Chapter 18 - The Visitor Log
Adrian called at six in the evening, just as I was reheating soup. He asked if he could tell me something without turning it into an argument.
“That depends on what you say.”
“I went to the Vermont house.”
I lowered the spoon. “Did Leo know you were coming?”
“Dorothy told him after school.”
“And?”
“He asked if the concert was tomorrow. I didn't know what he meant.”
There was a long silence. Then Adrian said, “I looked in the visitor book. Vanessa has been there eleven times since spring. I've been there three.”
I leaned against the counter. I'd expected him to tell me he had discovered another irregular signature or moved another tranche of money. Instead, he was reading out his absence.
“What did you do?”
“I asked him about the concert. He showed me the song.”
“That's good.”
“He wouldn't sit beside me at dinner. Dorothy said not to insist.”
“She was right.”
“Claire, I don't know how to be someone a child expects to see.”
It was the least strategic sentence I had ever heard from him.
May you like
“I can't teach you that over the phone,” I said. “But you can show up next time without making him ask.”
After the call, my soup had gone cold. I ate it anyway.
