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with me about it. Somebody
who’s intellectually compatible.”
    “You want to discuss your work more? Who with? Who is it
that’s going to have this real discussion with you?” Her breath was coming
faster now, and she could feel the heat burning in her cheeks.
    “Don’t get excited,” he cautioned.
    “Don’t get excited? Don’t get EXCITED?” Her
voice was rising. “Could you have maybe figured this out a week ago? A day ago?
Instead of me sitting here in my slip, ready to put on my fu—my frigging wedding
dress? So who is it? Who is it who understands you so well?” she demanded
again.
    “Nothing’s happened,” he hastened to say. “Nothing
inappropriate.”
    “Oh, no. Nothing inappropriate,” she said sarcastically.
“You’ve just been having meaningful, real discussions. About your work.”
    “Yes!” he said in relief, misinterpreting her remarks as
always. “She’s been helping me with some numerical analysis, these past weeks,
and something’s grown up between us. It isn’t fair to you to go ahead with this,
feeling the way I do. I know it’ll cause some trouble in the department, and
I’m prepared to deal with that.”
    “Well, goody for you. How noble. So we’re talking about
Karen Fuchs here? That’s your dream girl?”
    “Nothing’s happened, I said,” he reminded her sharply.
“There’s been no inappropriate behavior.”
    “Don’t worry,” she said bitterly, getting up and going to the
door. “I’m not going to sic my dad on you for having an affair with a student.
I don’t care. Just leave.” Tears of humiliation burned in her eyes as she
pushed the handle down, pulled the door toward her.
    “I know this is a disappointment to you,” he went on,
standing up awkwardly. “And I’m sorry. But we both need to be sure. And I
found, when it came down to it, that I just couldn’t settle.”
    “ You couldn’t settle,” she said, feeling the bubble
of hysteria rising inside her. She felt like screaming, slammed her mouth shut
on the impulse. She made a wide sweeping motion with her arm. “Here I thought I was settling. Wow. Get out.”
    “I was hoping you’d understand. That we could be civilized
about this. Bury the hatchet, before I left,” he said pleadingly, standing
reluctantly as she continued to gesture at him.
    “I’ll bury it,” she told him furiously. “Right in your head. Out.”
    “Here.” He held out an envelope she hadn’t noticed. “The bookings.
For the honeymoon. Take them.”
    “You want me to go on the honeymoon?” she asked, that
bubble rising again. “Doesn’t Karen want to go to Fiji? Show you her fine
growth of body hair?”
    “She has exams,” he said guilelessly. “She can’t go. And the
tickets are nonrefundable. As it’s the last minute. So you may as well take the
trip.” He held out the envelope again, then set it on the bed as she continued
to glare at him, making no move to take it. “Well, I’ll just . . . leave this
for you, I guess,” he said hastily, seeing her feet shift and her face redden
even more. “Sorry about this. But I think it’ll be for the best.”
    “Oh, I know it’ll be for the best. I’m counting on that.
Would you just leave? ”
    She watched him walk through the door at last, then gave in
to temptation and slammed it after him. She hoped it made him jump. She pulled
off her slip so she was standing in her wedding underwear— wedding underwear ,
she thought savagely. Maybe she should offer that to Karen too. Along with
David. Wrapped up in a big red bow. White running shoes, khakis, dental floss,
and all. Good luck with that.
    She wrenched off the lacy white bra and thong, threw them
across the room. They weren’t even substantial enough to make it to the
opposite wall, fluttering down before they’d got halfway. No chance, anyway.
Karen would never be able to get into them.
     
    So there she’d been. She hadn’t been able to stand staying
in her parents’ house on what had been