Tales of the City 06 - Sure of You

this nice? Is this the study?”
    “The orgy room,” said Michael.
    The woman tittered briefly, nervously, before her face fell like a soufflé and she retreated.
    “You’re terrible.” Mary Ann wiped her eyes.
    “Well…it probably was.”
    “Let’s get out of here.”
    “Fine by me,” he said. “You wanna get some coffee in the Avenues?”
    “Oh, that sounds wonderful.”
    “I know a perfect place.”
    “I knew you would,” she said, squeezing his arm.

    They were nearly out the door when Mary Ann spotted the shining, sculpted faces of Russell and Chloe Rand, floating through the crowd like a pair of beacons. She stopped in her tracks. “Mouse, look…”
    “Yeah.”
    “We should say hello, don’t you think?”
    “I thought we were…”
    “They must be back from L.A.”
    “Must be.”
    He followed dutifully as she plowed through the throng. For a fleeting moment, when she reached back to take his hand, he thought he knew how it felt to be her husband.

Nickel-Dime Stuff
    I T WAS A GENERIC VALLEY , A DARK BOWL TWINKLING WITH porch lights and undistinguished by landmarks. There was neither bridge nor bay nor pyramid to tip you off that this was San Francisco, but—to Brian, at least—it couldn’t have been anywhere else in the world.
    Thack joined him on the deck, gazing out at the fleecy fog. “They must be socked in out at Sea Cliff.”
    “I guess so.”
    “There’s some Häagen-Dazs in the freezer.”
    “Maybe later.”
    “Don’t worry about it, Brian. He wasn’t upset.”
    “Are you sure? I know I shouldn’t’ve brought up Jon like that.”
    “Why not?”
    “Well…you know…a dead guy.”
    Thack smiled at him. “We talk about dead guys all the time.”
    Brian nodded absently.
    “It’s just the way it is.”
    “I guess so.”
    “He was defending Mary Ann, right? And it got out of hand.”
    “More or less,” said Brian.
    “Well…serves him right. He shouldn’t walk the fence so much.”
    Brian was surprised by this cavalier reaction. “He’s known her a long time,” he said in Michael’s defense.
    “Yeah.”
    “I don’t expect him to take my side, just because…”
    “He knows that,” said Thack. “He also knows you’re getting a bum deal. The trouble is he wants everyone to like him. He works at it way too hard. He’s spent so much time being a good little boy that he’s never figured out which people aren’t worth it.”
    Brian figured this was said for his benefit. To convince him that what he was about to lose was nothing of value, nothing worth crying over. He didn’t buy it.
    Thack kept his eyes on the fog bank. “Where’d you go after work? We were worried about you.”
    “Just out for some brews.”
    “You holding up O.K.?”
    “Yeah.” He looked at Thack sideways. “You must be tired of hearing me piss and moan.”
    “Nah.”
    “It’s nickel-dime stuff, though, compared to what you and Michael have to deal with.”
    Thack shrugged. “We’ve all gotta deal with something.”
    “Maybe, but…”
    “If Michael were leaving, I wouldn’t consider it nickel-dime.” He gave Brian a sleepy smile. “You’re entitled to be miserable.”
    There was another long silence.
    Brian asked: “Doesn’t it scare you?”
    “What? Michael?”
    “Yeah.”
    Thack seemed to sort something out for a moment. “Sometimes I watch him when he’s playing with Harry or digging in the yard. And I think: This is it, this is the guy I’ve waited for all my life. Then this other voice tells me not to get used to it, that it’ll only hurt more later. It’s funny. You’re feeling this enormous good fortune and waiting for it to be over at the same time.”
    “You seem happy,” Brian ventured.
    “I am.”
    “Well…that’s a lot. I envy you that.”
    Thack shrugged. “All we’ve got is now, I guess. But that’s all anybody gets. If we wasted that time being scared…”
    “Absolutely.”
    “You ready for that ice cream?” said Thack.

In the Loo
    T HE RANDS , BLESS THEIR HEARTS , HAD GREETED HER like an old friend, obviously tickled to see a familiar face at yet another alien benefit. They were a little slow in coming up with Michael’s name, so she let them off the hook right away.
    “…and you remember Michael.”
    “Of course,” said Chloe.
    Russell extended his hand. “Sure thing. How’s it going?”
    “Great,” Michael told him.
    “Were you on the way out?” Chloe asked.
    “Well…”
    “Oh, don’t be. I’m sure we