Miss Julia Paints the Town Read Online Free Page B

glint. “He says there’s nobody else, but I’ll tell you this, there has to be. Leonard can’t cook, he can’t do laundry and he can’t pick up after himself. He can’t even find the remote when he’s the one who punches it all the time. What’s he going to do in all this space he wants?”
    If I’d been shocked at Richard Stroud’s alleged misdeeds, it was nothing compared to what I felt at hearing of Leonard Conover’s sudden about-face. The man was a nonentity in our circle of friends. He had few social skills and little interest in anybody or anything. He simply existed, following meekly on the heels of his wife’s bright chatter and avid concern about everything in town. And now, suddenly, he needed space? Room to find himself?
    What would he find when he looked?
    I couldn’t help but lower my voice, in awe if nothing else. “You really think there’s another woman?”
    LuAnne’s eyes narrowed. “There’s always another woman, Julia. Especially for a man like him—you just don’t know. But I’ll tell you one thing. When I find out who she is, I’m going to pull out every hair on her head.”

Chapter 4
    â€œNow, LuAnne,” I cautioned, “you don’t know that there’s anybody else. I can’t imagine there would be. Leonard’s not the flighty kind, and I’ve never seen him give any woman a second look.” Barely a first one, if the truth be known.
    â€œYou’re not hearing me, Julia,” LuAnne said, smacking her knee with a fist. “Leonard has needs. He may be looking for space, but he’ll fill it as soon as he can.” Her whole body began to shake.
    â€œOh, LuAnne, I’m so sorry. But if I were you, I’d just let him go and let him find out how much he needs you.” I took her hand in mine and pressed on. “I hate to see you torn up like this. Leonard can’t get along without you, and it’s not going to take any time for him to find that out.”
    â€œJulia,” she said, taking a deep breath, “I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told a living soul. And if you repeat it, I’ll never speak to you again.”
    â€œOf course I won’t repeat it,” I said, drawing back in offense. Between the two of us, I was not the gossip.
    â€œWell, you better not.” LuAnne bit her lip as her flinty eyes probed the room. “This is just between you and me. And Leonard, of course, but he won’t know that you know.” She glanced at me, then looked down at her hands. “Leonard wants to…you know, all the time, and I mean almost every night. He nearly wears me out, but I know that some men have stronger needs than others, and Leonard’s one of them.”
    â€œ Every night?” I whispered, almost struck dumb by the thought.
    â€œWell, it’s gotten worse since he retired and started taking that medicine. He doesn’t have enough to occupy him, you know, so it weighs on his mind.”
    I glanced across the room at the hall door that led to our bedroom, wondering if Sam’s behavior would change when he finished his legal history. Lord, I’d have to think of something else he could research.
    â€œMy word, LuAnne, I don’t know what to say.” Except, if it were me, I’d be glad he’d moved out.
    â€œWait a minute,” I said, recalling a similar scene from the past. “Didn’t you have the opposite trouble with him a couple of years ago? I mean, when he had no interest at all in, well, in what we’re talking about?” I clearly remembered LuAnne sitting on this very sofa lamenting Leonard’s total lack of what she called needs. At the time, not long after Wesley Lloyd’s passing and my discovery of his secret life in which he’d pursued needs that I’d never known he had, I’d not been all that sympathetic with LuAnne’s loss