was worried when I saw you at first, but now I know we’ll be such good friends.” She had given my hand a little squeeze and then sank back onto the chaise lounge to select another chocolate from the open box. Since chaise lounges didn’t come standard in dorm rooms, I wondered what piece of furniture she’d sacrificed to make way for it.
“Worried?” I wasn’t sure what intrigued me more—that she might somehow have had concerns about my rooming with her or that something about my appearance had alleviated them.
Her eyes had opened wide with the same candor as her tone. “Well, you’re just so lovely.” At the time, I thought it was a well-practiced act, but it hadn’t taken long to realize Em always spoke her mind. Perhaps because there was so little else to occupy it. “I mean, look at you,” she continued. “You’re a knockout. But that’s okay. The men that go for you won’t be the ones that go for me.”
“Thanks. I think.”
She’d set the chocolates down and hurried over to envelop me in a chiffon-laden hug. “Oh, don’t be silly, dear. I’m Jane Russell and you’re Katharine Hepburn. If she were a blonde, that is. You’re elegance and smarts while I’m S.A., pure and simple. Two different audiences.”
I blinked at her. “S.A.?” I repeated myself a lot around Em in those first days.
She’d laughed, low and breathy. “Sex appeal, darling.”
I’d grinned back at her. It had been the start of a beautiful friendship, despite us having so little in common. As Em had predicted, we didn’t end up competing for the same men. After four years, I had a degree in English Lit, which hadn’t prepared me for anything in life, and Em had attained the coveted “Mrs. degree” that most of my classmates had pined for, even if they hadn’t been willing to admit it.
Her invitation today was to celebrate the formal announcement of the engagement of Emmaline Prentiss to Edgar Stanley Hardcastle III. Try as I might, I hadn’t been able to come up with a good excuse for turning down her suggestion to meet for lunch. She had assured me she had Hardcastle ‘in the bag’ when we’d parted at the end of school, and the new ring on her finger meant that in the ten months since graduation, she’d had achieved her lifetime goal. I don’t know what my lifetime goal might be, but at the moment, my attention was transfixed by the waitress walking past with a tray of mini-quiches, the pastry so light and flaky they melted in your mouth. Jean-Claude, the Blue Moon’s pastry chef, once confessed to me that adding vodka to the dough was the secret to perfect crusts.
The idea of eating anything, especially something laced with vodka, sounded heavenly.
Our waitress appeared at our table, dressed in a perky pink uniform with a stiffly starched white apron. “May I take your order?”
Oh, if only. Managing somehow not to sigh, I said, “Just tea for me, please. Oolong. With sugar.”
Em lowered her menu to fix me with a gimlet eye and then bestowed a bewitching smile upon the waitress. Unlike most beautiful women I knew, Em used her charms on both men and women alike. “Could we have just another moment, please?”
The woman almost curtseyed as she strove to oblige. “But of course, Miss. I’ll be right back.”
As soon as the waitress turned away, Em laid down her menu. “Darling, it’s no use pretending with me. I saw you sniffing the air like a bloodhound when you came into the restaurant. So stuff your pride for once. Order what you like. Dear Eddie’s paying.”
That was the problem.
“I’m dieting.”
Em’s laugh was still charming and breathy. “My dear, if you get any thinner, you’ll blow away like a leaf on the wind. Turn you sideways, and someone might mistake you for a playing card. Even your shadow is thicker than you are.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that one. “I highly recommend the ‘no money, no food’ plan of weight loss, by the way. Very effective.”
“Yes, but the food here is to die for and I intend to eat. I can’t very well do that if you’re sitting across from me practically fainting from hunger.”
“It’s just a temporary setback.” The image of the last can of soup at home in the kitchen cabinet flashed in my mind. That, and a packet of saltines, were all I had to live on until the next paycheck came in. Given the fact I’d been fired yet again, who knew when that would be? Still, pride is hard to abandon when you’re a Bishop. When you were taught to believe honor meant something.
At one time, it did.
“I have an interview lined up this afternoon. After I leave here, as a matter of fact.”
