Once in a Lifetime Read Online Free PDF Page A

question about the Bar Association meeting or his work as an attorney, they had only talked of themselves since they had shoved off from the dock in the little rented boat.
    "I'm nineteen." She said it with a sudden spark of defiance, as though she were used to being told that she was too young. "And in September I'll be twenty and a senior."
    "I'm impressed." His eyes were gentle as he smiled, and she blushed. "I mean it. Columbia's a tough school, you must have worked damn hard." She could tell by his tone of voice that he meant it and suddenly she was pleased. She liked him. Almost too much. Or maybe it was just the sunshine and the wine, but she knew as she looked at him that it was more than that. It was the curve of his mouth, the gentleness in his eyes, the graceful strength of his hands as he pulled lazily at the oars from time to time ... and the way he watched her, with intelligence and interest ... the sensitivity of the things he said.
    "Thank you. ..." Her voice drifted off and sounded very soft.
    "What's the rest of your life like?"
    She looked confused at the question. "What do you mean?"
    "What do you do with your spare time? I mean other than pretend to interview slightly drunk attorneys in Central Park."
    She laughed at him then and the sound echoed as they passed beneath a little bridge. "Are you drunk? It must be the sun as much as the wine."
    "No." He shook his head slowly as they came out into the light again. "I think it's you." He leaned over then and kissed her, and they had both played hooky for the rest of the afternoon. "They'll never know the difference," he assured her as they wandered south toward the zoo. They laughed at the hippopotamus, threw peanuts to the elephant, and ran all the way through the monkey house holding their noses and laughing. He wanted to put her on the pony ride as though she were a little girl, and laughing at him again, she refused. Instead they took a hansom cab ride through the park, and at last they strolled up Fifth Avenue beneath the trees, until they reached Ninety-fourth Street where she lived.
    "Do you want to come up for a minute?" She smiled innocently at him, holding the red balloon he had bought her at the zoo.
    "I'd love to. But would your mother approve?" He was twenty-seven years old, and in the three years since he had graduated from Harvard Law he hadn't once thought of anyone's mother or whether or not they would approve. It was a good thing too, since no one's mother would. He had been on an orgy of dating and free sex since he had left school.
    Daphne laughed at him as she stood on tiptoe and put her hands on his shoulders. "No, Mr. Jeffrey Fields, my mother would not approve."
    "Why not?" He pretended to look hurt as a couple returning from work looked at them and smiled. They looked young and beautiful and perfectly matched, his hair a deeper gold than hers, his eyes a dazzling gray-green, his features as handsomely sculpted as her own, and his youthful strength in sharp contrast to her delicate size as he circled her with his arms. "Because I'm a Yankee?"
    "No ..." She tilted her head to one side and he felt his insides melt as his hands touched the tiny waist. "Because you're too old, and too good-looking...." She grinned and gently pulled free from his grasp. "And because you've probably kissed half the girls in town"--she laughed again--"including me.
    "You're right. My mother would be shocked too."
    "Well, then come on upstairs for a cup of tea, and I won't tell your mother, if you don't tell mine." Her roommate was gone for the summer, and the apartment was tiny and respectable; shabby but not ugly. She made him iced tea, which she served with mint and wonderful delicate lemon cookies. He sat beside her on the couch, and it was suddenly eight o'clock at night and he wasn't tired or bored. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, and he knew that he had finally met the woman of his dreams.
    "How about dinner?"
    "Aren't you tired of me yet?" Her