"Regularity is so dull," Toffee said, "in spite of what all those cereal manufacturers say."
Shrugging, Marc followed along as she started off down the street. A passing delivery boy, catching sight of the briefly-draped redhead, paused to whistle. Toffee waved at him happily and whistled back.
"Don't do that!" Marc said. "Stop attracting attention to yourself!"
Toffee grinned up at him. "It's myself that attracts attention to me," she said. "You made me that way and I must say I dearly love you for it." Glancing down the street, her gaze stopped at a tall department store building which was fronted by long, gleaming show windows. She pointed to it eagerly. "That looks wonderfully extravagant," she said. "Let's go charge things to your account."
As they approached the store, Marc's step became firmer, his head unclouded. He stopped just outside the entrance with an abrupt burp.
"I just remembered," he said. "I've got to get out to the country house. I.... What am I going to do with you, though?"
"You're going to buy me a ridiculous dress at a ridiculous price," Toffee said. "We'll worry about Julie and her shabby amours with that lecherous paint-dauber later."
"How did you know about that?" Marc asked.
"From sitting around in that arid mind of yours," Toffee said. "Sometimes I tune in on what's going on just out of sheer boredom."