Free Small Vices by Robert B. Parker

me?"
    "No, of course not, she's a very nice dog. Come on, we'll go into Susan's bedroom and turn on the TV."
    Susan and Elayna and Erika all headed for the bedroom.
    "He looks like he wants to bite me," Erika said.
    "She," I said.
    "Bad dog," Erika said and stomped into Susan's bedroom.
    They spent awhile finding a dandy TV program for Erika to watch. My guess was that their efforts would not be worth the result. When they were gone, Pearl settled back down into her sprawl, but she kept an eye on the bedroom. Finally they came out and half closed the bedroom door.
    "Don't close the door," Erika said from the bedroom.
    "No, Erika. We won't," her mother said. "We'll leave it just like this."
    "You know I don't like the door closed."
    "I know, Erika."
    "Can I get you some wine or something?" Susan said.
    "A little white wine would be nice," Elayna said.
    Susan went to get it.
    "How's the game?" Elayna said to me.
    "Patriots are getting hosed," I said.
    "Oh."
    "Poor Erika, she loves animals. She wants a dog so bad and I can't have one in the house."
    "You're allergic?" I said.
    "Can't be in the same room with one. My eyes water and itch. I begin to sneeze. My throat closes up. It's hideous."
    I glanced at Pearl. Susan came back in with a bottle of white, and a bottle of red, three glasses, and a corkscrew. She set it all down on the table in front of me.
    "Man's work," she said.
    I opened the wine. Susan had red. Elayna had white. I declined.
    "Well, isn't she a princess," Susan said.
    "Erika?" Elayna said. "I suppose every parent thinks her kid is special, but she really is a darling."
    "Where she get all that blond hair?" Susan said. "Her father?"
    "I guess so," Elayna said. "I didn't really know him, it was all arranged by the clinic."
    "Of course," Susan said. "It must be hard raising a child alone."
    "Yes. It's exhausting and demanding, but very rewarding. I'm very pleased that I chose to have her."
    Elayna was tall and graceful and her hair was too long for her age. There was a dramatic streak of white in the front, and hints of gray showing here and there as the sunlight through the back window caught it. She was much too advanced to color her hair.
    "Do you have help?" Susan said.
    "Yes, my mother and my sister live around here. So I almost always have a baby-sitter. Today it happened they were both out and I had to bring her. I hope you don't mind."
    "Oh, no," Susan said. "I love seeing her."
    "The first year or so she pretty well killed my sex life, she was so demanding and I was so tired, I didn't have the energy, you know?"
    "I can imagine," Susan said.
    "But once she got off the breast, then I could leave her with my mom or my sister… and I was back in circulation."
    She looked at me.
    "You got any single straight friends?"
    I shook my head. That description fit Hawk, but he and Elayna didn't seem a match. The thought of him with Erika, however, made me smile.
    "See, there, you're smiling," Elayna said, "you've just thought of someone."
    "No," I said. "It's just inner peace showing through."
    Erika came out of the bedroom, shuffling in a pair of Susan's high-heeled shoes, and wearing Susan's black silk robe. The girth wasn't bad because Erika was a chunky girl and Susan was a slim woman, so they measured pretty much the same around. But since Erika was about three feet tall, and Susan was five foot seven, the length was an issue. She kept stepping on the train and from the sound it made, she kept tearing it. She had also found Susan's makeup and applied it to herself lavishly, if somewhat artlessly.
    "Erika," her mother said. Her voice hovered on the periphery of a shriek.
    Erika kept coming, trying to flounce, stumbling on the high heels, continuing to step on the trailing fabric of Susan's black silk robe, which continued to rip. I had given her that dressing gown last Christmas and it had cost me far more than I generally earned. I looked at Susan. She looked as if she had just swallowed an armadillo.
    I said,