Rapture

"Let's put it this way," Jeff replied with a broad smile, feeling that things were finally beginning to go his way, "I'm the one with the money. It's my treat, whatever. You tell me what you'd like to do. Anything."

"Anything?" Bonnie's eyes widened.

"Sure, why not?" Jeff made a motion to leave. He was afraid someone Bonnie knew might appear at any moment. "Come on, let's walk while we discuss it."

"Okay, fine."

Bonnie grabbed up her notebooks, and they left the cafe, walking down Dunster Street toward Memorial Drive and the river. Jeff put on his sunglasses again.

"Are you sure I'm not taking you away from anything important?"

"I could take the finals tomorrow," Bonnie answered nonchalantly. "My grade point average is three point five."

"Jesus," Jeff muttered.

"Who were you seeing on business?"

"Wang, and Prime," Jeff replied, smiling to himself. It was just like his first conversation with Georgianne on the street in Danbury. He had his story ready. "We're just in the process of sounding people out. We need someone to produce a special component we've designed. In quantity."

"Is it for Star Wars?"

"Hey, please." Jeff looked suitably distraught.

"Sorry. I get you," Bonnie said quickly. "Where are you staying?"

"At the Hyatt.*

"That's handy," Bonnie said. She stopped and sat on the coping of a low brick wall. "Maybe not to Wang or Prime ..."

In Los Angeles they told me it was convenient."

it is, to Harvard."

She had an odd look on her face, and she seemed to be appraising him in a new light. Jeff felt mildly uncomfortable, but all he could do was stick to his story.

'Why are we stopping here?" he asked, lighting another cigarette and looking around. They were still surrounded by college buildings.

"I've decided what I want to do," Bonnie said.

"What?"

"Have a drink. No, a couple of drinks. Three."

Jeff laughed. It was going to be all right.

"Let's go by the numbers, kid," he said. "One is first, then we'll see."

"Terrific. Outrageous." Forget the smirk, the grade point average, the casual arrogance; at that moment Bonnie was just another excited teenager. "I've never been out with an older man before, you know."

"Come on, let's find a bar."

"Well, that's a problem. Maybe. I'm eighteen, and the drinking age here is twenty-one."

"Aha, I see. You want me to start off by breaking the law and contributing to the delinquency of a minor."

"Jeff, come on. You're kidding, right?"

He smiled and took her arm, and they continued on toward the Charles. Yes, it was going to be just fine, he thought. She didn't even have to be told to call him by his first name. He liked that. He still wasn't sure what to say to her or what to expect from her with regard to her mother, but he felt calm and confident now. After all, if he couldn't deal successfully with Bonnie, a teen-ager, he had no business even dreaming about Georgianne.

"I have a bottle of malt Scotch back at the hotel," Jeff told her. "I could get away with buying you drinks in plenty of places, but it might not be so easy when you're dressed like that and carrying schoolbooks."

He spotted an empty taxi and flagged it down. A little while later they were in his room on the ninth floor of the Hyatt.

"Fantastic," Bonnie exclaimed while Jeff was closing the door behind them. She dropped her books on a chair and went to the large window. It was a clear, bright day, the sky a deep blue, and now the sun was just beginning its descent. Students dismantled an eight-man shell on the riverbank next to the Boston University boathouse. Across the Charles, Boston sprawled to the south and east. The view was impressive, and Bonnie was taking it all in. "It's just fantastic," she said. "I've never been in a hotel like this. When we came up for our visit last year, we stayed at-I forget the name, but it was one of those motor inns. Ugh. But this ..."

See? It doesn't take that much to dazzle her, Jeff told himself as he tossed his jacket over her books. He got two glasses from the bathroom and poured an inch of malt in each. Take it slow: he didn't want a drunk teenager on his hands. Bonnie was at the television set. She had turned it on and was scanning the channels expertly.

"There we are," she said happily. "Do you watch MTV?"

"I don't see much television."

"Me either. This is a treat."

Bonnie increased the volume and began dancing in front of the set, her eyes following the cascade of video images. Better this than quiz shows or soaps, Jeff decided. He handed Bonnie her drink.

"Cheers," she said with a bright smile.

"Cheers."

"Wow, smooth," she said after her first sip, but then rushed into the bathroom. She reappeared a moment later, having topped up the glass with water. What had been an amber liquid was now straw-colored.

"To tell you the truth, I don't drink much."

"No kidding."

"I might have a beer in the dorm. You know, on the weekend, when there's plenty around."