Читать книгу Minute by Minute - Jo Leigh - Страница 7

[DCWatcher] First…don’t be mad, Meg.

[MtnVet] Don’t be mad?

[DCWatcher] Yeah.

[MtnVet] About?

[DCWatcher] You need to go to the door.

[MtnVet] My door?

[DCWatcher] Ha, yes. Your front door. I’ll wait.

[MtnVet] Be right back.

[MtnVet] Alex, what is this?

[DCWatcher] Tell me what you got.

[MtnVet] Flowers. Beautiful, I might add. And a pretty big envelope.

[DCWatcher] I’m glad you like the flowers.

[MtnVet] Calla lilies are my favorites. You knew that, didn’t you?

[DCWatcher] I try to pay attention, Meg. Now, open the envelope.

[MtnVet] Alex????

[DCWatcher] It’s the island, Meg. I couldn’t believe it when I found it. It’s everything we talked about. The thatched bungalows, the scuba diving, the hammock in the palm trees.

[MtnVet] We were drunk. It was New Year’s Eve.

[DCWatcher] I know. I was there.

[MtnVet] It was a fantasy, Alex.

[DCWatcher] But it doesn’t have to be. What’s it been, a year now that we’ve been meeting online like this?

[MtnVet] About that, yeah.

[DCWatcher] So, here’s the deal. It’s your birthday today. You got me that incredible Mingus album on mine, and I wanted to do something special for you.

So when I found out about Escapades, I said what the hell.

[MtnVet] Alex, there’s an airline ticket in here. And a reservation.

[DCWatcher] Five days, four nights. And don’t worry. The bungalow has a loft with an extra bed and bathroom. I don’t want you feeling any pressure.

[DCWatcher] Meg, you still there?

[MtnVet] I am, but I don’t know what to say. We don’t even know each other. This is so extravagant.

[DCWatcher] We don’t know each other? What are you, nuts? I’ve told you more about myself than any other living human. And honey, the things I know about you…

[MtnVet] Yeah, yeah. I guess so. I have been incredibly indiscreet, haven’t I?

[DCWatcher] Don’t worry. I’ll never tell a living soul about your spanking fetish.

[MtnVet] Alex!!!

[DCWatcher] Just kidding.

[MtnVet] Jeez, tell a man one little fantasy.

[DCWatcher] Say yes, Meg. I know you need this break. You haven’t taken any time off for so long. I don’t know how you’re walking around, considering all you do.

[MtnVet] I know, but so soon? In two weeks? Oh, man, Valentine’s Day?

[DCWatcher] Don’t read anything into it. It’s when I could get the reservation.

[MtnVet] My ass. But it’s sweet anyway. Only, who’s going to fill in when I’m gone?

[DCWatcher] How about Scott?

[MtnVet] He didn’t get much out of his last stay here.

[DCWatcher] But maybe, if you’re gone, your loving patients and their owners will have to turn to him.

[MtnVet] I suppose.

[DCWatcher] Meg, you’re stalling. Listen to me. We both need this. I’m tired of just looking at that picture of you, although God knows, you look great. I want to see you. I want to hear your voice, listen to your laugh. It doesn’t have to go anywhere. Hell, it can’t. I’m in D.C., you’re in L.A. But for just five days and four nights, can’t the twain meet?

[MtnVet] The twain, huh? I’ve never heard it put quite like that before.

[DCWatcher] Man, do you have a dirty mind.

[MtnVet] Me? You’re one to talk.

[MtnVet] Would you really sleep in the loft?

[DCWatcher] If necessary.

[MtnVet] And this bungalow. It doesn’t have a TV?

[DCWatcher] Nope. But it does have room service. And a masseuse.

[MtnVet] Oh, God. That sounds like heaven.

[DCWatcher] So what are you waiting for?

[MtnVet] Alex, what if we hate each other on sight?

[DCWatcher] How could I hate you? You’re what I look forward to most every day. I leave the damn computer on all the time, just listening for that little tone announcing I’ve got mail. Don’t you get that by now?

[MtnVet] I’m grinning like an idiot here.

[DCWatcher] That’s a good start.

[MtnVet] And that picture of you in the Washington Post? You did say it was a recent one, yes?

[DCWatcher] Yep. If you weren’t sickened by that, we should be okay in person.

[MtnVet] Well…

[DCWatcher] Come on, woman. Take a risk. What’s the worst that could happen?

[DCWatcher] Meg?

[MtnVet] Wait, I’m imagining the worst. It’s pretty horrible.

[DCWatcher] Tropical island. Warm breezes. Pure white sand on a private beach. Drinks with tiny umbrellas in them.

[MtnVet] Stop. I can’t stand it. Okay. Yes. I’ll go.

[DCWatcher] It was the umbrellas, wasn’t it?

[MtnVet] You do know me too well.

[DCWatcher] So for real? Yes?

[MtnVet] Yes. Wow.

[DCWatcher] Wow, indeed.