Monkey Wrench Read Online Free Page B

more could a woman ask for?”
    â€œA little culture, maybe? I like men who read books, not just use them to fix a wobbly table now and then.”
    â€œDon’t be such a snob.”
    â€œI’m not a snob,” Susannah replied defensively. “I simply know my own taste, that’s all. I like bright men with a certain amount of...of polish, I suppose.”
    â€œJoe has polish.”
    â€œI meant sophistication,” Susannah shot back. “Not something you rub into fine furniture.”
    â€œ That was the remark of a snob.”
    Susannah slid limply into one of the kitchen chairs. “You’re right. I apologize.” She rubbed her forehead. “You caught me off guard, that’s all. This whole day has caught me off guard, as a matter of fact. I’ve been working very hard lately. I’m supposed to be going on my vacation tomorrow, but I’m more disorganized than ever. I guess I really do need some time off.”
    Rose turned and leaned against the stove to look at Susannah, as if ready for one of their patented heart-to-heart talks. For a moment, Susannah felt as if it were twenty years ago, and that she was still a teenager confiding in her grandmother in the privacy of their cozy kitchen. The room was filled with the fragrance of fresh baking, and rows of cookies filled sheets of waxed paper on the counter. The shelves were lined with jars of fruits and jellies that Rose had painstakingly preserved the previous summer. Sheaves of dried herbs and flowers hung from the beams overhead, reminding Susannah that everything she had become—the cooking, decorating, entertaining expert of Milwaukee television—she owed to her grandmother, who long ago had taught Susannah gracious living and the value of hearth and home.
    â€œIt feels good to be home,” Susannah said at last.
    Rose relaxed and smiled. “It’s good to see you home, dear.”
    She padded to Susannah and gave her granddaughter a warm hug and a kiss on the top of the head. “I wish you were home to stay, not running off to some hot beach tomorrow. I’m going to miss you this Christmas.”
    With a guilty pang, Susannah held her grandmother’s hand a little longer. “I’ll be back on Christmas Day, Granny Rose. I just won’t be here for all the parties beforehand.”
    â€œNot even for your birthday?”
    Susannah’s birthday fell just a week before Christmas and had been the family excuse for a large pre-Christmas gathering ever since Susannah was born. The famous Atkins partywas one of the social events of the season for the whole town of Tyler.
    â€œI can’t celebrate with you this year, I’m sorry.” Hearing the wistful note in Rose’s voice caused Susannah’s heart to ache, but she said, “Roger bought the tickets, you see, without remembering my usual plans to be in Tyler for the week before Christmas. I hated to disappoint him, Granny Rose.”
    â€œWhy? He disappoints you all the time.” Rose released Susannah’s hand and returned to the stove.
    â€œHe doesn’t mean to disappoint me. He’s just forgetful. He’s a busy man.”
    â€œToo busy to be kind?” Rose sent her a short-tempered frown.
    â€œI won’t defend Roger today,” Susannah said patiently, having endured Rose’s low opinion of Roger Selby for a long time. “Roger and I understand each other, and that’s what matters. Subject closed. I’d rather hear about you.”
    â€œI’m fine,” Rose said at once, spooning cocoa into a saucepan full of milk.
    â€œJoe says—”
    â€œOh, what does Joe know? I had a little episode, that’s all.”
    â€œAn episode?” Susannah echoed. “That sounds like a euphemism for something very bad.”
    â€œIt wasn’t.” Rose shook a dash of cinnamon into the warming milk and reached for the bottle of vanilla from the open shelf