The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy

     Guy got up and started pacing the room.     “Here’s the way I see it,” he said.     He was suddenly full of energy, ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

25 “WHEN I TOLD HIM, he was—just— incredulous . That amazed me. Did he really think he had hidden the stuff so well? He just couldn’t believe that I’d found it. Then he was offended. That didn’t really surprise me. The guilty ones are always offended—or pretend to be offended.”     “ ‘You’re accusing me? I can’t believe this. After all I’ve done for you, how could you suspect me of something like...

STILL BRITTLE AND BRIGHT, still in Guy’s arms, still in the parking lot where anyone might see them, Ariane said, “Tell me all about it.”     She was surprised to realize that she was teasing and testing him, waiting for him to make a slip, to tell her some lie that she would recognize.  Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.su...

“FOR ONE MAD MOMENT,” she said, “I thought I might just get rid of all the loot, such as it was, throw it all into the sea, bury it under the sand, but I knew that wouldn’t do—” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

DISAPPOINTED, she dropped into a chair in Guy’s room and lit a cigarette. She felt suddenly weary. She stretched herself, knitting her brows. She was stunned. Her illusions were shattered. What was she going to do? ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

23 “IT WAS DISAPPOINTING, at the very least, to find out that Guy was so stupid and that his aims were so small, his goals so petty,” she said. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“I WOULD STEAL a few minutes in each room, browsing, looking around to see what I could see, but only a few minutes in each room, because—” ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

SHE SWUNG the door open and looked in. The light coming through the venetian blinds cast sharp shadows on the bedspread, shadows that slipped over the edge of the bed, fell onto the floor, and vanished. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“I HADN’T been in any of the guest rooms since those nights when I had visited the place before it was finished. It was a queer feeling, to be in those rooms. It got to me. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“YOU CAN JOT this down, too,” she said. “A person who will tell a small lie will tell a bigger one when the occasion calls for it.”     “Got it,” I said. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

GUY SEEMED so interested in his work that Ariane decided work was the way to his heart. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

19 “I WISH I could capture the atmosphere of Sunrise Cove after Guy took charge,” she said. “It was as if we were in one of those upbeat movies that came out in the thirties, with aging child actors still playing kids, hanging around the soda fountain and saying ‘swell’ and ‘gee’ a lot.” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.su...

18 “REMEMBER THIS,” she said, and she tapped me on the chest to make sure that I was listening. “Love, like other intoxicants, alters your perceptions. Got it?”     “Got it.” ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

17 “SO, HE TOOK ME OUT to dinner that night. I make that sound so grand. We went to a diner—” ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

ARIANE STOPPED fumbling with the zipper and let her hands fall.     “Oops,” she said.     “Hey, it’s you,” said Guy, as if he’d just noticed.     “Oh, yes,” said Ariane, spreading her hands, grimacing, shrugging her shoulders. “It’s me.” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“THERE I WAS, standing there, in the locker room—”     “—in the harsh light of the locker room, outlined against the deep shadows—” ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

ARIANE STOOD at the kitchen door, looking out at the parking lot, holding the door for the last of the staff, Tony, just a boy, young and pimply, whose schoolboy crush was so obvious that sometimes it was enough to make her squeeze her eyes and laugh so that she wouldn’t cry. Tony wanted to dawdle. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at pe...

“GO AHEAD, Renée,” said Ariane. “I’ll finish up.”     “Huh?” said Renée.     “I know what has to be done,” Ariane assured her. “I’ve watched you. . . .” Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

15 “WE ADJUSTED. He knew exactly what he wanted. He told us exactly what he wanted us to do. We did it. In less than a month, he had the place humming. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

     “Let me introduce myself,” he said. He passed the loose-leaf binder and the unruly stack of papers that lay on it to Mr. Murray, without looking at him. Mr. Murray was taken by surprise. He grabbed for the folder, just a moment too late, after the handsome guy had let go of it, and it slipped from his hands, threatened to fall to the floor, clattering, making a mess of things, ... Get full ac...

14 THE NEXT DAY, the staff was summoned for a meeting. Ariane was the first to arrive. She hesitated at the entrance to the dining room. At the far edge of the room, with their backs to the bay—the bay behind them as a backdrop, like a rear-projection scene in a low-budget movie—stood Mr. Murray, Renée, and someone new, a young man, tall, in a dark double-breasted suit. ... Get full access to The...

A HANDSOME STRANGER walked into the Tropicale Grill one night, and Renée showed him to one of Ariane’s tables. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

CURT BURGER, the owner of the Babbington hardware store, came in one night with his wife, Arlene. Renée showed them to one of Ariane’s tables. By the time they sat down, they were in an agitated state. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe

“SO, I WANT TO SHOW YOU how a little insight can be dangerous. I watched Renée, and Renée watched me. I think she did a better job, because I didn’t know just when she was watching me, but I’m quite sure she knew when I was watching her.” A knowing smile came to her lips. Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subsc...

THE FIRST EVENING that the Tropicale Grill at the Sunrise Cove Resort Motel was open for paying customers was the kind of evening that Ariane had imagined weeks before, when she had stood in the skeleton of the dining room and pictured it as it might be. ... Get full access to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy at peterleroy.substack.com/subscribe