Free Mercury by Margot Livesey Page A

girl is lying.”
    â€œLots of famous cases.” The girl had briefly been friends with her oldest daughter. Several times Merrie had caught her in a blatant lie. “She’s a little cat, but she made me realize you do have to be careful. Men are even more vulnerable than women.”
    When I moved back to Boston, colleagues had warned me about the dangers of lawsuits. Be careful about apologizing, the head of surgery admonished. But I had not considered other kinds of danger. All day long I saw women alone, with no nurse or assistant. Now I promised to heed Merrie’s advice. We locked up, and I watched her stride away into the darkness. Then I phoned Drew to ask if he could babysit for an extra hour and Jack to ask if he’d like a drink. Both said yes.
    The door of Jack’s apartment was ajar, and when I stepped inside, the air had a spicy fragrance. He was at the stove, stirring a saucepan of mulled wine; his building was having a party that evening.
    â€œDiane came to my office,” I said.
    He added a pinch of cinnamon to the wine. “She’s a smart cookie. Let’s give this a shot.”
    He filled two mugs and led the way to the living room. “So what’s up? The air is vibrating. Are you mad that I’m going out with Hilary?”
    â€œShe just doesn’t seem your type.”
    â€œThe type to have a blind toy boy? Did you notice my new decor?” He waved his arm.
    I had grown accustomed to the bare functionality of Jack’s apartment. Now I took in the pictures on the walls, the three new lamps. A wicker basket of papers sat on one table, a large bowl on another. As if following my gaze, he said, “She hasn’tjust prettied up the place for my sighted friends. She’s made my life easier.”
    â€œBrilliant.”
    â€œBrilliant,” he mimicked. “What’s the matter, Donald? You’re worried about my morals? You think I don’t deserve Hilary?”
    â€œIf anything, she doesn’t deserve you. I just feel stupid that I never thought you might want a girlfriend.”
    Jack smiled. “You, and everyone else,” he said. “Lo, the blind are not celibate. It’s nice to break a long dry spell, and nice to be with someone who treats me like a normal person. What do you think of the wine? Hilary says you don’t like her.”
    I was startled to learn that they had discussed me, and startled that the feelings I thought so carefully concealed were apparent. I said I hardly knew her. “We didn’t get off on the best foot, but you like her, and so does Viv. Clearly I need to get on a different foot. The wine is good.”
    â€œMaybe a splash more brandy. Why did you get off on the wrong foot?”
    No point in saying that Hilary had struck me as shallow and flirtatious. Instead I said she seemed to disapprove of her daughter liking biology.
    â€œOh, that’s just Hil, wanting Diane to have more friends. And now”—he set down his mug—“you may ask the obvious question.”
    â€œWhy is she going out with a blind man?”
    He clapped mockingly. “I’ll tell you my guilty secret. She didn’t know I was blind until after we’d slept together.”
    â€œHow could that be?” Even as I asked, I guessed the answer: his vivid eyes had misled her.
    â€œWhen she introduced herself at Viv’s party, I assumed sheknew. ‘My blind friend Jack’—isn’t that what everyone calls me? I gave her my card, and she phoned a couple of days later. I invited her over for a drink. With disgraceful speed, one thing led to another. Only afterward, when she asked if I needed help hanging pictures, did it dawn on me that she hadn’t a clue.”
    â€œSo what happened when you told her?”
    â€œShe said ‘Wow, my first blind guy.’ Then we went through chapter and verse. When did I lose my sight? Can I see anything? Is sex more or less