Rough Trade

home.”
    “Are you sure you can trust him with the baby-sitter?” I asked lightly. “He’s probably got her parked in some dark alley right now telling her all about big, bad L.A.”
    “I make it a policy to hire only little old ladies to babysit. I mean, Jeff’s a Iamb, but why put temptation in his way?”
    “So who’s with the baby now?”
    “My housekeeper, Greta.”
    “Another little old lady?”
    “No, a two-hundred-pound German woman. She has arms like a stevedore and a little mustache—”
    “I think it’s time for you to go home, too.” I laughed.
    “I have to wait for Jeff. I don’t want him to wake up alone in his father’s house.”
    “That’s okay. I’ll wait. You need to get out of here.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Absolutely.”
    “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said, getting to her feet. “I’ll make sure the guest room’s all ready for you and I’ll even leave a mint on your pillow.”
    “You don’t have to do that,” I said. “Actually, I was thinking that I’d just get a hotel room downtown somewhere. You guys don’t exactly need company right now.”
    “You aren’t company.”
    “You know what I mean. I also figured that if it’s okay with you and Jeff, I might pay a call on Gus Wallenberg down at First Milwaukee first thing tomorrow morning. I figure that under the circumstances we might be able to get him to work with you on this.”
    “You mean give us more time?”
    “More time, maybe an opportunity to restructure the loan—we’ll have to see what I can talk him into....”
    “Do you really think he might?” she asked. I found her eagerness almost heartbreaking.
    “I don’t see why not,” I replied. “Beau’s death changes everything. But we won’t know unless we sit down and talk to him.”
    “You have no idea how grateful I am that you’re willing to try to help us sort out this whole mess,” said Chrissy.
    “Sorting out these kinds of messes is what I do for a living, my dear. It’s a pleasure to do it for a friend for a change.”
    “I take it you haven’t finished with that deal you love so much, the one where you’re raising money for those strip clubs.”
    “Soon, I hope.”
    “I’ve heard that before. In the meantime, I don’t care what you say. I won’t have you staying in some hotel, ^our room will be all ready for you by the time you get home. Besides, if you’re going to the bank, you’re going to need something clean to wear.”
     “I don’t think you have anything in your closet that would fit me. What size are you wearing these days?”
    “Four,” she answered sheepishly.
    “I hate to break it to you, but I don’t think I wore a size four when I was four.”
    “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe we can let out one of my old maternity dresses....”
    “You’d better leave before I hurt you,” I exclaimed, preparing to pelt her with a chocolate heart.
    “You’re sure you don’t mind staying here while I go home?”
    “Not at all. Who knows when Jeff’s going to wake up? Besides, you’ve had a rough day.”
    “You have absolutely no idea. You know what the worst part is? It’s not just the shock of it—and lord knows that’s awful enough. It’s how quickly everybody has started jockeying for position.”
    “You mean because you’re the new owners of the Monarchs?”
    “You should have heard the people sucking up to me this afternoon. Don’t they realize how transparent it is? Do they think that I’m so upset by what’s happened that it’s made me stupid? I mean, even Coach Bennato—Jesus. Ever since Beau made Jeff general manager, Bennato and Jeff have been at each other’s throats. Bennato spent the entire preseason giving interviews saying that Beau had made a terrible mistake, that Jeff didn’t have the experience for the job. Now all of a sudden he shows up at the house with tears in his eyes, and he’s telling everybody who will listen what a great team he and Jeff are going to make, how together they’re going to turn the season around by dedicating the rest of the games to Beau’s, memory. It makes me want to barf.”
    “Get used to it,” I said. “It’s only going to get worse. From here on in everyone is going to want something from you.
    “You mean until they find out we don’t have any money.”
    “Believe me, it’s not the money. You know what my mother always says: ‘There’s nothing more common than money.’ ”
    “Unless you don’t happen to have