Emerald Aisle Read Online Free PDF

the thing is done now, and it can’t be undone.”
    He drank some more, trying in vain to remember the overpowering arguments he had formed on the flight up. “This isn’t the place to discuss the matter.”
    â€œWhat is there to discuss? Say we each had an equal claim to the date; I got there first.”
    â€œWithout telling me.”
    â€œBut you found that out when you went to do the same thing.”
    â€œLadies first, old man,” Dudley Fyte said.

    â€œWould you mind staying out of this?”
    â€œI can hardly do that. I am involved. More than you are, I would say.”
    Dudley Fyte was a head taller, an older man, but one who looked fit as a fiddle. Nonetheless, it was hard to resist the impulse to take a swing at him. Dolores must have sensed Larry’s anger. She put a hand on his arm and leaned toward him. “Larry, don’t be upset. I really am sorry. How could I have known you had become engaged?”
    She had been beautiful years ago, and she was more beautiful now. The pressure of her hand on his arm brought back memories of when they had been in love. Her expression of regret seemed genuine enough. If only Dudley hadn’t been there.
    â€œWe should have talked about this alone.”
    â€œLarry, Dudley and I work together.”
    It seemed such an irrelevant remark, he laughed. “And you’re settled in Minneapolis. You should have your wedding here.”
    â€œNow see here,” Dudley began,
    â€œDudley, don’t.”
    â€œDolores, you have already gone an extra mile.”
    â€œI flew five hundred miles,” Larry blurted out, feeling like a fool.
    â€œOn a pointless errand.”
    Dolores shifted her hand to Dudley’s arm and shook her head. For a mad moment Larry thought that it was he and Dolores against this supercilious ass. “Could we discuss this alone, Dolores?”
    She looked at him with affection, with something almost more than affection. She really did see his point. She looked at her attendant. “Dudley?”
    â€œI think I should stay.”
    â€œMaybe it would be best if Larry and I talked alone.”
    He frowned. “You insisted I come and now I see why.”

    â€œWhat’s that supposed to mean?” Larry asked.
    â€œDolores told me what she expected, and she was right.”
    Dolores looked back and forth at the two men, unsure what she should do. She had scarcely touched her drink.
    â€œWhere are you staying, Larry?”
    â€œI’m at the Radisson.”
    Dudley said, “We’d better go, Dolores, I made a reservation”—he turned a small smile on Larry—“for dinner.”
    â€œPlease don’t be angry, Larry. It would spoil my wedding to think that you felt this way.”
    â€œSpoil the wedding?” Dudley laughed.
    Again Larry felt an impulse to hit the other man, and this was like a concession of defeat. Dolores’s hand was again on his arm. She had always been demonstrative. More memories came. He almost felt that Dudley was stealing his girl as well as the reservation at Sacred Heart. But then he remembered Nancy. Suddenly this trip seemed foolish. He put his glass on the bar. “It won’t spoil my wedding.” It was like a playground quarrel. “Good-bye.”
    But he stood there, wanting to say something more that would restore his sense of being in the right.
    â€œCan’t Father Rocca give you another day, Larry?”
    â€œSure, a couple of years from now.”
    That had to be his exit line. He turned to go.
    â€œI’ll pay for your beer,” Dudley said.
    Larry pulled out his wallet and threw a bill on the bar. A ten. But he would be damned if he would wait for change. He got to the door and pushed through and started rapidly up the street, wishing he hadn’t made this stupid, doomed trip to Minneapolis. At the Radisson, he went upstairs to his room where he sat on the bed and reviewed the silly