The Dragon Lady in charge of handing out potential interviews to those of us desperately hoping for work, any work, had given me a tight-lipped smile along with the slip of paper containing the directions to the agency.
“Maybe this one will do for you, Miss Bishop. It’s a two-week assignment, so perhaps you can manage to stay through the contract this time. At least when you lose this job, it won’t be anything out of the ordinary.”
In return, I’d given her a smile dripping with honey. As I’d started to leave, clutching the directions in gloved hands and hoping the hole in the fingertip didn’t show, she’d stopped me with her trilling little voice.
“Oh, and Miss Bishop? If you get fired or quit this position, I’m afraid we can no longer assist you. We do have a reputation to maintain.”
As tempting as it had been to tell her exactly what I thought of her, I hadn’t. My father had raised me better.
But I wasn’t sure I could watch Em devour tiny sandwiches and delicate cakes with the same fortitude.
Em obviously thought the same. Like all predators, she excelled at sensing weakness. “If you have an interview this afternoon, then it behooves you not to pass out from starvation. You want to make a good first impression, right?”
She had a point. Besides, as she said, Eddie would pick up the tab. Good old Eddie. Though it wasn’t as if Em didn’t have the money. When we’d been roommates, we’d taken turns paying for each other’s meals. We’d been on almost equal footing. What I’d lacked in outright funds compared to her father’s wealth had been more than made up by my standing in the social register, at least in her father’s eyes. The Mayflower antecedents. The long-dead great-great-great uncles who were signers of the Declaration of Independence. A few generals on the right side of the Civil War. To Em’s parents I represented everything they’d ever wanted for their little girl and the one thing they couldn’t buy: social standing.
Traveling the world with my father, I’d missed my presentation as a debutante until I was almost on the shelf, and my mother despaired of ever making a lady of me. She’d put an end to my globe-trotting days, insisting I attend her alma mater in the last ditch hope of turning me into a proper socialite and, more importantly, marrying me off to the highest bidder. Almost twenty-five when I graduated, I was considered long in the tooth by society’s standards when it came to the marriage mart. I’d failed in that respect. Em had not.
Em’s parents basked in second-hand glory as Em wore Edgar Stanley Hardcastle lll’s enormous engagement ring on her finger, the only ring Em wore these days. When the sunlight caught the massive diamond, the flash could render anyone in striking distance temporarily blind.
From our recent phone conversations, there could be no doubt Em took her position as the future Mrs. Hardcastle as seriously as though she had been preparing for it her entire life. I suppose she had. She fully intended to put her days as the campus bombshell behind her and be the best wife Eddie could ever imagine—tending to his every need while feeding his fantasy of having captured the most alluring woman on the continent. She would fill her days with shopping, homemaking, and tennis matches at the country club. In a year or so, she’d produce a little Edgar IV.
I couldn’t think of anything more incredibly tedious, but I was pleased for Em. She deserved whatever made her happy. She was one of the few people who hadn’t either dropped me or turned catty and cutting after the death of my father. Her persistent friendship touched me.
Besides, who knew when I’d eat so well again? Pride was all good as far as it went, but it didn’t fill your belly.
“By all means.” I opened the menu again. “Let’s eat.”
We ordered a ridiculous amount of food, platters of all of our old favorites. I listened as Em nattered on about her wedding plans, her trousseau, and where they were going for their honeymoon—Paris, of course, though I would have preferred Tuscany or Corsica. I murmured at the appropriate moments and concentrated on the heavenly food, trying not to embarrass myself with little moans of appreciation.
Despite allowing Em, or at least Eddie, to be the benefactor of the feast, I didn’t want her to know just how tight things were. The thought of Em insisting the staff box enough food to last me several days was mortifying, so I waited until she had made use of the ladies’ room to stuff the sleeves of my coat with the rolls from the bread basket. I’d worn my Chanel suit for the interview to come. Though it was cold out, I thought I could walk out of the café with my coat folded over my arm, and no one would comment. I’d used this method of smuggling food out of restaurants in the past, and no one had caught me yet. The downside? A chilly journey lay before me on my way to the interview. Ah well, Mother always said a true lady never felt the heat or the cold.
