Dennis, leaning forward, patiently waiting to hear all the things Daisy wasn’t saying.. “I hope you’re not thinking that.” Actually, Daisy Phillips was thinking that.. At least think abo
Trang 2Copyright © 2010 by Stacey McGlynn All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by the Crown Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www crownpublishing com
C ROWN is a trademark and the Crown colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data McGlynn, Stacey.
Keeping time : a novel / Stacey McGlynn.— 1st ed.
p cm.
(alk paper)
1 Older women— Fiction 2 British—United States— Fiction I Title.
PS3613.C4866K44 2010 813'.6 —dc22 2010008925
ISBN 978- 0- 307- 46440- 8 Printed in the United States of America
DESIGN BY AMANDA DEWEY
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
Trang 3o n e
C
ome on, Mum It’s not as if you’re being put out to pasture.”
Words by Dennis Aimed at Daisy Tipping the eve ning on its side
Fifty- fi ve- year- old Dennis, sitting on the taupe linen sofa, across from the mahogany cocktail table His new wife, Amanda, beside him,
not saying a word Dennis, leaning forward, patiently waiting to hear all
the things Daisy wasn’t saying Then, hammering on Forcing a smile
“I hope you’re not thinking that.”
Actually, Daisy Phillips was thinking that.
Smelling the grass of the pasture
Feeling the tickle of the blades under her nose
Searching her son’s face for some scrap of infanthood, a glimpse of childhood, a shred of adolescence Nothing Silly to think there might
be, but Daisy was groping, thoroughly shaken
Dennis, “I think, we think”— gesturing to include Amanda—
“you’d really like it there It’s crazy to go on like you’ve been.” Meaning
to continue living in the house she had been born in and had inherited
from her parents The house she had spent her whole life in Dennis,
going on: “Life would be a permanent holiday.”
Daisy, not replying Too prim, too proper, with an elegance, a grace
Trang 4that never had to be taught, a perfectly straight back that did Ironed into
her by a mother who had spent a lifetime focused on the wrong things
Daisy, staring down at her hands clasped tightly in her lap Adjusting her
ring
Dennis, thrusting the colorful glossy brochure into her eye line
Daisy, turning away Dennis, holding it there for a moment, shaking it as
though it needed shaking to get her attention Not getting a response,
Dennis, sighing Putting it on the table next to him Saying, “You can
take the brochures home with you Look through them when you’re
ready Amanda and I think The Carillion would be perfect for you
There’s a lot more to these se nior homes than you know At least think
about it, okay?”
Daisy, looking at him Meeting his eye “I’d like to go home now.”
Standing up, smoothing her pleated beige skirt over her narrow hips
Dennis, hoisting himself off the sofa “I can take you right away if you’d like.”
Daisy, “I’d like that.” Nodding
Minutes later Dennis,from the trip out the front door to the car, driving his silent mother the top of his head glistening with rain
home, leaving the dark splashing streets of Merseyside for the dark
splashy streets of Saint Helens, northeast of Liverpool His wiper blades
lashing noisily back and forth, rerunning the conversation in his head
He had not gotten nearly as far as he had hoped Amanda would surely
lay into him when he got home
Pulling slowly into the driveway at 24 Rosemary Lane Slipping the gear stick into neutral Turning to his mother “I hope you had a nice
dinner.”
“Yes It was very nice, thank you.” Stiffl y
“Look, Mum”— adjusting himself in the seat to face her—“I’m sorry,
Trang 5K ee p i ng Ti m e 3
but it’s been hard on me having two houses to maintain— two lawns to
mow, two networks of pipes and wires to worry about I appreciate that
you try not to call me, but things always do seem to come up, and I’m not
so young myself anymore And you know Amanda wants to move to
Chessex, to be nearer her family And now that Gabriel’s fi nishing school,
there’s really nothing keeping us here We’ve already started looking at
houses Chessex is beautiful You could have a cozy little apartment at
The Carillion, with me and Amanda close by Think of it as an
adven-ture, a new chapter in your life.”
Daisy, nodding her head Slightly Turmoil deep within
Dennis, feeling a charge of relief Maybe they were getting some-where
Her hand on the passenger side door catch Leaning over Kissing him “Good night, Dennis.”
