Downsizing Read Online Free PDF Page B

looked surprised but only hesitated for a
moment before she stood and walked into his arms.
    “ You’re as taut as a bow,
sweetheart. Relax! I ain’t gonna eat you.”
    “ I’m not very good at this,
either.”
    “ Sure you are.” He kissed her
forehead. “Just let yourself go.”
    By the time the music ended, Kitty had relaxed
enough to sing along to the old Abba tune they were dancing to.
They returned to the sofa and refreshed their drinks.
    “ There, that wasn’t so hard, was
it.” Noah smiled at her. “So remind me again who it is in your
marriage that ain’t any good at it.”
    “ Yes, I see what you mean. But,
Noah, what’s Ryan done to make you so set upon revenge?”
    “ Is that what you thought this was
about?”
    “ What else?” she asked a little
too casually.
    “ I get the impression that you’re
not my husband’s greatest fan,” Kitty said. “Why is
that?”
    Noah told her about his ambitious plans for
the house on Broad Street.
    “ But Ryan wouldn’t lend you the
money?”
    Noah grimaced. “Nah, he laughed in my face and
told me to take you out instead.”
    “ Are you surprised?”
    Noah’s eyes swiveled toward her face. “What do
you mean?”
    “ Well, I can see a lot of him in
you. When he was your age he had the same drive and ambition and
was determined that nothing would stand in his way. Not even my
father when he opposed our marriage. Ryan’s very savvy. He will
have recognized those traits in you, and doesn’t want the
competition.”
    “ But I only want to buy one stupid
little house. I’m hardly going to be in the same league as him any
time soon.”
    “ Ryan thinks long
term.”
    “ Obviously.” Noah lapsed into a
brooding silence.
    “ You said you live with your
father. Can’t he help you out?”
    Noah snorted. “My father doesn’t usually have
enough money to pay the rent, much less buy a house. He’s
hopelessly impractical and just lives for the moment.”
    “ But he always kept you with him,”
she said softly. “Not many men in his position would have done
that.”
    “ I suppose that’s true. He tells
anyone who’ll listen that I was the accidental result of a casual
fling with a dancer. When she found out she was knocked up she
wanted to get an abortion.” Noah paused, wondering why he felt the
need to open up to a comparative stranger. The only other person
who knew his history was Maxine. “Dad went mad and told her he’d
bring me up, which he did, after a fashion. My ma went all maternal
for a while, apparently, but as soon as I could walk and started
curbing her activities she lost all interest in being a
mother.”
    “ What happened to her?”
    “ She took off with a bouncer from
the club where she worked, and Dad and I have been alone ever
since.”
    “ You’re fond of him, aren’t
you?”
    Noah flashed a reluctant smile. “Yeah, course
I am, but he drives me mad, as well. Practicality isn’t in his
nature, and he’s always on the lookout for the big opportunity.”
Noah let out a long breath. “I keep telling him he’s living on
borrowed time, but he doesn’t listen.”
    “ And when the money’s
gone?”
    “ Ah, then it’s depression time and
he hits rock bottom until a new scheme comes along.”
    “ No wonder you want to make
something of yourself. I’ve often noticed that kids adopt a
diametrically opposed attitude in adulthood to the example set by
their parents.” She smiled. “Mine certainly did. My son hasn’t put
in an honest day’s work in his life. Seems to think everything Ryan
has is his by rights, and that he doesn’t need to build a career
for himself.”
    “ Yeah, well, my dad ain’t all bad.
He just hasn’t grown up yet.”
    “ And so you’ve had to?”
    Noah shrugged. “Someone had to be the parent.
Anyway, I know what I want.”
    “ It must have been hard not having
a woman about the place when you were little.”
    Noah snorted. “You’re kidding me, right? I’ve
had more surrogate mothers