Hearts Unfold Read Online Free PDF Page A

be long enough to see
him back on his feet.   If only he could
get Milo's voice out of his head.   Never
in all their years together had he shouted like that.   Oh, Milo might get very angry with him at
times, but his voice tended to be ominously soft on those occasions.
    When the phone
had rung, Stani had been sprawled on the floor, having apparently fallen just
short of the bed on his return home.   He
had no idea what time that might have been, but he was sure he had only been
asleep for a few minutes.   He had stared
at the phone, unable to convince his body to respond.   But it had gone on ringing until the pain in
his head had prompted him to at least attempt to make it stop.
    He tried to
force a normal greeting; one never knew who might be calling.   But Milo had known, as he always knew, the
nature of Stani's condition.   He'd gone
off immediately, demanding to know if Stani realized the car was waiting
downstairs.   Of course he didn't know!   How was he to know what his day's schedule
might be?   That was what Milo saw to
every day of his life.   It was then that
he remembered.   Milo wasn't there.   He was in Aspen.   He and Jana had taken their first vacation
together in ten years, leaving Stani to go to Washington alone.
    Milo was still
shouting over the phone, “Stani, you must pull yourself together!   Do you understand me?”   As always when upset, his accent seemed more
pronounced, clipped and authoritative.
    “All
right!   I understand!   Can you call the driver back, ask him to give
me ten minutes?   Ask him to wait.   Please!”   Suddenly afraid he might start to cry, he bit his lip, hard.
    Dropping the
receiver, Stani ran his hands through his hair, twisting his fingers into the
curls and pulling.   The pain brought
tears to his eyes, but it might help him to focus.   He took a deep breath, smelled the stench of
cigarette smoke—and maybe vomit?—in his sweater, and bile rose in his
throat.   Struggling to his feet, he
stripped off his clothes, stumbling toward the bathroom.   Somehow, in the next few minutes, he managed
to shower, brush his teeth and dress.   Grabbing his bag, packed by the ever-thoughtful Jana before her own
departure yesterday, he had nearly reached the door when, out of the corner of
his eye, he spotted the violin case.   With a muttered oath, he snatched it up, slinging the strap over his
shoulder, and jerked open the door, coming face to face with Mamie, her key in
hand, a look of supreme disapproval in her knowing brown eyes.
    With a
sputtered apology, he pushed past her.   “So
sorry, Mamie.   I'm late, of course!”
    “You're right
about that, Young Stani.   Robert is
standing at the curb.”   He was aware of
the slow shake of the housekeeper's head as she watched him race toward the
closing elevator doors.   As he stood impatiently
waiting for the next car, he turned back with what he hoped was a winning
grin.   “Don't worry about the mess I
left.   I'll take care of it when I get
back.”   The effort of the words and of
bending his face into a smile had been too much.   He tasted bile again as he got on the
elevator, thankful that it was unoccupied.   Mamie would clean his room, he knew, but at least he had made the
gesture.   Like Robert, Mamie could be
counted on to cover his tracks, although she rarely let him off without a mild
scolding.
    When the
elevator doors opened on the lobby, he was blinded by the blaze of sunlight,
and groped for the sunglasses he could only hope were still in his pocket.   They might be considered part of his
celebrity disguise, but they were essential protection after the kind of
indulgence he'd enjoyed last night.   The
banging in his head escalating with every step, he sped past the waiting
doorman and dashed gratefully for the car, aware of Robert's solicitous nod.

 

 
    Stani shifted
his position, stretching his legs across the seat and trying to find a more
stable resting place for his