Another You Read Online Free Page B

student health myself and talk to whoever’s in charge and they can contact her.”
    “Isn’t that—I mean—you mean you can just go over there and tell them to call her, and they will?”
    “I assume so,” he said. He was beginning to think more clearly.Sonja had a friend who was a doctor at student health—a woman who was in her book discussion group.
    “Can you find out the name of the therapist?” he said. “Get the name. My wife has a friend who works there and she can be sure that person won’t see her again.”
    “But you swear you won’t go there?” Cheryl said. “I mean it: if she found out, she would kill me. She trusts me totally.”
    “You’ve done the right thing to tell me,” he said. “I’ll give you my phone number, and you can call me tomorrow night. I assume my wife can get in touch with her friend by then. But wait a minute. Wait a minute.…” What he was thinking was that, if Cheryl called the house, Cheryl might say something and Sonja might find out that he had, indeed, been out the night before with a female student. If only he hadn’t said “Henry” on the phone. If only he’d laughed and sidestepped the question. But no: he had to blurt out a man’s name.
    “I’ll call you,” he said. “That’s better.”
    She reached in his shirt pocket and took out his pen. She wrote her name on a napkin, and her telephone number. It was a young girl’s writing. Naturally, he thought, since she was a young girl. Even the piece of paper would have to be hidden from Sonja. Or maybe that was ridiculous. Sonja wasn’t paranoid; she’d believe him if he said this was the name of the girl who was the roommate of … Livan. That was the girl’s name. How was he going to look McCallum in the eye?
    He looked at the red smear of ketchup on his plate. He had wolfed down the rest of his hamburger as Cheryl wrote. Now all he needed was …  thank you, Myrtis … the last drink of the evening, which he meant to hold on to tightly so Cheryl couldn’t get the glass away from him, and maybe a glass of water …  thank you, Myrtis … to swallow aspirin with. He asked Cheryl if she had aspirin, knowing that if she didn’t, he could buy some at the cash register. But she did have them, and she produced them from her fanny pack, unzipping it and taking out a small bottle of Bayer, even opening the top and shaking two into the palm of his hand. He thanked her and washed them down with the last inch of her beer.
    “So does a little part of you think that people my age invite trouble?” she said.
    “I think what happened was horrible, if that’s what you mean.”
    “Marshall, you’ve never been anything like a prick with me, and I appreciate it,” she said.
    He tried not to reveal his surprise that she had called him Marshall. But why not, for heaven’s sake? He’d been in the restaurant with her for more than an hour, drinking and listening to the troubling story she’d needed to tell. He’d held her hand in the car. Who should he be, if not Marshall?
    “Don’t give her Valium if she’s been drinking,” he said. “Promise?”
    “Okay,” she said.
    “And don’t take it yourself, either.”
    “It didn’t do anything,” she said.
    “Just don’t do it,” he said.
    She nodded.
    Myrtis gave them the check, her name and the word “Thanx” written on the back, three horizontal lines under “Thanx.”
    “Thanks,” Cheryl said, as he reached for his wallet. “I have five dollars, but I don’t suppose you’d take it.”
    He shook his head no.
    “I’ll hold your hand when we get to the car,” she said.
    He looked at her, embarrassed. He’d hoped what happened before wouldn’t be directly addressed. He’d counted on it. “Ms. Lanier,” he said, speaking quickly to cover his surprise. “Can I truly count on such an exceptional pleasure?”
    “But that’s all, Mr. Lockard ,” she said. “First date, and all that.”
    He could feel himself blush.
    “See what