you,â he said. Â She could now hear the alcohol in his voice. Â She eyed the wineglass in her hand and figured, it takes one to know one . Â
He tried again. Â âLook, I called to see if your number worked and to see how it went. Â Why do you have to be such a bitch?â
âIâm not, Greg. Â If you had paid a little more attention to Davidâs and my needs, weâd all still be living in the same house.â
âAre we getting into that again, Diane? Â Come on, itâs been over a year. Â Canât we be friends now?â
âWhy should we?â
âWell, we have a son together, for one thing.â
âI know, and I promise I can be civil when youâre around us. Â I donât bad-mouth you to him. Â Youâre still his father and I respect that.â
âYou sure donât sound like it.â
âGreg, you left us! Â You had your fucking mid-life crisis and walked out of the house. Â You started screwing your secretary and thenââ
âI did not screw my secretary!â
âWell, whoever it was, I know it was someone at Boston Ford!â
He was quiet for a moment. Â This confirmed her suspicion. Â
âYou know, Diane,â he finally said. Â âYouâre a real piece of work.â
âWhatâs that supposed to mean?â
âYou never gave one-hundred per cent to me.â
âSure I did.â
âNo. Â You didnât. Â You held back. Â I was talking to Steve the other day. Â You know he and Ann are getting a divorce?â
âI heard that. Â Iâm sorry.â Â He was referring to a couple that they used to hang around with. Â Since the divorce, Diane hadnât seen either of them. Â Greg had remained friends with Steve. Â
âAnyway, Steve agrees with me. Â He always felt that you were kind of distant and guarded.â
âI donât give a damn what Steve thinks. Â He doesnât know me.â
âThatâs precisely the point, Diane! Â He didnât know you, and yet he knew you for six years! Â The same is true for me, Diane. Â I donât think I ever knew you.â
âIâm hanging up now, Greg. Â Iâm really tired.â
Greg paused for a second and then replied, âFine. Â Iâll pick David up around noon.â
âSee you then.â
âGet some rest. Â Good night.â
âBye.â
She hung up and finished the glass of wine. Â It was doing the trick, but the phone call had unnerved her some more. Â
Diane glanced at the box of clippings on the floor. Â It was too late to do anything with them now. Â She told herself that she would destroy them the next day while David was at the ballgame.
DAVIDâS JOURNAL
Â
T onight is the first night in our new apartment. Â Itâs pretty weird being here. Â I grew up in the old house. Â Iâll miss it. Â My room here isnât complete yet. Â I still have to put away all my stuff and put my posters on the walls. Â It wonât feel like home until I do. Â I guess this is normal when someone moves to a new place. Â
Iâve been reading âThe Catcher in the Ryeâ and I identify with the main character. Â I donât think Iâm as angry as he is, but I think heâs lonely and I am too a lot of the time. Â My English teacher thought the book might be too adult for me but I told her it wasnât. Â Iâve read lots of books that are âadult.â Â I donât see what the big deal is.
Sometimes I feel very alone. Â I have no brothers or sisters (which might be a good thing!) but I have no cousins to speak of either. Â I have cousins, but theyâre a lot older than I am. Â Â My aunt and uncle (my Dadâs older sister) had two kids but theyâre in college. Â I never see them. Â I think I wrote before that my
Nikita Storm, Bessie Hucow, Mystique Vixen