Free The Family Man by Elinor Lipman

must have kept track of how much time had passed. And after I turned eighteen, wasn't it okay to get in touch with me? Didn't you wonder what I was up to?"
    Now, then, is the time to confide his Carousel-induced preoccupation. "It was all I talked about after I did the math and figured out when you'd graduate from high school and most likely leave the nest."
    "But what stopped you?"
    "Fear that you'd shut the door in my face, call your mother, call your father, call a lawyer, call nine-one-one."
    "What about a letter? I'd have rushed to the nearest phone."
    "I know that now."
    She pours milk into her bowl and after a few spoonfuls asks, "What were you thinking?"
    Her words add up to a reproach except that Thalia is chomping contentedly on her cereal.
    "I wasn't thinking," Henry allows. "I was angry at your mother, your father, myself—"
    "Not that," Thalia says. "I meant the moving-in part. Did you mean I'd get Williebelle's room, or were you thinking I'd move into the maisonette?"
    Has he mentioned a maisonette to her? The previous owner called it an in-law apartment, a label that has kept it fallow and unrenovated ground.
    "Leif spotted it; thought it was a separate apartment. He looked in the windows before we rang your doorbell. We weren't sure if you lived up here or down below. I couldn't help noticing it was empty."
    "It's a separate apartment," he says. "Three rooms, untouched."
    "And a full bath?"
    "Of course."
    "Don't you want to rent it out?"
    Henry says, "I have no desire to be a landlord."
    Thalia says, "That's fine. I can appreciate that."
    "Wait," says Henry. "Did you mean you? Because you wouldn't be a tenant. You'd live here. You're family. I wouldn't be renting it out. Strike all of that. The jury will disregard any mention of me as landlord."
    Thalia grins and jumps off her stool. "The jury would like a tour," she says.

10. A Piece of the Action
    T HALIA GETS a text message at work confirming that Leif has deemed her suitable for the mission ahead. She calls Henry, who asks, "That was his wording? 'Suitable'?" Thalia says, "No, it was more personal than that. Actually, pretty nice. Don't forget: This could be leaked to a news outlet, so message number one needed a romantic ring to it."
    "Such as?"
    "'Can't wait to see you again. L.D.'"
    "Anything about the parties getting together?"
    "That's why I called: Are you free to take a secret meeting after work today?"
    "Secret, but with counsel?"
    "Definitely with counsel. Counsel required, in fact: Waldorf-Astoria, six o'clock. Leif's arriving via some underground entrance they use for presidents. The unknowns can walk through the front door. We're supposed to pick up an envelope at the concierge desk that will tell us what room to go to. Very Amazing Race "
    Henry doesn't watch The Amazing Race but scribbles the words on a scratch pad.
    Thalia asks if he could swing by the salon and they'd walk over together to discuss strategy. Giovanni is promising a quick blow-dry beforehand, so time is a little tight. Five forty-five?
    Henry asks, "Does he know?"
    Thalia says, "Not yet. I won't give my notice till I sign the contract."
    Henry considers saying, "I inferred from Giovanni that you two have a relationship outside the salon" but then doesn't have to. Thalia says, "I hope you don't believe everything your beautician brags about."

    Her hair is glossier and more asymmetric than usual, with new layers in new places. "Very nice," Henry says. "And very stylish, I'm sure." Her jacket, powder blue and pink plaid with golf-ball-sized buttons, can have come from only one source. Several bracelets fill the space between cuff and wrist. He says, "I think I'm getting an idea of what your look is. I think my mother used to wear gloves with that length sleeve."
    She says, "I was so right: Nothing beats a gay father."
    They are heading east on 57th, her arm hooked through his. "What remains to be discussed?" he asks.
    " Numero uno, no sex. Mr. Munster and I can be seen holding