Charlie paused. ‘OK.’
‘Charlie?’
‘Yes?’
‘You don’t mind me asking you stuff, do you? I mean, using you as an information tap?’
‘Of course not!’
‘It’s just that you’re here – I mean, when you are here – and whenever I ask you something, you don’t make me feel like an idiot.’
‘That’s because you’re not an idiot.’
‘I know… but some people aren’t like that. They feel that they have this power over you because they have knowledge that you don’t.’
‘Then they’re the idiots.’
‘OK.’
‘OK.
‘What are you doing now?’
‘I’m sprawled on the bed. There’s a sci-fi film about to start so I’m going to watch that with my dinner.’
‘You should be out partying in the Big Apple. Make the most of it.’
‘There’s a thing tomorrow evening.’
‘A party?’
‘Yeah. I’m not sure whose exactly. It gets complicated sometimes as to the connection but someone’s throwing some party at a place on the Upper West Side.’
‘Ooh, swanky.’
‘Yeah.’
‘You sound thrilled.’
‘I’d rather be here watching HBO.’
‘Oh, Charlie! Go and enjoy yourself.’
‘I enjoy myself watching HBO and talking to you.’
I smiled. ‘You’re hopeless, you know that, don’t you?’
‘No. I refuse to accept that diagnosis. I just prefer a quieter life.’
‘That’s true. I take it back.’
‘And because you’re worried if you don’t, you might not get help with your taxes.’
‘There is that.’
‘You’re a hard-nosed businesswoman underneath that bubbly, kind exterior, aren’t you? Cold, hard steel.’
‘Uh oh. Busted.’
