A Fistful of Rain Read Online Free PDF Page B

do?”
    “Nothing, I told you.”
    “You have a fight?”
    I shook my head.
    He set his utensils down, leaned forward, lowered his voice. “Mim?”
    “It’s exhaustion,” I said. “They’re making the announcement sometime today. Saying that I’m taking the rest of the tour off.”
    “Exhaustion.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Miriam?”
    “Don’t want to talk about it,” I said.
    He didn’t move, keeping his head close, and I kept looking at my plate, at the islands of pancake and the sea of syrup. I knew what it was he was thinking, I knew he suspected. He quit drinking in his late teens, and I could feel his judgment, and I thought about calling him a hypocrite.
    We finished eating, but the conversation went shallow, mostly Mikel asking questions about the tour. We’d hit Japan before Australia, with two nights in New Zealand in between, and he was curious about Christchurch. He knew a couple of software people who’d had protracted stays in New Zealand while working postproduction on a series of films, and apparently all of them had raved about what a great place the country was.
    “Nice crowds,” I told him. “Nice hotel. Venue was cool, very modern. Great acoustics. I broke three strings on the Tele the first night and had to finish the second set using my alternate, but I don’t think anyone but me and Fabrizio noticed.”
    “Fabrizio?”
    “My guitar tech. Nice guy. Fat little guy. But nice.”
    “That’s all you can say about New Zealand?”
    “That’s all of New Zealand that I experienced. If you want more, I can try to remember the hotel room décor and what I ate for dinner each night.”
    We finished eating and the check came, and I snatched it before Mikel could, and he tried to go all big brotherly on me.
    “Give it.”
    “No.” I dug around in my jacket for my wallet.
    “Give it here, Miriam.”
    “Are you rich?”
    “I’m comfortable.”
    “Yeah, well, I have been told that I am stinking rich,” I said. “My treat.”
    It was hard for him to argue with that. We paid and went outside, and the rain had stopped. The sky was the color of a muddy sheet. Mikel waited while I lit a cigarette, then asked what my plans were.
    “Home,” I said. “Sleep.”
    “You sure you want to go home?”
    “Don’t know what else my choices are. I mean, I either go home, or I never go home, right?”
    “I’m just asking if you’re up to it.”
    “I’m upper to it now than I was before I called you. Daylight makes it better, I think. I should probably do some shopping, get some groceries in.”
    “I’ll keep you company.”
    I glanced at him suspiciously. “Overprotective much?”
    “Only when you let me.”
    “Mikel.”
    “Let me keep you company,” he said gently. “We’ll go shopping, I’ll go back to your place with you, I’ll look around, we’ll call the Scanalert people and tell them to turn your system back on. It’ll make me feel better.”
    I thought about protesting, but didn’t really want to. I didn’t want him to see that I thought he was being really sweet, either, so instead I shrugged and headed back to my Jeep, telling him I wanted to go to Fred Meyer. He followed me down Sandy Boulevard, and when I checked in my rearview mirror, I could see him behind his wheel, watching my progress and the traffic, all the while talking on his mobile phone. He caught me looking at the light and gave me a grin.
    I grinned back and shook my head. For all his many faults, I adore my brother.
    He almost makes up for our fuck-awful parents.
    We stopped by the bank first, so I could get some cash out of the ATM, and I checked all my accounts, not just my savings. It was the first time I’d actually seen my balance in months, and I was a little surprised at the numbers. According to my checking balance alone, I was maybe a very rich girl, indeed.
    The machine only let me withdraw four hundred dollars, and I took it to the Fred Meyer on Broadway. Freddy’s is a mammoth combo-store,