My God, she thought, he even does it at home. That synthetic bravado was left over from his trader days: You're the luckiest person alive, just to have reached me. How can I further make your day? his tone implied.
"Grant, it's me. I think it's time for that vital chat."
It took him a split second to recover, and then, "Hey, I was beginning to wonder what happened to you. If you were going to stand me up or what. Not call, like you said you would."
"Long day. I was up at Mom's this morning. You knew she was going to tell me, right? About your little surprise visit and proposal?"
"I had a hunch the topic might arise." His voice seemed to shrug nonchalantly. "I thought you should hear it from her instead of from me. So what do you think?"
"What do I think? I think I'm wondering what you're up to."
"I'm not 'up to' anything, Ally, except exactly what I told her. Trouble is, I don't know whether she got it. I wanted to see how she was doing. You know, I'm thinking maybe Dr. Vee can do something for her. But I had to see her first. She seemed pretty distant, but that woman there—what was her name? Marie, Maria, whatever?—said she has lucid moments. So who knows? He might possibly help her. I think I can arrange to get her into his clinic. Bartlett gives me a few perks. It's the least I can do for her, so..." His voice trailed off expectantly.
"Grant, I need to talk to you about this man. I read the stuff you gave me and I still don't know the first thing about him." She paused, about to speak words she never thought she would. "If you want to come over, I'll stand you a drink."
"You serious?"
"For my sins."