The Man Who Wasn't All There by David Handler (book recommendations website TXT) 📕

‘Or maybe my doctor can do it after he takes my staples out.’

She gazed at me, smiling. ‘You, sir, just got some good news.’

‘How can you tell?’

‘Because your eyes are sparkling.’

‘Alberta loved the pages I sent her. The words “masterpiece in progress” were even bandied about.’

Merilee rushed to me and hugged me tightly. ‘Darling, I’m so proud of you.’

‘Mind you, I still have a long, long way to go.’

‘But I know how much her feedback means. Do you feel like taking a short walk before lunch?’

‘I do. I want to keep up my stamina.’

‘Good. Dr Jen wants Lulu up and walking, too. Said she’ll turn into a sub-compact automobile if she doesn’t.’

We three started our way down to the cove.

‘Feeling OK, darling? Not tired out or dizzy?’

‘I’m fine,’ I said as Lulu walked gamely along with us. ‘It feels good to be out and about, doesn’t it, girl?’

Lulu let out a low whoop of assent.

Merilee had grabbed a pair of baskets from the barn. When we reached the orchards she paused to pick some apples and pears for me to take back to New York, filling them to the brim. We shared a crisp, juicy Macoun, my favorite variety of apple, as we resumed our stroll.

‘I spoke to Kate on the phone while you were napping yesterday,’ she informed me off-handedly. ‘Kate’ would be Katherine Hepburn, who lived in a shorefront mansion in the Fenwick enclave across the Connecticut River in Old Saybrook. The two of them had become friends. Kate was a fan of Merilee’s work. And Merilee worshipped her, as did every actress on the planet. ‘I told her that Brett doesn’t seem real to me.’

‘What did she say?’

Merilee went into her drop-dead impersonation of Kate, trembly voice and all. ‘Then make her real, by golly. If you’re not happy, take charge. Fight for her. They’ll call you a bitch behind your back. Let ’em! It’s your face that’s up there on that fifty-foot screen!’

‘I like that woman.’

For all of my bold talk I got tired a lot sooner than I expected and we started back to the house. I sat at the kitchen table while Merilee sliced the bread, salami and cheese and laid out our antipasti feast. Lulu stretched out under the table with her head on my foot. She was pooped, too.

As soon as Merilee sat down I dove in, sampling this and that. All of it was amazingly good.

‘If you want to work on your book here, please don’t hesitate to come back,’ she said as she devoured some fresh mozzarella on a slice of bread. ‘I want you to think of this as your home. The apartment, too.’

I studied her curiously. ‘What are you saying exactly?’

She lowered her gaze. ‘That I guess I don’t understand anymore why we’re not together. You’re that man, again.’

‘What man?’

‘The man I fell in love with. The only man I want to be with. I enjoyed every minute that we spent together over the summer. I missed you as soon as you went back to New York. I’ve missed you every day in Budapest. I think about you all of the time.’

I put my hand over hers and gazed deeply into her green eyes. ‘Are you sure you’re not just saying this because I have staples in my head?’

She let out a laugh, her eyes welling with tears. ‘Positive. When I’m done with this movie, maybe we should sit down and have The Talk.’

‘About getting back together for real, you mean?’

‘Unless, that is, you’d be averse to the idea.’

‘Merilee, you know how I feel.’

‘No, I don’t know. And it would be helpful if you said some words out loud about it right now.’

‘You’re the only woman I want to be with, but …’

‘But what?’

‘I can’t promise you who I’ll be from one year to the next.’

‘Neither can I, darling. We’re both artists, not to mention totally wifty. But we’re also ten years older and wiser, and that has to mean something.’

‘It does.’ I leaned across the table and kissed her softly, stroking her cheek as I got lost in her green eyes. I let out a contented sigh before I glanced at Grandfather’s Benrus. ‘Damn, your car and driver are going to be here in a few minutes. You’d better finish packing. And, by the way, that was a yes.’

‘To what, darling?’

‘When you get back, maybe we should have The Talk. Except you can drop the word “maybe.”’

Glowing, she darted off to the bedroom to finish packing while I wrapped up the remains of our lunch. By the time her Il Bisonte bags were ready and waiting by the front door a black Lincoln Town Car was easing its way up the gravel driveway. A driver in a black suit got out.

I carried her bags out to the car. He deposited them in the trunk, Lulu watching him with keen suspicion.

Merilee joined us a moment later, her shearling winter coat thrown over her arm. She tossed it in the back seat and we hugged each other tightly before she said, ‘There’s a murderer on the loose. Promise me you won’t do anything dangerous or foolhardy.’

‘I promise.’

‘Promise me and mean it.’

‘I mean it.’

She knelt to give Lulu a goodbye hug as Lulu gazed at her forlornly. ‘Sweetness, I’m counting on you to look after him. He means well but you and I both know that he can be a total bozo.’ Then she got in the back seat and rolled down her window. ‘Goodbye, darling.’

‘You’ll do what Kate suggested?’

‘It was more of an order. And I will. Mind you, they might fire me.’

‘They can’t. Without you the studio will pull the plug. You’re Merilee Nash, remember?’

We kissed through the open window, then she rolled it up and off they went down the driveway. Lulu and I stood there and watched them drive away. Lulu started whimpering. I asked her to shut up. She didn’t. I told her to shut up. She didn’t. I gave up trying after