Rococo Read Online Free

to repeat the experience.
    “This is the crux.” Toot thumps her chest in the vicinity of her heart. “We’re a couple of love cripples, you and me. We can’t shake the past. I had a good marriage that went sour, and now look at me; I can’t move on. Everybody in the world seems to move on but me. Lonnie’s had two wives since he left me, and I’ve barely had a date. A little dinner and a show, is that too much to ask?”
    “No, it’s not too much to ask.” But even agreeing with her can’t stop the onslaught.
    “I’m besmirched.” She takes a stack of Nicky’s briefs and smooths them flat with her hand before returning them to the laundry basket. “No one wants besmirched. Ma married a lousy cheater, and I did the same. Shame on me for being sucked into the flume of infidelity and spit out the other end like charred rubble. Why couldn’t I see what was happening under my nose? I shoulda known better. Or, at the very least, I should’ve known something. If my ex-husband walked through the door right now, I’d throw a chair at him.”
    “Which is probably why he doesn’t visit.” And probably why he left, but I won’t say that out loud. Why pile on?
    “Maybe it’s the end of the road for me, but not for you. You should marry Capri Mandelbaum.” Toot places the laundry basket on the window seat.
    “I do not like the word
should.
”
    “You can afford to be cavalier. If you want to marry”—she snaps her fingers—“you can. A man can always find a woman, but a woman after a certain age can only find heartache. Lucky you. You don’t know what it’s like when loneliness is thrown on you like a burlap tarp and you can’t breathe some nights from the regret.” Toot refills my coffee mug.
    “I doubt I’ll regret anything.”
    “I’m older than you. I know all about it. The day comes when your youth leaves you like a dying whiff of Jean Naté. You still have your hair and your waistline, B. Look at Capri, she’s turning forty. God knows she’s lonely too, with that myopia so bad she can’t even see her own hand without glasses. She needs you, you need her.”
    “I know what I need,” I say quietly.
    “Take Capri away for a weekend. It’ll be like throwing two old cats in a closet—something will happen. You’ll either kill each other or mate.” Toot burps the Tupperware cookie saver.
    “What a lovely proposition either way.”
    “Go on, joke. I don’t understand you. She’s rich! The Mandelbaums have more money than Onassis, and it’s even better because it’s American dough. Can’t you see? You could redecorate the entire state of New Jersey; the old lady would write the check. You could be hanging chandeliers in the men’s room at the Shell station on Route 9, for godsakes.”
    “That’s not my goal. I want to make the world elegant. Decorating homes is satisfying, but I have a bigger dream.” The moment I say it aloud, I’m sorry I did.
    “What?”
    “It’s bigger than just being rich or decorating gas stations.”
    Toot sits down. “You don’t want to move out of town, do you? ’Cause if you moved, I’d kill myself.”
    “I’m not moving.”
    “Thank God.” Toot exhales. “What is it, then?”
    “I want to renovate and redesign the Fatima church.”
    Toot waves me away like a gnat. “You’ve spent your whole life there. I don’t see why Father Porporino wouldn’t give you the job. You’re the only decorator in town.” She cups her hand at the edge of the table and scoots a couple of crumbs off the tiles.
    “I should get the job because I have a vision for the church, not because there are no other candidates.”
    “You and your megamania.”
    I don’t bother to correct her. This time, she’s close enough.
    She continues, “Relax. I’ve never seen a room of yours that I didn’t love. You may be the only decorator in town, but you’re also the best.”
    My sister makes no sense, but I’m in no mood to explain and the cookies are giving me a