“Good night, Mum.” Dennis, watching her ease out of the car, before scurrying nimbly up the stone front walk, past the stone wall Glimpsing
her disappearing behind the cheerful yellow door, fl anked by climbing red
roses fl ush against white stucco, on her thatched- roof home half- timbered
with exposed dark beams
Not seeing what was on the other side of that cheerful yellow door:
Daisy leaning heavily against it, her shaking frame pressing against its
solid frame, surrendering to a fast- moving current of tears
The following Saturday,ing his weekly call all morning She had spent the whole interven- Dennis, calling Daisy had been
dread-ing week in a closed- circuit loop over his recent proposal— locked in a
cycle of ignoring it, denying it, being annoyed by it, irate over it,
de-spairing because of it, hungering back to ignoring it again
And now a ringing phone
Daisy, picking it up She had to It was a responsibility growing
Trang 6stronger every day, knowing that Dennis wouldn’t be thinking that
she was busy in the kitchen, living room, or bath He would be afraid
that she was dead in the kitchen, living room, or bath Sighing
An-swering it
An exchange of greetings Brief pleasantries Dennis, not getting
to it right away Saying fi rst that he couldn’t mow her lawn yet again
because of the rain Further discussion about the ceaseless rain Then
fi nally, the main point: asking if she had had a chance to look through
the brochures
Daisy, assuring him that she had— and she had, as they fl ew through the air into the wastepaper basket
Dennis, asking what her thoughts were About an apartment at The Carillion About moving to Chessex
Daisy, saying, “Oh my, what’s that?” Saying sorry, she had to go
Someone was at the door Pity they couldn’t talk longer
Partly true Someone was at the door.
Daisy was at the door Putting herself there, in the rain, with the portable phone Saying their talk would have to wait until next
Satur-day, or until the rain fi nally let up and Dennis could come and mow the
grass
Hanging up, thin strands of guilt fl owing through her Pushing them aside Hurrying to get ready to go to the club A train to catch An early
lunch with friends, followed by shopping in the afternoon, and stopping
for tea
Daisy, standing at the gilded mirror above the bathroom sink, put-ting on makeup Running a wide- toothed comb through her light brown
hair Applying lipstick Taking a good hard look at herself Her face,
es-pecially her chin— long, always had been, not brought on by the
duplici-ties of aging Her features small, delicate on a perfectly shaped head Her
nose, narrow Big light blue eyes behind oval wire- rimmed glasses Her
cheekbones, not too crinkled, her forehead, not too smooth Wavy hair,
Trang 7K ee p i ng Ti m e 5
parted on the left side, thick clumps of bangs swooping off in both
direc-tions, forming a series of Cs and Js across her forehead Her hair long
enough to reach her eyebrows, short enough to reveal her earlobes, curling
under at the collar in the back A tiny, slender woman of seventy- seven
Gifted with an ever- present smile, an easy laugh
Taking a deep breath Standing as tall as she got Confi dent, defi ant, upbeat
Ignoring a slow, steady dripping from the shower head
Her friends, gathered around herEllen, and her favorite, Dot Umbrellas, drenched raincoats at the — Gladys, Marylin, Cate,
door
Daisy liked these weekly luncheons Taking the train into the city
Lunching, shopping at the rejuvenated Albert Dock Feeling part of
some-thing with the city beating around her Liverpool, recently voted Eu rope’s
cultural capital The Merseyside Waterfront regional park and the whole
waterfront area drew millions of visitors every year The Cavern Club,
the Beatles Museum, and the childhood homes of the former Beatles still
attracted fans from all over the world The cafés, pubs, heart- stopping
architecture, cutting- edge theaters— all of it contributing to the energy
Daisy loved
If only the skies weren’t consistently hosing the place down
But that was Liverpool
Daisy, feeling good Wearing a new dress— navy with beige trim—
that fell just below her knees Sensible low- heeled navy shoes Smiling
during the conversation Buttering her bread Ordering the lamb
Ignor-ing naggIgnor-ing unpleasantries peckIgnor-ing away at her GoIgnor-ing over what she
had lately been thinking about: hitting Dot up with a proposal
Waiting for the appropriate lull in the conversation, then turning her
Trang 8attention to Dot, to get her idea out Daisy, full of hope and slowly
gath-ering excitement at spilling the words
But then Dot blew her away, speaking fi rst Mentioning innocently that she was going on holiday for the summer To Spain, where her
daughter had a house Shooting down Daisy’s idea before it even got out of
her mouth Not giving Daisy the chance to say that she’d been thinking
