Read Fine Lines - SA for Free Online

hopeful signs and tried not to speculate any further.
    Zeppo and the girl left shortly after midnight. I did not have a chance to speak to him privately again, but as far as I could tel there was no repetition of the strange behaviour he had exhibited earlier. At least, both he and the girl spent considerable time alone with their prospective if ignorant partners, which was encouraging.
    "I'l phone you tomorrow," he said when I walked them to the door. I concealed my impatience and said goodnight.
    Back inside, Anna and Marty were also getting ready to go. I had to leave them in the hal way while I attended to a glass of red wine one oaf had knocked over. Neither of them noticed when I returned. Marty was standing behind Anna, helping her with her coat, and as she shrugged it on he leaned forward and gently kissed the nape of her neck. She smiled without turning around, bending her head slightly.
    The moment was spontaneous and private, and I could not bear to watch it. Clearing my throat, I quickly walked towards them.
    "Ready for ofi?" I said, brightly. "Wel , thank you both for coming." They had moved apart when they heard me. Anna smiled. "Thanks for inviting us. We've real y enjoyed it." Marty fiddled with his glasses and murmured in agreement.
    I could not resist probing. "I'm sorry I've hardly had a chance to speak to either of you al evening. I hope you managed to find someone interesting to talk to. I shouldn't say it, but I know some of the guests were a little dul , even if they are friends of mine."
    "No, it's been lovely. Real y." They were clearly waiting to leave. I said goodnight and let them go.
    As I closed the door I felt a sense of anticlimax. The introductions had been made, and now al I could do was wait to hear from Zeppo. Frustration mingled with the now familiar hol owness the thought of Anna going home with Marty gave me. I stood in the hal way until both had faded to a manageable level, and then went back to the remaining guests. About a dozen stil remained. I gave them another half-hour and then began to usher them out.
    I no longer had any interest in being a host.
    I tried unsuccessful y to contact Zeppo al morning, but there was no reply. Even so, when he final y telephoned me in the afternoon, I was too eager to hear what he had to say to complain.
    He sounded pleased with himself. "There's good news and bad news. The bad is that Angie drew a blank with Mr. Universe."
    "You mean Marty?"
    "That was the idea, wasn't it?" Disappointment wel ed up in me. "But I thought you said she was going to try for a week. Isn't she giving up rather easily?"
    "You don't know Angie. If she thinks there's any chance at al , she doesn't give up until she's torn their trousers off. So if she reckons it's no go, then it must be."
    "Perhaps she made the wrong approach."
    "Not Angie. Believe me, Donald, she knows what she's doing. He just didn't want to know. Very polite, and al that, but he stil blanked her out. She was pretty pissed off about it.
    She's not used to being turned down, let alone by a geek like him. She thinks he must be either gay or some kind of freak." There was an even more depressing prospect. I remembered the way Marty had kissed Anna's neck. "Perhaps he's just loyal to Anna."
    "That's what I meant by freak. He must be even more of a sap than he looks to turn down something like that. I know Anna's not bad, but she's hardly in Angie's league." I agreed wholeheartedly, but not in the way Zeppo meant. I had found the other girl's beauty brash and glittering; entirely external. Anna's was something far finer.

    "You said there was good news as wel ." A low chuckle came over the line. "The good news is that Angie makes a great slave."
    "She's not there, is she?"
    "Calm down, Donald. She's in another room. She can't hear."
    I tried to hold down my irritation. "Is that al you meant by "good news"?"
    "Now don't get agitated."
    "Just tel me what happened between you and Anna."
    "Nothing actual y happened.