he room. "But
my father? I can't send flowers to her and not say anything to him. We
haven't had it out, yet."

"Your father's pretty cool, considering." Amber meant--for a professor.

"I know," Willow said. "I'll send him the new Dylan album. I'll put a
note on it saying, 'latest American masterpiece.' Make a joke out of
it. He's going to be upset, though."

"He'll get over it. It's not like you're running away with a drug
dealer, for God's sake."

"I'll do it this afternoon," Willow said, "before I meet Patrick."

She wrote a short note to go with the album. Her father would be
relieved to know that she had requested a leave of absence and would be
in good standing at the University. She told him that she needed time
to find her own direction. He would think that she was making a
mistake, but at least he would hear it from her directly and would
recognize that she was serious. She added that there was a guy in town
who played piano like Fats Waller. "Love, Willow."

She rode back to the village and ordered flowers for her mother. The
Book and Record Shop packaged the Dylan album for her. She slipped in
the note and made her second trip of the day to the post office. Not
bad, she thought, pedaling to the Depresso. Not bad at all.

"You look cheerful," Patrick said when she arrived.

"It's Pluto," she said, "hanging around Venus again." She bent over and
kissed him quickly. "Mercury and Jupiter. You're here early."

"I took the day off."

"So, what happened?" Willow pulled a chair out from the table and sat
down.

"Ginger showed up late, around eleven. We talked."

"What's she like?"

"Not bad. Solid. She's married to an accountant--in St. Louis, I told
you. She has a couple of kids in college. She is Gert's only close
relative. Anyway, she's taking care of things. The house goes to her;
she's going to sell it right away. She asked me if I'd take care of the
place until then, live for free. I said I would."

"I bet it sells fast," Willow said.

"It should. I guess Gert told her about me, so she trusts me."

"It's a good deal for her," Willow said. "Houses are more attractive
when they are lived in, and summer is the perfect time to put it on the
market."

Patrick stretched. "I've been thinking," he said.

"About what?"

"About what to do next." He took a drink of beer. "I've been thinking
about maybe spending some time on the west coast. Where did you say you
were going to school?"

"Woodstock