we haven’t seen each other for almost a month. We never get a chance to—to just sit and
talk.”
“I can’t help it if my work takes me away,” he replied. “Don’t you think I’d like to be
with you?”
She shook her head and said, “I don’t know. I’ll have to ask the Ouija board.”
He put his arms around her then and grinned that innocent, boyish grin. “To hell with
Metaxas and the whole crowd. We’ll stay in tonight, just the two of us. Okay?”
Catherine looked into his face and knew that she was being unreasonable. Of course
he couldn’t help it if his job took him away from her. And when he got home, it was
natural that he would want to see other people. “We’ll go out if you like,” she decided.
“Uhn-uhn.” He held her close. “Just the two of us.”
They did not leave the apartment all weekend. Catherine cooked and they made love
and sat in front of the fire and talked and played gin rummy and read, and it was
everything that Catherine could have asked.
Sunday night after a delicious dinner that Catherine prepared, they went to bed and
made love again. She lay in bed watching Larry as he walked down toward the bathroom,
naked, and she thought what a beautiful man he is and how lucky I am that he belongs to
me, and the smile was still on her face when Larry turned at the bathroom door and said
casually, “Make a lot of dates next week, will you, so we won’t have to be stuck with each
other like this again with nothing to do.” And he went into the bathroom leaving Catherine
with the smile still frozen on her face.
Or perhaps the trouble had started with Helena, the beautiful Greek stewardess. One
hot summer afternoon, Catherine had been out shopping. Larry was out of town. She was
expecting him home the following day and had decided to surprise him with his favorite
dishes. As Catherine was leaving the market with her arms full of groceries, a taxi passed
her. In the back seat was Larry, his arms around a girl in a stewardess’ uniform. Catherine
had one brief glimpse of their faces laughing together, and then the taxi turned a corner
and was out of sight.
Catherine stood there numb, and it was not until some small boys came running up to
her that she realized the grocery bags had slipped from her nerveless fingers. They had
helped Catherine pick up everything and she had stumbled home, her mind refusing to
think. She had tried to tell herself that it had not been Larry she had seen in the taxi, it had
been someone who resembled him. But the truth was that no one in the world resembled
Larry. He was unique, an original work of God, a priceless creation of nature. And he was
all hers. Hers and the brunette’s in the taxi, and how many others?
Catherine sat up all that night waiting for Larry to walk in, and when he did not come
home, she knew that there was no excuse that he could give her that could hold their
marriage together, and no excuse that she could give herself. He was a liar and a cheat,
and she could not stay married to him any longer.