this struck her as funny.
And for the first time since the beginning of this long, long night, she began to laugh.
Rich awoke to feel a hand on his penis, fingers firmly grasping his shaft as a thumb rubbed the sensitive area directly below the tip' trying to stimulate him' He pened morning,' up his eyes, looked at Corrie, pulled away, out of her grasp.
'Not this he said. 'I don't feel to it.'
'Why?'
He shrugged. 'I just don't. I'm not in the mood.'
Corrie glared at him. 'Who've you getting it from then, that Oriental slut?'
'What?'
'Has she been servicing you, your big white studlil'less?' 'What the hell are you talking about? You're the one who never wants to do it anymore. You're the one who's been acting for a month like sex is something good Christians don't do.'
'Yeah? Well, I want it now.'
'Well, I don't.'
'Why? Aren't you man enough?'
He rolled over, faced away from her. 'I'm not going to listen to---'
'Or did little Miss Hong Kong Whore suck it all out of you last night?'
He sat up. 'That's it. I've had enough of your bullshit.'
'The truth hurts, doesn't it?' There was a malicious smile on her face, cruel derision in her eyes, and he thought to himself that this was not Corrie, this was a person he did not know.
Anna was already awake and watching cartoons, and he forced himself to put on a cheerful front as he made breakfast. Corrie came out, already dressed for work, as he was wiping egg yolk from Anna's face with a washcloth.
'Hi, Mommy,' Anna said. There was a formality to her voice that seemed unusual, and Rich looked at her.
Corrie smiled at her daughter, pulled back her hair, kissed her forehead. 'Morning, cutie'
Anna wiped off the kiss, frowned.
'I'll take you to school, but Daddy'll have to pick you up, okay?'
'I want to go with Daddy,' Anna said.
'You go with your mother,' Rich told her.
Ii
Anna said nothing.
Corrie straightened, fixed Rich with a flat gaze. 'I may be late tonight. Don't wait up.'
Rich tossed the washcloth in the sink, He looked at her, frowned. 'I want you to be careful.'
She appraised him coolly. 'You don't think I can take care of myself?
'It's not that.'
'What is it, then?'
'I'm worried about you. I care. I'm concerned.' 'Oh. So dictating what I do shows concern.' 'I just said be careful.'
'I can take care of myself. I'm in better shape than you are. At least I get out and exercise. All you do is sit in front of that damn computer all day.' 'You're not in better shape than Manual Torres or Terry Clifford.'
She turned away from him. 'Fine.'
Rich turned to Anna. He bent down, gave her a light tap on the rear.
'Go brush your teeth,' he said.
Mommy is getting ready to go.' Anna hurried down the hall, and he again faced Corrie. 'Why are we even fighting?' 'Because I don't like the way you treat me.'
'The way I treat you? There've been all these murders here, so I tell you to be careful, and you jump down my
'I don't like your condescending attitude.'
'Go to hell.' He walked into the kitchen, grabbed his and Anna's plates from the counter, and placed them in the sink.
Corrie started down the hall, 'Don't take it out on me because you can't perform your manly duties,' she said sweetly She smiled daintily at him as she went to get Anna.
Things were different at the paper. Especially in the early afternoon.
As he sat at his desk, proofreading the account of the council meeting he'd written, he glanced over at Anna and Sue, talking together at the far desk, and smiled. Being here with them, it felt almost as though they were a family. There was that same sort of easy naturalness, that comfortable familiarity. It was a very different feeling than the one he experienced with Corrie. When he, Corrie, and Anna were together, it was like the meeting of two single parents sharing joint custody of their child. There was none of the sense of togetherness that had once marked their relationship or which now characterized his relationship with Sue.
Maybe Corrie was right. Maybe they should have left, gotten out of town, blown this burg. Maybe they would have had a chance someplace else.
Were his loyalties to this town, to this newspaper, really more important to him than his marriage?
He didn't know. That was the truth: he didn't know. He wished he could come to the revelation that always came to movie protagonists, realizing in one clear thinking instant that it was family that was really important; everything else in life was superfluous.
But he could not make such an assumption. For him, it did not seem to be true.
Could they really save their marriage if they moved somewhere else? If so, why couldn't they save their marriage if they stayed here?
He looked over at Sue, brushing her hair back from her forehead. He had never really noticed, before Robert had commented on the matter and Corrie had made her wild accusations, how pretty Sue was. Well, he had noticed, but it had been a distanced intellectual recognition. He had seen her only as a student, as an employee. But he saw now that she was pretty.
Very pretty. Sexy.
The thought made him uncomfortable, and he tried to push it from his mind, knowing he was edging dangerously close to sexual harassment territory. How many bosses or supervisors had felt themselves attracted to one of their employees, had subtly used the power of their positions to exploit that situation?
What was wrong with him? He was married, for Christ's sake. With a daughter.
He remembered when he and Corrie had been Sue's age. It seemed like only yesterday, but it had been what?
Nine years? A decade? More? He recalled, when he was twenty, how old he had considered people in their thirties.
Did he seem that old to Sue? It was hard to believe. He still felt young, still thought of himself as young, still identified more with people her age than with other middle aged adults. /
Other.
Middle-aged. :
Adults.
Was that what he was? He felt depressed all of a sudden, but then Anna ran over, a crayon picture of Big Bird in her hand, and his spirits instantly rose again. He praised her work, then made a big show of proudly tacking it on the cork bulletin board next to his desk. He rewarded Anna with a big kiss.
She ran off to see Carole in the front, and he swiveled in his chair to face Sue. 'So who's going to be in this party of seven besides me and Roberg Does your grandma know yet? How about Rossiter? I think he wants in on the action.'
'Maybe,' Sue said evasively.
Something about her answer sounded suspicious to him. 'Sue?' he said.
'I don't know yet who she wants.'
'You don't even know about me or Robert?'
'Your brother will be part of the group.'
