BooksBarbecue
Back The Great Pretenders
Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for The Great Pretenders
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. PART I
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. PART II
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. Chapter Twelve
  19. Chapter Thirteen
  20. Chapter Fourteen
  21. Chapter Fifteen
  22. Chapter Sixteen
  23. Chapter Seventeen
  24. PART III
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-one
  29. Chapter Twenty-two
  30. Chapter Twenty-three
  31. Chapter Twenty-four
  32. Chapter Twenty-five
  33. Chapter Twenty-six
  34. PART IV
  35. Chapter Twenty-seven
  36. Chapter Twenty-eight
  37. Chapter Twenty-nine
  38. Chapter Thirty
  39. Chapter Thirty-one
  40. Chapter Thirty-two
  41. Chapter Thirty-three
  42. Chapter Thirty-four
  43. Chapter Thirty-five
  44. PART V
  45. Chapter Thirty-six
  46. Chapter Thirty-seven
  47. Chapter Thirty-eight
  48. Chapter Thirty-nine
  49. Chapter Forty
  50. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  51. Readers Guide
  52. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
  53. Acknowledgments
  54. About the Author
  55. What’s next onyour reading list?

“Booker’s in serious trouble.” He picked up a stick and tossed it for the dog. “Remember when I told you that heroin moved into Central Avenue and things were never the same? I know whereof I speak. Nothing we can do; no one in the family can stop Booker. He’s not as bad off as Bird, Charlie Parker, who just died a few months ago, but one day he will be. No one can reach him, no one can protect him.” Bruno brought back the stick and danced around us till Terrence took it from his doggy jaws and flung it down the beach again. “It’s terrible, watching someone you love be in such pain, and being powerless to help them, powerless to stop them.”

The sun had lowered in the sky and spilled a sheet of gold across the water by the time we returned to my place, and Bruno dashed up the steps ahead of us. We closed the door behind us. I leaned against it. Outside, Bruno yapped. Terrence took me in his arms and pressed me against the door, and we kissed for a long time, a long, slow, luxurious kiss, until the phone on the desk rang and rang. Finally I picked up.

Charlie Frye, full of anxiety, nagging me to offer his Coast of Heaven, now, while Empire loved him. I responded with random uh-huhs. Terrence went outside and sat with Bruno, staring out to sea, his dark profile highlighted in the unleavened sunshine. I told myself: Roxanne, this is your chance to be free of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” forever.

“Listen, Charlie, the Coast of Heaven is brilliant, and I won’t rest until it’s sold for ten grand,” I said, stunning him into momentary silence. “I’ll always represent your work, and be your friend, but the affair is over. No, I haven’t heard about you and Margie Becker, and really, I don’t care. No. I haven’t heard about Shirley or Enid either, and I don’t want an explanation.” I took the phone in one hand and, extending the long cord, stood in the open doorway with it. “I’ll still be your agent, of course. Of course I believe in Coast of Heaven, and I believe in your career, but the affair is over.” Terrence turned, and his eyes met mine. While Charlie nattered, I smiled and walked back inside. “Yes, yes, Charlie. No, the affair is finished.”