sugary sweetness and felt her lips tingling even before his touched hers. When his hand lightly slid her dress strap down her shoulder and gently peeled the dress away from one breast, she felt a surge of almost greedy desire move through herâa desire that later would make her feel ashamed but now, as it flooded through her, seemed irresistible, and wonderful.
Chapter 24
Two Brief, Unsettling Conversations
When Audrey returned home, she was surprised to see a light coming from her fatherâs study, and peered in. Her father had his back to her and was standing over one of his cherrywood file cabinets, dropping handfuls of paper into a shopping bag at his feet. He was still wearing his work clothesâgray slacks, a white shirt, burgundy suspendersâbut his gray sports coat hung from one of a row of cherrywood pegs on the wall.
âHi,â Audrey said.
Her father wheeled around quickly, and the startled look that crossed his face was of somebody whoâd just been caught at something. But then, seeing her, his face visibly relaxed. âOh, hi, Polliwog. You gave me a start.â
He gave her dress a quick look, and she was glad sheâd slipped the modesty sweater back on. Her father had set a gooseneck lamp on top of the cabinet and adjusted it to crane down and shine on the open files, but its harsh light shone on him, too. He looked old to her, old and worried. âWhatâre you doing?â she said.
âNothing much. You werenât home, so I decided to clean out some old files.â
Audrey nodded as if this made perfect sense, though it didnât. She glanced down at the shopping bags stuffed with papers. The nearest one read VENI, VIDI, EMI.
âSo how was dinner with the new boy?â he asked.
âGood,â Audrey said, trying to sound more or less businesslike, which was the way her father liked her to talk about her personal life. âIf Iâd known you were still up, Iâd have brought him in to meet you. Youâd like him. Heâs pretty impressive.â
âNext time,â her father said, and regarded her. âPresuming there will be a next time.â
Audrey made a point of not lowering her eyes. She hoped she wasnât blushing. âI donât know,â she said. âIt seems possible.â
âAh,â her father said in a tone Audrey recognized as carefully neutral.
They were both quiet then, and it seemed to Audrey that her father was ready to resume his file-cleaning work. She yawned, said, â âNight, Dad,â and was nearly out the door when her father said, âAudrey?â
It was the voice he used when there was something he felt he needed to talk to her about, but didnât want to. It took him a moment to speak, and when he did, he was almost apologetic. âLook, when I got these shopping bags out of the pantry, I couldnât help seeing the receipts.â
Audrey was relieved he wasnât talking about her responsibility to herself and her future, all that stuffâbut still, his bringing up money was weird enough. Heâd never brought up money before. She didnât know what to say, so she said, âDid I spend too much?â
âNo, no, itâs not that,â her father said quickly. âItâs nothing you did.â His gaze floated away from her. âItâs just that, right now, temporarily, for just a little while . . .â He didnât finish the sentence.
âI can cut down,â Audrey said quickly. âI donât need new stuff.â She shrugged and smiled. âNew stuff is just, you know, new stuff.â
Her father was nodding, but he still kept his eyes averted from hers.
âI can take the new dress and stuff back,â Audrey offered.
Her father shook his head vaguely. âYou donât have to do that,â he said, which Audrey understood was different than telling her not to.
âItâs no problem,â Audrey
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