"Paul Park - Fragrant Goddess" - читать интересную книгу автора (Park Paul)

He followed her through the line of fat white Ionic columns to the front
door. HeтАЩd read a little bit about the house, knew, for example, there was a
fine Tiffany window over the staircase, and the walls had been hand-painted
by ... someone, some marginally famous turn-of-the-century decorative
artistтАФheтАЩd not been interested in any of those things until heтАЩd had to
imagine Sabine living here.

She made a little pirouette in the cavernous, dark entranceway. тАЬIтАЩm
so excited to see you,тАЭ she said, her accent still thick. When heтАЩd first met
her, sheтАЩd scarcely spoken any English. Now she was fluent, obviously, and
his French was rusty. So they turned naturally to a language theyтАЩd never
spoken with each other. тАЬI canтАЩt wait to show you,тАЭ she said. She ran up the
double stairway to the landing and stood below the window, a floral pattern
of green and crimson glass. She wore an ankle bracelet, he noticed, and
the bottoms of her feet were dark.

тАЬTell me again how this happened,тАЭ he said.

тАЬI told you on the phone! When Scott and I first moved out here, we
bought a house in FremontтАФyou know? But his parents were living too
close by. Once we came by here and there was a real estate signтАФIтАЩd told
him how IтАЩd knocked on the door with youтАФdo you remember? I had
always remembered this place. Always I used to drive past when I had the
chance, and when the sign came, Scott said it was an opportunity. But I
suppose it was a gift for meтАФdo you know Arkady Ferson also lived in
Belgium? We bought it from the Lightbearers FoundationтАФdo you like it?тАЭ
she asked, as if she were talking about the dress she wore, and which she
was modeling for him under the dappled light, and which he did like very
much. It was blue and red and left her arms exposed. He could see the soft
hair in her armpits. And she didnтАЩt have to bother with a bra or anything like
that.

Once he had shared a cab with her down Fifth Avenue, thirty blocks in
rush hour from the University Club to her apartmentтАФa cold, rainy night, and
they had kissed and groped each other the entire way. Her wet shirt had
been unbuttoned to her waist. Why hadnтАЩt she asked him to come up? No, it
was because he had to continue on cross-town. He was meeting Joanna
and her parents at some Chinese restaurant on Ninth. All the way there heтАЩd
been sniffing himself guiltily, and he was already late, and Joanna was
already pissed off. тАЬShe has no idea how virtuous I am,тАЭ heтАЩd thought as
heтАЩd washed his face and hands in the cramped restaurant bathroom. The
lavender smell had already dissipated, to be replaced, with any luck, by the
scent of JoannaтАЩs perfume, the musk oil she used to wear in those days.
Sabine had met Scott right after that.

He stood below her on the stair. She was smiling, and she raised her
left hand to her mouth to hide her big teethтАФan endearing gesture that he
remembered now. Did she ever think about that taxi ride? Was she thinking
about it now? He couldnтАЩt help himself: тАЬYou must be awfully rich!тАЭ