There Must Be Some Mistake Read Online Free PDF Page A

she had that walk some girls have, a cowboy walk, real loose and relaxed, powerful. She had gained a lot of self-confidence, and it showed. She had a wisecracking way about her without actually cracking wise all the time. She did it with subtle things, cocks of the head, eye stuff, quick goofy facial expressions. She reminded me of her mother and made me happy all over again that we’d had a child.
    Saturday morning Jilly and I went for a walk on the beach at dawn. I hadn’t been to bed yet and she’d been asleep for ten hours. That happened sometimes. It was early and there were not many people on the beach, a few joggers, a couple old people. I said, “What do you think about this Cal thing with Diane?”
    She made a face, not disgust or disinterest, but something oddly blank. “I don’t envy her,” she said. “Cal was scum in my twenties and he’s scum now. Maybe she can make something of him, I don’t know. Anyway, it’s not your business. Leave it alone.”
    I nodded for a minute, then waved at the beach, the water, the sky. “You like it here? Florida?”
    â€œSure,” she said. “It’s pretty. Right now I’d like some Eggos.”
    â€œEggos are so over,” I said.
    â€œYet within our grasp, grocerywise,” she said.
    â€œTrue,” I said. “We could leave this lovely beach right now, get a couple boxes of Eggos at Winn-Dixie, douse ’em with Log Cabin, wolf ’em down.”
    â€œI don’t think I want ’em anymore,” she said.
    â€œThat was quick.”
    â€œMaybe I’m a bad person,” she said.
    â€œAbsolutely,” I said. “Everybody tells me that.”
    She said things like that sometimes, as if the only thing she was worried about was being a bad person. It was touching, but also rhetorical, a request for reassurance. That’s what was touching.
    â€œNever mind,” she said.
    â€œI was asking what you think about a condo here. Think it’s a good idea? Would you come all this way? Like, to visit?”
    Seagulls swirled around us. “Might,” Jilly said.
    â€œI’m getting older and older,” I said. “I like Kemah, but this is cleaner.”
    â€œIt could be short on character,” she said. “But character might be overrated.”
    The sand was dusty white and the water Kool-Aid Kiwi Lime, jittery in the morning light. I didn’t have much idea what Jilly was about, apart from being friendly. She did not telegraph her intentions. We were hanging out together but keeping our distance. I didn’t mind it, but I was aware of it. I thought I should let it alone, play it out. It was fun just being with her. Still, I had to remind myself of the baselines.
    â€œCal’s kind of scummy,” Jilly said.
    â€œYou said that,” I said. “But I don’t worry about Diane so much, not anymore. Or maybe it’s that she doesn’t come to mind. There ought to be a point when your ex is your ex, know what I mean? A statute of limitations on their emotional bite.”
    â€œCal’s got bad teeth,” Jilly said.
    â€œWay to contribute to the conversation,” I said.
    â€œHe could use some whitener,” she said. She plopped down in the sand and I sat alongside her, both of us facing the water, which was wavy, waves rushing at us, rushing away.
    â€œSo you think I should get a condo? I could get a two-bedroom pretty cheap.”
    â€œRent it when you’re not here?” she said. “Let it pay for itself?”
    â€œExactly.”
    â€œHmm,” she said.
    We sat on the beach for another fifteen minutes and then went back to the Dunes. Morgan was buttering toast when we arrived.
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    That night we went to dinner at Olive Garden. My choice. We squeezed into a booth, all three of us, and each of us studied the menu carefully. The seats were sticky plastic and squealed whenever anyone moved.