I’d wrapped my napkin around several ham paste sandwiches to slip them into my purse when Em returned. As decadent as the pastries had been—and I hadn’t been shy about eating them—meat was what I craved at the moment, it being rather scarce in my diet of late.
All of which meant I was a little distracted when Em spoke.
“I’m sure it will be a relief to you, but I’m not asking you to be my maid of honor.”
“You’re not?”
Emotions are a tricky thing. I’d practiced a little speech as to why I couldn’t accept the honor in anticipation of Em asking me to perform that very same role, and here she was, saying the job would go to someone else.
“No. I decided to ask Eddie’s sister, Milly, instead. She’s such a mousy little thing. She’ll enjoy the spotlight for a change.”
“Are you sure that’s wise? Mightn’t she wish to make you look bad?”
Eddie’s family hadn’t exactly embraced Em. In the post-war industry boom, Mr. Prentiss had done well for himself with his various factories, and was wealthy enough to purchase an estate in the Hamptons and maintain a penthouse apartment in the city. He’d wanted nothing but the best for his precious daughter. That meant a university education at one of the finest colleges for women, though given the choice, Em would have been far happier eating bon bons and playing tennis six days a week. Although Em’s family had money, it was new money, and while they belonged to country clubs, they weren’t the right country clubs. Attending Bryn Mawr introduced Em to men who belonged to society’s upper echelon, and she’d achieved one of her father’s goals for her, marrying into a family with old money and prestige. I hoped he didn’t realize the disdain with which society held him and his daughter.
“Oh, the dears no longer think I’m a gold-digger. Not once they realized how much Daddy’s worth.” A feline smile stretched Em’s wine-red lips. As in the cat-got-the-cream smug. “Now I’m just a social climber. I’ve been working on Hardcastle senior, who thinks I’m an angel now. Of course, Eddie believes I can do no wrong.”
Which just left the female contingent of the Hardcastle household up in arms.
“Much as they’d like me to show my vulgar roots, it is their dear Eddie’s wedding, after all. The mother I won’t win over until I have children, but with Daddy footing the bill for the ceremony, Milly is thawing out.” Em grabbed my hand across the table and squeezed. “I know if I’d asked you, everything would have been simply divine, darling. You would have arranged things with deadly efficiency, and it would have been beautiful and elegant and so full of stinking class, people would’ve talked about it for years to come. Daddy would’ve wept with joy. But I don’t think you would have enjoyed it much, would you?”
For all that Em had gadded about during her four years at the college like a mindless, gaudy butterfly, she could be remarkably astute when it suited her.
“You know me too well,” I said. Under the cover of dropping my gaze into my lap at the admission, I transferred the ham sandwiches into my purse and closed the snap.
“Yes. I do.” She sat back in her chair. A playful archness highlighted her expression as she continued. “I do expect you to be a bridesmaid. There’s no getting out of that.” She stopped me before I could protest. “Daddy’s paying for this wedding. All expenses.” She emphasized the word “all” and smiled. “You needn’t worry about a thing. Now we just need to get you suitably situated.”
She acted as though my current poverty was a temporary aberration, one I could cure with a simple engagement. In theory, she was right. I’d made my bed and so now had to lie in it, but I could change my mind if I swallowed my pride.
“Why don’t you come out with us tonight? We’re going clubbing. My treat. Everyone from the old gang will be there.” She added with a mischievous smile, “Maybe some of your class will rub off on me.”
“I don’t know why you think it would after all this time.”
Delighted laughter erupted out of her. “You see? Such an elegant, effortless put-down. You probably didn’t even mean it. And in your usual lovely, dry manner. I’ll never master that, not in a million years.”
Heat rushed into my cheeks. “You don’t want to sound like my mother. Just be yourself and everyone will fall at your feet, the way they always do.”
She preened a little before her frown showed she registered that the compliment was also a distraction. “You’re changing the subject. You’re already one of Eddie’s set. Just pick someone and marry him. All your troubles will be over.”
