"Mary Taffs - Martha's Madness" - читать интересную книгу автора (Taffs Mary)

"You haven't heard about that?" She smiled a little more naturally and continued, "I guess you don't need
to, working for the family company. But basically, somebody decided a while back that losing your job is
a lot like having somebody close to you die. You go through a bunch of phases, like disbelief and grief
and anger, and eventually you get to acceptance. Except that I didn't. I'd just sit in our apartment and
stare at the walls, and even buying groceries or fixing dinner was too complicated."

"That sounds awful." He remembered feeling a little like that, right after Carolyn left. He'd had Brittany
and Michael to help, though.

She nodded. "It was. So Michael's Christmas present to me was this vacation. He's been working at the
same place for four years now, so he'd managed to save up a lot of time off, and they're not very busy
right after New Year's, so his boss let him take it all off at once." She paused, blinking and gulping in air.
"That was so sweet of him! It's helped a lot, too . . ."

Her voice sounded wistful and vulnerable, very unlike the usual Brittany. He wanted to help somehow,
even if all he could do was hold her and assure her that everything would be all right. But holding her was
impossible, too. Words would have to do. "Maybe when you get back home, you'll feel better about
being there."
She blinked one last time and sat up straighter, something that only emphasized the way the chair
overwhelmed her petite size. "I'm sure you're right, and I apologize for dumping on you. Now, what's
going on with you? We haven't talked for a couple of months."

He shrugged. "Nothing new. The subsidiary in Olympia is our tenth one, and I'm in charge of all of them.
My brother Robbie works with me, but he's got a couple of kids, so I do most of the site visits. That's
what I'm doing next week, actually. I'm going to drive around the Olympic Peninsula tomorrow and
Sunday, spend Monday and Tuesday at the site in Olympia, fly cross-country Wednesday, and spend
Thursday and Friday in North Carolina."

"How's your social life? Or do I even need to ask?"

She always got around to asking that eventually. As did Carolyn and at least half of his family. They all
figured that if he wasn't dating, he wasn't over Carolyn yet. But that wasn't true. "I'm on the road so much
. . ."

She punched his arm lightly. "Don't give me that. You could make time, if you wanted to." She seemed
about to say more, but then she shook her head reluctantly. "Damn. I really have to go, Tony, but this has
been way too short." With a sudden grin, she asked, "Look, how about if you come out to Martha's
Madness with me? I'd love to have you see the place, and we could talk lots more."

"But you're leaving tomorrow, and you have to pack." He didn't mention Michael, not knowing a polite
way to say that Michael so often seemed jealous of their friendship.

She frowned intently for a few seconds, apparently thinking some idea through. "Packing won't really
take all that long, and I'm going to do it right when I get back. Michael likes to make the drive at night, so
we'd have all day tomorrow to talk and walk on the beach and all. He'll probably be glued to the TV, so
he wouldn't mind."

He felt sure that she was making overly optimistic assumptions about packing and Michael's reaction, but
all that really mattered was that she was reaching out to him for support and friendship. He said, "If
you're sure . . ."