Sunken Graves, Alan Lee [all ebook reader .txt] 📗

calm. I see her side profile. She took her hand away from him to fiddle with her phone.”

“Murray, can you see Lynch’s car?”

“Nah, but they’re not far. Should I move?”

Jennings didn’t answer because he didn’t know, and Craig Lewis began to shiver. He hoped none of his former students saw him out here, playing the peeping Tom.

32

Lynch hadn’t answered Daisy, because he did know Jennings’ truck was vandalized. What’s more, he knew that Daisy had gone to the chief of police with suspicions that he himself had done it.

In fact he hadn’t. His Giant Mongoloid had.

Lynch wondered how brave Daisy would be about her betrayal later. He’d already forgiven her but she had to learn she couldn’t run to the police. Especially if it meant his father would show up afterward and berate him.

He wanted to grab her tits. Everyone in the restaurant wanted to do the same, he knew, but they belonged to him. Instead he gripped the table edge and tried not to think about the hints of her blue bra peeking.

He forced his teeth apart before he bled. “Daniel should choose a new profession, don’t you think? It’s going so poorly for him.”

His date blinked her big green eyes. “Poorly?”

“He’s an immediate failure. At the military and now teaching. He’d have better luck playing male nurse.”

“You were angry at him the other day, Peter, in my classroom. What was that about?”

“I wasn’t angry.”

“You threw books at him.”

Lynch could feel the processes of his mind warming, like windows closing to trap in heat.

She said, “Do you see him as a threat?”

“A teacher, a threat?”

“He’s a Green Beret, though, right?”

“He’s a peg-leg. A pathetic grunt who got his foot blown off. No, Daisy, he’s not a threat.”

The waitress brought wine. She poured their chardonnay into burgundy wine glasses. A minor mistake, using a burgundy glass, but one that irritated him. The waitress was an attractive woman, but compared to Daisy Hathaway she looked like a cheap whore.

Hathaway was about to order but she would get it all wrong. Intentionally, he thought, because she’d prefer he did it for her.

He said, “Bring us the focaccia first, plus salami vesuvio and whipped chèvre. And the olives. Followed by two bowls of the soup de jour. Main course, potatoes aioli and the pan seared striped bass.”

The cheap whore smiled. “Very good, sir!”

Lynch pushed the glass of chardonnay at Hathaway and leaned close. “You think Daniel knows what half those words mean?”

“I don’t know them. How do you?”

“Like you said, my income. I own my own law firm and I don’t eat at McDonalds. I learned during law school.”

“So you didn’t grow up rich.”

“You’re looking at a self-made man. Life handed me nothing, Daisy. I took it all. The opposite of Daniel, who came from a prestigious family and squandered it.”

Daisy let her foot wander forward until it encountered Lynch’s pant leg. “I wish I knew what the words mean.”

“I’ll teach you. Our next date we’ll sit on the same side of the table and go over the menu together.”

“Oh will we.”

“Maybe get handsy underneath.”

She sipped the chardonnay and he could’ve died from the sight of her lips on the glass, the light filtering through the wine and golden on her neck. Was her hand shaking? Poor girl was nervous. “Wow. This doesn’t taste like my bottle.”

“That’s the taste of success. Wouldn’t you rather drink that than Coors Lite?”

“I would. But this meal costs two days of my salary.”

“Keep me happy, Daisy, and I’ll pay for it always.”

She sipped again, watching him over the rim, and her foot teased his pant leg.

“How does a girl keep you happy, Peter?”

“You can use your imagination or I’ll draw you a picture.”

“And what happens when a girl doesn’t?”

Lynch didn’t want to smile but it was reflexive. “Same answer, Daisy.”

“You look like a man who won’t…” She sucked at her teeth. “…who won’t suffer disappointment quietly.”

“Why should I? Quiet is boring.”

“I heard that about you. That you’re a pit bull in the courtroom.”

“Guilty. Who told?”

“It’s a rumor among the faculty.”

“You should see me in the bedroom, Daisy.”

She ignored the comment. Playing coy.

“Do you want me to plan the holiday party? Or was that invitation an excuse?”

“An excuse.” He winked. “To get you drunk.”

“You’re a rascal, Peter Lynch.”

“You’re more than welcome to plan the party, if that kind of thing suits you. I don’t give two shits. But save your ideas for our second date.”

“Who says there’ll be a second date?”

“I say.”

“Takes two to tango. You better earn it.”

“And you better watch your mouth around me, with that dirty talk. My mind isn’t always…clean, Daisy.”

“You’re easily angered, Peter.”

“Anger is the mark of a true man. Trust me, you want your man mad, not passive.”

“So you were mad at Daniel,” she said.

“I…” He paused to swallow. “That wasn’t real anger. Daniel isn’t worth my real anger.”

“Tell me what you do when there’s real anger.”

Her excitement made her eyes dance. Made his pulse race. A woman who understood the value of danger.

“Have you ever hurt someone, Daisy?”

“What do you mean?”

“Hurt them physically. Caused pain.”

“Not that I remember,” she said.

“You would if you had.”

“Then no, I haven’t."

“It’s euphoric.”

They’d both leaned forward. Both pressed against the table. Speaking softly. Contained in their bubble of candlelight.

“That can’t be true, Peter.”

“Pain makes me feel alive."

“Your own pain?”

He nodded. “Yes. And the pain of others. The only emotion I’m sympathetic too.”

“Do you feel alive right now?”

Another smile. He never smiled this much.

Daisy was a remarkable woman. He felt weak.

He said, “For a different reason.”

“Who do you hurt?”

“No one who doesn’t deserve it. Or need it.”

“You hurt yourself?”

“Of course.”

“On purpose,” she said.

“Pain is a powerful emotion. I indulge.”

“You don’t hurt Benji, I hope. He’s a good kid.”

“How do you think he got that way, Daisy?”

“Not pain.”

“Pain forces growth.”

“It’s also destructive, Peter.”

“Yes that happens. A necessary side effect.”

She was breathing deeply, the shadows and light shifting. “So you hurt people. What then? What do you do then?”

“You’re an eager beaver, Daisy.”

“What if you hurt someone and