Not exactly. She was correct in one respect. Everyone in the upper social register knew Harry Bishop, of the Leesburg Bishops, who’d married the somewhat frail, but quite wealthy, Helen Cartwright. Harry Bishop, loquacious and charming, who’d had a coffee plantation in Africa and a stable of racing thoroughbreds in Maryland. Harry Bishop, who’d taught me, his only child, Henrietta, to ride anything with four legs and shoot like Annie Oakley. Harry Bishop, who’d gambled away everything he loved, and taken the easy way out with a bullet to the brain just a few weeks after my graduation. That Harry Bishop.
My mother had gone back to her cattle baron family out West. To my utter shock, less than three months after my father’s death, my elegant mother had married a former beau from her debutante days. I refused to hide my sense of betrayal, nor, if I’m being entirely honest, my disgust. She had extended an invitation to join her in Wyoming, but I declined with some heat, and we were not on speaking terms these days. Sometimes I felt as though I never knew my parents at all.
“I tell you what, Em. If this job doesn’t work out, what I really need is an introduction to one of your father’s foremen. My deadly efficiency, as you so kindly call it, might be appreciated as an office or factory manager.”
Though at first I’d rebelled at being pulled away from my beloved life of traveling with my father, I’d taken to university study like an orphaned duck introduced to water. I immersed myself in English Lit, finding kinship in women across the ages. I’d also taken advantage of the courses offered in political economy and women’s industries. And thanks to my father, I knew what a well-managed business looked like, as well as one that was being used to launder money.
Pity I hadn’t learned about these things before his death.
Em’s lips pursed as though she’d bitten into a lemon tart when she was expecting chocolate instead. “Rhett, darling. If it were in my power, you know I would. But dearest, those jobs don’t go to women.”
“It’s 1955. Women did those jobs and more during the war. There’s no reason we can’t do them now.” I knew I could run a large factory better than I could alphabetize file folders. The problem was that filing was all I was being offered. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. All too often, I received offers that had little to do with my skill at the typewriter and more with a presumptive knowledge of skills in the bedroom. Hence, my frequent need for a new job.
“Women only worked in factories until the men came home.” Em looked as if she’d like add “idiot” to the end of her sentence.
“What about Tommy Stanford’s father?”
“My dear.” Em’s eyebrows made a brief flight toward her hairline before she narrowed her eyes in speculation. “Don’t you think he’s a bit old for you? Tommy adores you and would make a far better match.”
“Not as a husband.” I glanced around before leaning across the table to hiss at Em. “What do you take me for?” With a sigh, I sat back in my chair. “I could run his stables and school his racehorses.”
“Ah.” Em’s face relaxed as once more, as everything in her universe sank back in its proper orbit. “I’m certain you could, but you have even less chance of landing such a position than you do of managing a factory. But back to Tommy....”
“I’m not marrying Tommy.”
This time, a single eyebrow arched upward. “Has he asked?”
“He wasn’t serious. He was drunk at the time.”
“My dear, that’s the only time Tommy is serious. You should have accepted him.”
“As amusing as Tommy is, I’m rather off drunkards at the moment. Besides, I can’t marry someone for the sake of financial security.”
“I don’t see why not.”
Like most people who didn’t need money, Em had no real concept what it was like to live without it. I hadn’t either, before I discovered I was dead broke. I could have taken the sanctuary my mother offered, but I didn’t care for the price tag. I had a hard time believing her love of status and wealth hadn’t been a huge factor in the decisions my father had made, even as he’d kept up the pretense that everything was all right. Aloud, I said I didn’t blame her for my father’s death, but in my heart of hearts, I did.
Em continued unconscious of her ignorance. “Women have been doing it for centuries. Not just for the money, but for power, too. Look at Cleopatra.”
“You realize that didn’t end well for her.”
“Didn’t it?” Em opened her eyes wide and then shrugged. “The point is, you shouldn’t turn your nose up at the idea. Don’t you ever want to get married?”
“Not to someone I don’t love.” I spoke with complete, uncomplicated sincerity.
“Oh, Rhett.” Em gave me her genuine smile, not the sexy little moue she usually made. “I never would have pegged you for a romantic. Love is so over rated.”
“So you don’t love Eddie, then?”
