Panic Attack

The dog wouldn’t shut up, but the barking sounding farther away, like the woman was pulling the dog away from the window.

Joh

All in all, Joh

And it played out all right.

At around two o’clock, as he was getting off the subway in Brooklyn, Marissa called him, sounding like a mess, saying that when she came home her parents were in the middle of a big fight. Joh

Joh

When Marissa arrived she hugged him tightly, like she never wanted to let go, and said, “I’m only happy when I’m with you.”

Later, after screwing a couple of times, Marissa was sleeping, resting her head on Joh

In the morning- it was Monday- Joh

Joh

“How could I possibly get sick of you?” he asked.

She blushed, then said, “Seriously, maybe it’s not such a great idea.”

“I want to see you again,” he said, “and I think it’s a good idea to give your parents some space, you know?”

This line had been unrehearsed, but it was so perfect.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” she said, “and I’d like to be around them as little as possible myself, but I just don’t want to impose on you.”

“Are you kidding?” he said. “I want to spend as much time around you as I can. I’d spend every second with you if I could.”

She loved this. After they kissed for a while, she said, “But I have to go home and shower and change and take care of some stuff first. I can meet you back here at around five.”

He knew she’d want to go home first. He said, “I have an idea. Let’s meet in the city at six thirty. We can grab a bite to eat, then go to a movie.”

She said this sounded great, and they arranged to meet outside the subway station at Fifty- ninth Street and Lexington Avenue.

Marissa left Joh

He went to a phone booth about ten blocks away- he didn’t want to make the calls from too close to his apartment- and called information and got the number of Dr. Adam Bloom, Ph.D., in Manhattan. He called and asked the woman who answered if he could speak with Dr. Bloom. The woman said that Dr. Bloom couldn’t come to the phone, he was with a patient. Of course Joh

“His last patient’s at five.”

Shit, that was too early. That meant Bloom might leave at six and be home at seven.

“Okay, thanks,” Joh

The woman was saying, “If you want to leave a number I’ll-” as Joh

Later, back at his apartment, Joh

“That’s totally fine,” Marissa said. “I was just about to call you. My friend Hillary wants to meet me for drinks at five thirty, and I thought six thirty was cutting it too close.”

This was so perfect. She was pushing back the plans.

“Cool,” Joh

Actually, he had no idea what the movie schedule was, but he figured he could cover for this later if he had to.

“Great,” she said. “Oh, God, I can’t wait to see you. It’s been another nightmare day here.”

She told him that she’d found out her parents were getting divorced- more great news as far as Joh

“So is your mom home now?” Joh

“Yeah,” she said. “She was just in here asking me if I was okay with the divorce, if I was going to be traumatized by it.” She laughed, then asked, “Why?”

He didn’t think she was suspicious, she was just asking.

“Just curious,” he said, but he needed some explanation, so he added, “I mean, do you think she and the trainer are still… getting together?”

“I don’t know. She didn’t look like she was going anywhere today. She looked like shit actually.”

“So you think she’s staying in today?”

“Yeah, why?”

Now there was a little suspicion, and Joh

“I was just saying,” Joh

“Yeah, bad for my father,” Marissa said. “But honestly I don’t see how things could get any worse between them. It’s about as worse as it can get right now.”

Yeah, right, Joh

At about four o’clock, Joh

The drive to Forest Hills took longer than he expected because of rush hour traffic, but he was still doing okay on time. He parked in the closest spot he could find, about half a block away from the Blooms’ house. From the car, he called Marissa to confirm that she was actually in the city with her friend Hillary, but he told her it was because he missed her and just wanted to hear her voice. He looked around carefully, and when he was pretty sure that no one was watching, he got out of the car and headed toward the Blooms’.

It was 6:22, and Adam was probably on the subway on his way home. Adding on fifteen minutes for rush hour and assuming he didn’t stop off anywhere, he should arrive at the house in Forest Hills by seven fifteen. Joh

Joh

Nearing the house, he was especially careful to make sure no one was noticing him. A man at the far end of the block was leaving his car and heading into his house, but the man wasn’t looking in Joh

The SUV and the Merc were in the driveway- Joh