BEg2 ch27 ruminating about H-M rapprochement

[Michael Bailey]

There’s this:

“All, as Ace Ventura sez, and even sings, righty then. Maxine wanders
uneasily around the place, convinced she has left evidence of misbehavior
out in glaringly plain sight that will, not exactly get her in trouble with
Horst, but oblige her to be heedful of his feelings, which despite
appearances, he may actually have. She runs through the company she’s
kept—aside from Windust—since Horst left town. Conkling, Rocky, Eric, Reg.
In every case she can claim legitimate work reasons, which would be fine if
Horst was the IRS.”

This behavior isn’t timid, but considerate (imho) - a concept like:
 she drew a line, he crossed it, they got divorced, can he do better? if so
he can come back - Spoors and traces of other men in her life would
complicate this picture for both of them, perchance?

it doesn’t seem like she had sex with any of those guys anyway except
Windust; he’s a problem in a separate compartment which one would think she
expects to keep secret for everyone’s peace of mind.



And later in the chapter, this:

“Horst emerges from the kitchen with a chocolate mustache, holding an
ice-cream package.

  “There’s Russian writing all over it. This Igor guy, correct?”

 “Yeah, he gets it shipped in, always more than he can use, I get to help
with some of the overrun.”

 “And in exchange for his generosity—”

   “Horst, it’s business, he’s,” smoothly, “eighty years old and looks like
Brezhnev, you already ate half a kilo, you want me to call this in, find a
stomach pump for you?”

 Horst semimiraculously getting a grip, “Not at all, fact, this stuff is
terrific. Next time you talk to that ol’ Igor, can you find out if they
have chocolate macadamia over there? passion fruit swirl maybe?”


- she cares enough to lie to him

- he isn’t enough of a hypocrite to pursue suspicions which as an ex- he
isn’t entitled to anyway

- so he focuses on the ice cream, and requests she see if Igor can get
chocolate macadamia or (suggestively) passion fruit swirl.

- still there’s this movie memory that comes to my mind: in “The Bachelor”
the guy takes his girlfriend to a fancy restaurant to propose, & makes this
horrible speech about how he’s confronted with many choices in his life,
and of all his alternatives, apparently vying for him, she “won.”
(Naturally she storms out & hilarity ensues when his rich relative dies
with a clause in the will that he has to marry by a deadline that gives him
24 hours to find a bride)

It’s a little different here because this is a return to the fold type
situation (so nobody’s expecting super romantic gestures - not to mention
Horst’s stolidity)

but it does seem like he has - like Reg - decided to sidle towards his
children and make nice with Maxine because (like in that song “Landslide”)
he’s getting older too - eg wearing reading glasses for the IKEA desk
instructions - a decision made in a very calculated and unemotional way.

Is it possible that among her mixed feelings is more than a tolerance for
his undemonstrative habits to the extent that deviating from them would
alarm more than charm her?