Lara hesitated, thinking about the meeting with the Swiss. “Of course,” she said.
Lara telephoned Keller. “Start the meeting without me. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
The recording studio was located on West Thirty-fourth Street, in a large warehouse filled with electronic equipment. There were 130 musicians seated in the room and a glass-enclosed control booth where the sound engineers worked. It seemed to Lara that the recording was going very slowly. They kept stopping and starting again. During one of the breaks she telephoned Keller.
“Where are you?” he demanded. “I’m stalling but they want to talk to you.”
“I’ll be there in an hour or two,” she said. “Keep them talking.”
Two hours later the recording session was still going on.
Lara telephoned Keller again.
“I’m sorry, Howard, I can’t leave. Have them come back tomorrow.”
“What’s so important?” Keller demanded.
“My husband,” Lara said. And she replaced the receiver.
When they returned to the apartment, Lara said, “We’re going to Reno next week.”
“What’s in Reno?”
“It’s the opening of the hotel and casino. We’ll fly down on Wednesday.”
Philip’s voice was filled with distress. “Damn!”
“What’s the matter?”
“I’m sorry, darling, I can’t.”
She was staring at him. “What do you mean?”
“I thought I had mentioned it. I’m leaving on a tour Mon day.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ellerbee has booked me on a six-week tour. I’m going to Australia and…”
“Australia?”
“Yes. Then Japan and Hong Kong.”
“You can’t, Philip. I mean…why are you doing this? You don’t have to. I want to be with you.”
“Well, come with me, Lara. I’d love that.”
“You know I can’t. Not now. There’s too much happening here.” Lara said miserably, “I don’t want you to leave me.”
“I don’t want to. But, darling, I warned you before we were married that this is what my life is about.”
“I know,” Lara said, “but that was before. Now it’s different. Everything has changed.”
“Nothing has changed,” Philip said gently, “except that I’m absolutely crazy about you, and when I go away, I’ll miss you like the devil.”
There was nothing Lara could say to that.
Philip was gone, and Lara had never known such loneli ness. In the middle of a meeting she would suddenly think about Philip and her heart would melt.
She wanted him to go on with his career, but she needed him with her. She thought of the wonderful times they had together, and of his arms around her, and his warmth and gentleness. She had never known she could love anyone so much. Philip telephoned her every day, but somehow it made the loneliness worse.
“Where are you, darling?”
“I’m still in Tokyo.”
“How’s the tour going?”
“Beautifully. I miss you.”
“I miss you, too.” Lara could not tell him how much she missed him.
“I leave for Hong Kong tomorrow and then…”
“I wish you’d come home.” She regretted it the moment she said it.
“You know I can’t.”
There was a silence. “Of course not.”
They talked for half an hour and when Lara put the receiver down, she was lonelier than ever. The time differences were maddening. Sometimes her Tuesday would be his Wednes day, and he would call in the middle of the night or in the early hours of the morning.
“How’s Philip?” Keller asked.
“Fine. Why does he do it, Howard?”
“Why does he do what?”
“This tour of his. He doesn’t have to do it. I mean, he certainly doesn’t need the money.”
“Whoa. I’m sure he’s not doing it for the money. It’s what he does, Lara.”
The same words that Philip had used. She understood it intellectually, but not emotionally.
“Lara,” Keller said, “you only married the man—you don’t own him.”
“I don’t want to own him. I was just hoping that I was more important to him than…” She stopped herself in mid-sentence. “Never mind. I know I’m being silly.”
Lara telephoned William Ellerbee.
“Are you free for lunch today?” Lara asked.
“I can make myself free,” Ellerbee said. “Is anything wrong?”
“No, no. I just thought we should have a talk.”
They met at Le Cirque.
“Have you talked to Philip lately?” Ellerbee asked.