the two of them should go on holiday together To Ireland Or Scotland
Even Wales
When Paul was alive, he and Daisy had traveled several times a year
Both loved exploring; together they had covered much of the globe But
Daisy hadn’t been anywhere in the last four years— not since Paul died
She hadn’t even thought of it Until recently Startling herself, imagining
traveling again— on a much smaller scale, of course Places she could
drive to She just had to fi gure out with whom Dot’s face had presented
itself, and after thinking it over for some time, Daisy had concluded that
Dot would indeed be the ideal travel companion They liked the same
things, needed their tea at precisely the same time, craved the same schedule
of bed at night and waking in the morning, were equally active— which
was to say they were unusually energetic for their ages— and were both
devoted to the same eve ning ritual: Cointreau with mixers Dot was as good
a stand- in for Paul as Daisy could imagine
But no sooner were the words “Dot, I’ve been thinking” out of Daisy’s mouth than Dot dropped her bombshell Daisy, nodding, smiling,
wish-ing her well, her disappointed eyes sweepwish-ing around the table of faces to
see if anyone else might be a candidate
Dismissing each in turn That creeping feeling again Of walls closing
in, of dreams swirling down drains, of possibilities not yet lived like
dan-delion seeds on wings of birds, launched, full of potential but never
hit-ting the ground Unable to shake the feeling that her best days were
behind her Paining her to fi nd travel on that list, too— that great,
sweep-ing list
Sighing When Paul went, everything went Except her house, 24
Trang 9K ee p i ng Ti m e 7
Rosemary Lane Still hers It was not going to be stored away like short
skirts, high heels, her passport— not if she could help it Dennis and
Amanda could go Let them go to Chessex, but not with her
She would hire someone to mow the lawn every week Fix the shower head herself
There Problem solved
Trang 10Keeping Time
visit one of these online retailers:
Trang 11ABOUT THIS GUIDE
In order to provide reading groups with the most
in-formed and thought-provoking questions possible, it is
necessary to reveal important aspects of the plot of this
book—as well as the ending
If you have not finished reading Keeping Time, we
respectfully suggest that you may want to wait before
reviewing this guide
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1 Do you think Daisy’s decision to travel alone to New
York came to her in a flash while rolling around in
the mud, or do you think it was something that had
been building in her mind over time Why?
2 What kind of relationship do you think Lenny and
Dennis had growing up, with each other and with
their parents?
3 Do you think Daisy would have done any traveling
again if she hadn’t found the watch?
4 Do you think returning the watch to its rightful owner
was the sole reason Daisy chose to go to New York
or was that merely a catalyst? Was she doing it
be-cause it was the proper thing to do, or did she have a
hidden desire to see the watch’s owner again?
his marriage and pending move part of it?
6 Did Ann’s response to Daisy’s arrival and stay surprise you? Did you expect a different reaction from her?
7 Was it in keeping with Elisabeth’s character that she agreed to have Daisy stay with her and her family when Ann was not willing to?
8 Did Daisy come into Elisabeth’s life at a good time? What do you think was behind all of Elisabeth’s sus-picions and unrest? Did you ever think Elisabeth’s fears about her husband might be true?
9 Is it typical that Elisabeth didn’t want to ask Daisy why she had come and Daisy didn’t want to bring it
up either? Who do you think should have started that conversation? Have you ever had a similar experi-ence on either side of that issue?
10 A certain sense of timelessness runs through the book, a linking of the generations What elements does the author use to evoke that sense?
11 What do you suppose Daisy’s life would have been like if she had given the watch to young Michael and returned to Liverpool before she did In what way would the trip have changed her if she had gone
READING GROUP GUIDE
Keeping Time
By Stacey McGlynn
Trang 1212 Discuss Hulda’s role in the story.
13 There are a lot of characters in the book that have
an impact on others Whose impact is the
great-est and most likely to be long-lived? Whose is the
most subtle but still valuable?
14 What do you think the future holds for Daisy and
Michael Baker?
15 How has Eve evolved during the fifty years that
have elapsed between the first and second parts of
her relationship with Justin? Has she grown up at
all?
ReadING GROUP GUIde
Keeping Time
For more information, visit www.StaceyMcGlynn.com
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