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like a pop psychology book than an academic paper anyway.
You ll love New York, Peg lied. You should change your
book title, though.
You don t like The Outsider Syndrome?
How about something grabby, like The Allure of Alone:
Symptoms and Solutions for the Chronically Single.
Wilma said, I love that! Can I use it?
My parting gift to you, said Peg.
I d like to give you a parting gift, said Wilma.
A slap on the kisser? A poison-pen letter? How about five
pounds of brown rice? asked Peg.
You heard, said Wilma, frowning. Want to know why I
stole the food?
Because you re crazy?
It was the only thing I could take that would upset Linus,
she said. Although I got rid of something else that seemed to
devastate him.
Don t bother, said Peg. If Linus is sad that I m gone, it s
because I can t satisfy his hunger for self-denial.
Wilma said, I m not going to take back what I said about
him. But I might be wrong about you.
The Girlfriend Curse 279
I m not an outsider?
You probably are, she said. I mean that, with you, Linus
may have met his match. Before, with those other women in
the program, he talked about them every night. Linus wanted
to assure me that he didn t reciprocate their feelings. This ses-
sion, though, he never spoke about you. He barely mentioned
your name to me. That s why I knew I was in trouble. And I
acted badly. Unprofessionally.
You were hurt, said Peg.
Wilma looked into Peg s eyes, and Peg saw how much. He
tried to spare my feelings, she said. Keeping you at a distance
which I m sure was a struggle for him was Linus s last kind-
ness to me. You can take that information as a peace offering.
Or an apology. Or a fond farewell.
Peg said, Fond?
No, said Wilma, smiling genuinely, beautifully.
You should smile more often, said Peg.
Maybe I ll have reason to in New York, said Wilma.
Chapter 33
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From the sound of it, Nina and Jack were making up. As
comfortable as Peg was with their relationship, she wasn t in-
terested in listening to their sex noises.
Peg quickly dressed in jogging shorts and a sports bra, and
laced her New Balances tight. She hit Old Dirty Goat Road at
a slower than usual pace, determined to enjoy this run. She
would smell the flowers, inhale the exhaust-free air. Run for
the pleasure of outdoor exercise, not as a way to distract or
punish herself.
A mile later, jogging in peace and quiet (only one Subaru
cruised by on the road), Peg s legs lifted easily. As she ran, she
counted mailboxes, each painted a bright color with the
homeowner s name stenciled in white. Peg recognized many
of the names. She d meet the rest of her neighbors soon
enough. Wilma could take Manhattan. She could have the
Bronx and Staten Island, too. In Manshire, Peg had never felt
the ground so solidly beneath her feet.
She made it all the way to Main Street, five miles, in an
hour. Slowing to a walk, Peg stopped into Dombit s for a
Snapple. Waiting for the cashier, she felt a tap on her
shoulder.
Turning, Peg beheld a devastatingly handsome woodsman,
as if he d walked off the Alaskan hunks calendar, and onto the
line behind her.
c
282 Valerie Frankel
He said, Can I help you with that?
I think I can manage a Snapple.
You can t blame a guy for asking. Indeed, she couldn t.
She smiled at him, paid and left the store.
Peg! shouted a voice from across the parking lot. It was
Donna, sitting on the steps in front of the used bookshop,
waving. Peg walked over. Sat down. Opened her ice tea.
First day under ninety all week, said Donna.
I could use a sweater, said Peg.
The woodsman was walking toward them. It wasn t a long
walk.
Donna said, Peg, let me introduce my grandson, Reed. He
just moved back to Manshire. From Alaska. He was logging
there, but came back to live with me. I told him I could take
care of myself. But he insisted.
Peg said, That s awful sweet of you.
It s the least I can do for my grandma, he said.
Donna said, Peg just moved to Manshire from New York
City. She doesn t know too many people. You should take her
around, Reed.
He nodded. Peg drank her Snapple.
Donna said, Have you heard about Trevor Martin yet?
Trevor Martin? Gloria s father, the billionaire? What about
him? asked Peg.
He s in Manshire. You know Bud? Over there, by the
Dombit s gas tanks? The one with the tattoos?
Donna was pointing. Bud saw her and waved. Peg waved
back. Donna said, He told me that Trevor Martin pulled up at
Dombit s about an hour ago in a limo the size of a school bus.
The driver asked Bud to fill it up. He did, but not quick enough
for Trevor Martin. He lowered the window and yelled at Bud
to hurry up. Bud said, I can t move any faster, but I can move
a whole lot slower. Trevor Martin didn t like that. He threw a
hundred at him, called Bud an inbred mountain idiot, then
had his driver speed off. Bud barely got the gas cap back on.
The Girlfriend Curse 283
Where did Martin go?
Down Main Street, and up River Road. Why on earth do
you think a man like that would come to Manshire? asked
Donna.
Peg knew only too well. Trevor Martin had somehow
found Gloria, and he d come to take her home. Peg gulped
down her ice tea, told Donna she had to run, then did.
Reed trotted after her. When he caught up, he said, I hope
Grandma didn t embarrass you. About my taking you
around.
I don t embarrass easily, she said.
Can I call you? he asked.
Peg stopped walking, took a gander at him. He was exactly
what she d come to Vermont to find. An honest, caring man
who could swing an ax. His eyes hiked across her body as if
she were the Appalachian Trail. The way he looked at her, Peg
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