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Show 51 snickered. "I didn't mean that, you awful man!" Lorin could not help wondering what Melanie was doing. She had a date that night with Steve Ellison, who had tickets to the ballet. She had not, of course, been able to consult with Lorin before accepting Steve's invitation, but they had discussed it afterwards. He was afraid he had been a little too hard on her. If it really upset him that she was going out with Steve she'd call and break the date, she had said. It didn't upset him, he had told her. He didn't like it, no, since she asked, but he wasn't going to tell her not to do it if that was what she wanted to do. It didn't mean she liked Steve better, she had said; she presumed he knew that. That hadn't even entered his mind, he had said. Funny she should bring it up. She wished he wouldn't be like that. If he didn't want her to go out with Steve she wished he would just say so. It wasn't his privilege to say whether she should go out with Steve or not, he had said. It meant he would have to ask someone else to Karen's party or go by himself, but that was her decision to make. She had looked a little unhappy when he had said that, so he had allowed the discussion to end, though there was more he could have said. He knew Steve better than she did. Steve was the kind who would take you to something cultural to impress you and soften you up. He would have mentioned this to Melanie except that she would have said he was insulting her intelligence. They had probably gone to the ballet. He was willing to grant that. Steve wasn't dumb. And they were probably going somewhere afterwards-a drive-in or something-for hamburgers. And Steve would probably try to kiss her. Lorin looked at the door to see if someone had just come in. And she would turn her head away. He paid close attention to Karen's and Dave's fingertips, stepping sideways into a place that had just opened, next to Linda. Karen's fingertips were |
