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“No one can afford to be without a cellular,” he finished. “I tell you what, if you buy one cellular phone, I’ll throw in a carrying case for free. The case comes in black or brown leather. Which one do you want?”
Adrienne’s anger was beginning to subside. “Give me the brown,” she said dispiritedly.
With her last ounce of energy, she stopped at another counter and spent $60 on a digital AM/FM cassette player. According to that salesclerk, a young Asian guy barely out of his teens, it had auto-reverse and an extra bass system.
This time her MasterCard was denied, so she put the purchase on her Discover card.
Adrienne balanced the heavy packages and tried to hail a cab, but to no avail. Thirty-fourth Street was crowded as usual with mobs of rude New Yorkers forging ahead like a Roman legion. They bumped into, stepped on, and cursed Adrienne as she struggled through the herd to get to the next corner, powerless to defend herself. Adrienne spotted an empty cab six cars behind the others, and a glimmer of hope made her heart pump in anticipation. She couldn’t wait to get off her feet and out of the zoo on Seventh Avenue.
As she struggled to get closer to the cab so the driver could see her, a group of Japanese tourists began snapping photos of Macy’s. Annoyed, she pushed through them, and to her dismay, she saw a tall blonde with a cell phone in hand jump into the cab she desperately wanted. Adrienne’s heart sank as she looked into the cab, knowing she would have to walk several blocks to try to get another one. She regr
ouped the packages and lunged forward like a linebacker through the hordes of people, her aching feet and problems accompanying her for six blocks until a taxi finally stopped for her.
When the cab pulled up in front of her apartment building, Adrienne hauled all her bags out and then checked the backseat carefully to make certain that nothing had been left behind. Her rage was spent, and she felt positively exhausted.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Mel felt as if he were lying on the slimy bottom of the East River instead of driving a bus packed to capacity with chattering passengers across 125th Street. It was raining, and his skin felt cold. He had seen the tiny Apollo Theater a hundred times, yet today it looked even older and more decrepit than usual. He was in a terrible mood. He had apologized to Adrienne over and over, but she had not said a word to him since that awful night at Dan’s house. It was clear that she was fed up.
Mel grimaced at a woman who was struggling up the steps with a baby in one hand and a folded stroller in the other. He lifted the steel bar that separated him from the public, and got up to give her a hand. He took the stroller and started pushing his way through the crowd of startled passengers. “Hey!” he yelled. “I need one of you righteous brothers to stand up and let this sister and her baby have a seat!”
A teenage boy stood up, and Mel gave him a brother-to-brother palm slap and helped the woman settle in. She thanked him warmly, and Mel went back to the driver’s seat wishing that women with children would just stay at home.
For the past four weeks, Mel had tried to be the perfect husband. He cleaned the house, washed the dishes, did the laundry, and kept the refrigerator’s interior shiny and filled with food.
Adrienne ignored everything he did, and he couldn’t blame her.
Maybe he should just walk away so that Adrienne could start over. No, that wouldn’t be right. If he asked Adrienne for a divorce, it would send her spiraling back into the depression that had enveloped her after Delilah’s funeral. Worse, she could have a nervous breakdown and end up as a patient in Bellevue Hospital or something. Delilah’s death was all my fault, he thought. Adrienne is just beginning to rebuild her life and she wants to make our marriage work. Besides, what kind of man causes the death of his only child and then leaves his wife alone to live with the memories? If I left, I’d be a worse man than my own father was.
No, he couldn’t break Adrienne’s heart again. Tears sprang to Mel’s eyes at his predicament, and he wiped them away quickly. It took a few minutes for him to get his emotions under control, and then he turned to greet another line of boarding passengers with a quiet, tired smile.
CHAPTER THIRTY
All the bills from Adrienne’s shopping spree arrived to haunt her.
She took them to work with her one morning to call the credit card companies and confess that she couldn’t pay. Her bills were neatly stacked in two columns on each side of her desk. The tears that pooled in her eyes fell in heavy drops atop her desk.
“Adrienne?”
Adrienne wiped her eyes and looked up. Good Lord, she thought, I forgot to close the door! “Yes?”
“Why are you crying?”
“I don’t want to bother you with my problems.”
“It’s never a problem to listen to a friend.”
Adrienne managed a weak smile.
“Is it your husband?”
They had never spoken about the dinner. Lloyd seemed to know that she didn’t want to discuss it. Adrienne felt a crying jag approaching, but she was powerless to stop it.
Lloyd closed the door.
“Oh, Lloyd, I’m in so much debt.” She waved the bills in the air in desperation.
Lloyd lifted her chin up toward him and watched the tears stream down her face.