She flicked her fingers in a dismissive little gesture. “Of course I do. We’ll rub along together quite well. He’ll worship me and I’ll make him happy. But we’re talking about you, not me. It takes no more effort to fall for a rich man than a poor one.”
I laughed at this. I’m certain she quoted some celebrity, no doubt Marilyn Monroe. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Marriage is a contract one enters with good intentions. It helps if you like the other person involved, though.” Em took a delicate sip of coffee. “Take Eddie and me, for example. I get the benefit of his family’s place in society and everything that goes with it. And Eddie gets me.” Wickedness curved her smile, a smile I envied, even if I had no desire to be Mrs. Hardcastle.
“I can see where liking the other person helps,” I murmured against the rim of my cup.
Her next question came out of the blue. “Are you all right?”
I blinked. “Of course I am.” Much better, in fact, than before the meal. I could almost feel the fog of hunger leaving from my brain.
She fidgeted with a fork before lifting her gaze to meet mine. “It’s just that you’ve changed, whether or not you realize it.”
“Having your father kill himself has a way of doing that to you.” Let Em appreciate my lovely, dry comeback now.
I felt guilty for putting that rare frown on her face.
“I know it’s a terrible thing to have happened, and I would be devastated if Daddy died all of a sudden—” she looked as though she might burst into tears for a moment, “—but it’s not like you could have prevented it, you know.”
“If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in school....” The school I hadn’t wanted to attend in the first place.
She waved me off with a flick of her napkin, which she then used to dab with care at her lips before speaking again. “Nonsense. It wouldn’t have mattered if you’d been at your family’s brownstone instead of in Pennsylvania. It’s not like you were in Timbuktu, now was it?” She checked her lipstick in the deftly concealed mirror tucked in her palm, replaced the compact in her purse and then snapped the clasp shut in a moment of decision. “We’re spending most of our time in the Hamptons right now. The apartment is empty, except on the rare occasions I come back to town for fittings and the like. Why don’t you move in? Just until you get back on your feet. Martha would love having someone to take care of again.”
Her generous offer made my eyes water for an instant, but hardened businesswomen don’t cry, so I blinked back any signs of weakness. I could only imagine how their housekeeper would feel about my presence in the family’s absence. And what if the entire family returned? It was one thing to room with Em in college, but I wasn’t sure I could bear to bunk with her parents. Even if it saved on rent. “That’s kind of you, but I couldn’t.”
“Couldn’t or wouldn’t? You know what they say about pride and falls, don’t you?”
“No. What?”
A peal of laughter rang out. “I hoped you could tell me.” Em patted my hand. “Promise me one thing, at least. If this new job doesn’t pan out, and you’re not marrying Tommy, please consider moving in before you’re out on the street?”
“I promise. Anyway, impending marriage suits you better than it would me.” If I sounded brisk, it was to dispel any sentimentality. “You look divine, as always, and I’ll keep in mind your offer of the apartment and your advice on rich men. If this job doesn’t work out, that is. Speaking of which, I should be going. It was lovely to see you, Em. We should try to get together again before the wedding.”
“Of course we will. At the very least, there’s the bridal shower, the bridesmaid’s luncheon, and the rehearsal dinner....”
I nodded. I needed to get moving, or I’d be late for my job interview. As it was, I’d stayed too long, and walking to save the bus fare was no longer an option. I prayed they were running on time. I checked the position of my hat and put on my gloves.
Em signaled the waitress to bring the check and then fixed me with that imperious stare of hers. “What about Tommy?”
“What about him?” I stood, taking care to fold my coat over one arm so the bread wouldn’t fall out of the sleeves. It took skill to tuck the sleeves in so that the rolls remained hidden, but then I’d had a lot of practice lately.
“Well, you’ll need a date for the wedding. Tommy’s part of the wedding party, and I know he’s dying to find out where you’re living these days. Shall I give him your number?”
I pictured trying to have a conversation with Tommy on the community phone in my building, wedged into the little booth at the bottom of the stairs while my landlady Mrs. King pounded on the door with her cane and yelled at me to hurry up. I repressed a shudder at the memory of being trapped in Tommy’s convertible, holding him at bay while he declared his drunken, undying love. “No, thanks. I have a date for the wedding.”
