In Over Her Head by Elsie Russell - Parnasse.com

white leather sofa with some kind of drink. Penny walked in and sat
down at the far end, those curvy plywood chairs across from the white
rug didn't look very inviting and the sofa faced the tall windows with
the view. More rain out there, but now she was blushing crimson so she
kept her head down and stared at the rain spattered glass. Across the
river was an enormous palace, probably the Louvre, all lit up and
shining like gold. The rain intensified into hail, rattling the windows.
Inez wobbled in with a tray of hot coffee and a plate of cookies.
"Muito obrigado, Senhora," Penny said, guessing she was
Portuguese. This was all she knew in that language, it was Spanish she
was more familiar with, living in Nueva York and being around the
Rodriguez guys, but she remembered this phrase, it meant thank you.
"De nada, senhorita, mais je parle Français, and a leetle
eenglish."
Alessandro poured some of the alcohol from his glass into his
coffee, then bit into a cookie and took a sip from the cup.
Dick came into the room from the back somewhere swirling a
fizzy clear drink in his hand.
Alessandro pushed aside his dish with the bitten cookie. Dick
began moving in a sideways crab-like motion towards the window.
"La situazione e pericolosa! Che imbecile sei di fare cosi!" Dick
snickered to the window.
"E migliore per tutti, penso," Allessandro observed
"Better for everybody? And how's that? After what happened?
What was THAT all about?" Dick snorted into the window, fogging up
the pane.
"Hey, guys, mind letting me on this? I know what 'pericoloso'
means."
He ignored her. "Ula blew in before. She dropped off her bag
and left! Didn't say a word! Her phone's off, you may have noticed."
"She has an appointment at this Cyber Ciné. I called them from
New York."
"Does she." Dick stood frozen by the window, big round discs
of steam expanding and shrinking with each breath.
Outside the rain and the hail suddenly stopped. In the silence
that followed nobody said anything.
Inez tiptoed in with a fresh pot of coffee and more steamed
milk, and cleared away the plates. They stirred sugar into their coffees
and sipped. Alessandro retreated into himself. Under the halogen spots
his eyes were black holes inside their sockets.
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