The Gap of Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

get married—all his friends had put it off till they were at least forty, sometimes fifty. But if they did marry they were reluctant to get divorced. Just a bit of understanding at the airport would make all the difference. A man needs understanding because he is existentially alone. He stares into the darkness.
    That was the difference between men and women, Leo thought. Men need groups and gangs and sport and clubs and institutions and women because men know that there is only nothingness and self-doubt. Women were always trying to make a connection, build a relationship. As though one human being could know another. As though one human being could…his buzzer buzzed…know another.
    “Xeno’s here,” said Pauline.
    “I’m busy,” said Leo.
    “I’ll send him in,” said Pauline.
    —
    Men in Leo’s position had personal assistants who could moonlight as supermodels on their celery and cottage cheese lunch breaks. Leo had Pauline. When she had started working at his ex-bank she’d been thirty, fluent in three languages with a degree in economics, an MBA, and she had just passed her accountancy exams for fun. She was a much better educated, much better qualified, much better person than Leo, but she was never going to cut it as a trader. Detail was her strength—she could rip through two hundred pages of due diligence in an hour and give him a list of bullet points to fire at the other side. She’d saved him from the worst of a few deals more than a few times. And when he was dumped from the bank she was the only one of his colleagues who went on calling him to see how he was doing. When he had started up on his own he had asked her to come and work for him.
    Leo did the deals. Pauline did the detail.
    After fifteen years of knowing Leo and the fact that fifteen years had moved her from a sleek thirty to a formidable forty-five, she ran things the way she wanted them to be run and said whatever she wanted to say.
    Thanks to Pauline, Sicilia was compliant, transparent, charitable and, if not exactly ethical, they had standards. Leo was OK with that.
    Pauline opened the door. “I said I was busy,” said Leo.
    “You’re not busy,” said Pauline. “I’m busy.”
    “Bitch,” said Leo.
    “Grob,” said Pauline.
    “What’s a grob?” said Xeno.
    Xeno was slimmer than Leo, easy in his creative-tech clothes: black light-wool trousers tapered to the ankle, grey lace-up suede brogues and a grey linen shirt that matched his eyes. The shirt had a pink collar and cuffs. He was too well-groomed for a straight guy, Leo thought, and Leo had always assumed there were boys somewhere on the scene.
    “I’ll get you a Yiddish phrasebook for Christmas—meanwhile use the audio-visual aid standing right in front of you. Hello, Leo. I’ve met better-behaved apes. Goodbye, Xeno. We’ll miss you.”
    Pauline stood on tiptoe to give Xeno a kiss.
    “You’ll see him at the dinner tomorrow, fat-ass,” yelled Leo as Pauline closed the door. “Is it because she’s a Jew or is it because she’s a woman?”
    “Is what?”
    “Is the reason I can’t control her.”
    “Why would you want to control her? She’s great for the business and she’s great for you. You need someone who stands up to you.”
    “She’s trying to bankrupt me. Do you know how much Sicilia gives to charity? Save the Children—we’re paying for the whole party tomorrow. Dinner for two hundred donors. Top DJ. MiMi’s singing for free, and we’re donating £100K.”
    “You can afford it. Leo, I came to say goodbye. I’m leaving tonight. I need to get back to NuBo.”
    “When did they start calling it that?”
    “SoHo, NoBo…it was only a matter of time before New Bohemia got it too.”
    “Why are you leaving so suddenly?”
    “I had a call from the school about Zel. He’s not speaking in class again.”
    “What’s the matter with him?”
    “Nobody knows. He’s seen a doctor and a shrink.”
    “A kid of eight doesn’t need a