“You do? Darling, spill the details.” She reached toward me and her engagement ring caught the light again, sending little rainbows dancing across the white tablecloth.
“I’d love to, but I really must run. More later. Kiss, kiss.” I blew a token of affection at her and dashed out the door before she could question me further about my fictional date. Darn it, I’d have to come up with a man or an excuse by the wedding. Good thing I had several months to solve that problem.
As I hurried out of the restaurant, a few flakes of snow tumbled in the surrounding air. A June wedding seemed an eternity away. A glance back at Em showed her accepting another cup of coffee instead of leaving as planned. She sat with such a feline look of appreciation, I couldn’t help but feel a spurt of envy. The pane of glass separating us might have been as thick as steel, she in her world, and me in mine.
A world of my own choosing, I reminded myself. Since I’d rather have my fingernails pulled off with a pair of pliers than marry someone for the sake of getting married, it was off to the job interview for me. I’m sure Em felt the same about earning a living as a typist as I did about accepting Tommy’s offer of marriage.
I hunched into the wind and turned away. Much as I loathed to spend the money, if I hurried, I could catch the next bus. With my head tucked against the cold, I strode to the corner. Ahead of me, a man stood waiting for the light, the collar of his coat turned up against the bitter weather. The light changed just as I reached him, and he stepped off the curb into the slushy street.
“Look out!” I grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled hard, causing him to stumble backward as a taxi rounding the corner almost clipped us both. The edge of his heel caught the curb, and he fell against me, knocking my coat to the sidewalk. He flailed his arms, turning in my direction, and I caught him mid-stumble before he took us both down. As it was, I ended up nose to chest with him. He smelled of pipe tobacco and damp wool.
I’ve always been a little partial to the scent of tobacco.
“Steady now.” I held onto him to make sure he regained his footing on the slick pavement. With his fedora pulled down low, I couldn’t see the color of his hair, but the day-old stubble on his chin suggested it was dark. He had the face of a beautiful, tortured angel, all planes and angles, with a thin, elegant nose. He could have been a priest or an artist, someone acquainted with suffering, but it was his eyes that struck me the most. A vivid, startling blue, they were almost electric in the gray light of the afternoon, but so sad it was as if they held the weight of the universe in them.
“Well, that would be utterly ironic, being run over by a taxi.” He didn’t explain his comment, speaking almost to himself. His clipped, yet polite accent marked him as British, not American. “I suppose I should thank you.” This time, he met my eye. “Though I can’t say you did me any favors.”
Heaven knows what he thought of me standing there in the falling snow, studying his face like a lost Rembrandt. He glanced down where I still gripped his arms and then met my gaze with the lift of a decidedly opinionated eyebrow. Heat burned my wind-whipped cheeks as I flushed and let him go.
We both stared down at my coat lying on the damp sidewalk. When it became obvious he had no intention of picking it up, I stooped to collect it, just when he seemed to realize courtesy demanded he do the same. We bumped heads hard enough to make him mutter a curse, and he straightened, allowing me to scoop up my coat in a manner that kept the bread from falling out.
Those blue eyes glared at me from under the brim of his hat, but then faded into bleak indifference. I can’t say that I liked the implication I should have let the taxi hit him. Stepping back, I took in his painful slenderness. I wasn’t the only one missing meals these days. But starving or not, his attitude annoyed me. As long as you were alive, you could still put things right. I pulled a yeast roll out of one coat sleeve and slapped it up against his chest. “Cheer up, pal. I just stole bread from that restaurant back there for my breakfast tomorrow. You don’t see me crying about it.”
On reflex, he closed his hand over mine to take hold of the bread. When I was sure he had a sufficient grip on the roll, I pulled away and gave him a cheeky grin. Satisfied I’d done my part as a Good Samaritan, I checked the traffic and crossed the street through the swirling snow. After I reached the bus stop, I risked a glance back.
He stood where I’d left him, looking down at the bread roll in his gloved hand as the bus pulled up to take me away.