American Wife

she has them tomorrow.”

“Well, she won’t need an alarm clock.” Kathleen smiled as she wiped down the counter with a rag. “The girls will make sure she’s awake before the rooster crows.”

IN THE YARD

, the party seemed to be breaking up. Most people were standing, some had already taken off, and I joined the other women who were carrying in the bone-laden paper plates, the bowls of chips and empty wineglasses and beer cans. A few minutes later, when I went to thank Kathleen before leaving, I said, “Are you sure about Dena?” and she said, “Alice, don’t give it a thought.”

I thanked Cliff, too, collected my bag, peeked in at Dena—she was lying on her side, snoring—and walked out the front door; I lived about three quarters of a mile west of the Hickens. I had gone half a block when I heard quick footsteps behind me. I turned, and over my shoulder, I saw Charlie Blackwell. “Got somewhere better to be?” he asked.

“I’m pretty sure things were winding down,” I said.

“Fair enough. Can I offer you a ride?”

It

was

buggy out. I tried to scrutinize his face, which, in the glow cast by the streetlight a few yards away, was both flushed and sallow.

“How many drinks have you had?” I asked.

“You’re certainly direct.”

Since high school, I had never ridden in a car with a driver who might be so much as tipsy. “You know what?” I said. “I’ll walk. But it was nice to meet you.” When I turned around again, Charlie stayed beside me.

“You’ve at least got to let me escort you. There’s only so much rejection a fellow can withstand in one night, Alice.”

We continued walking, and he said, “I take it you’re not afraid of the dark?”

I gave him a sidelong glance. “Are you joking?”

“I’ll tell you a secret, but you’ve got to promise not to repeat it. You promise?” Without waiting for my reply, he said, “I’m

terrified

of the dark. Scares the living bejesus out of me. My parents have a place up in Door County, and I’d rather chew off my own leg than spend the night there alone.”

“What are you so afraid of ?”

“That’s just it—you have no idea what’s out there! But hey, you know what? I’m not scared right now, and it’s because you’re beside me. Dainty as you are, you seem extraordinarily capable. If something terrible befell us, I’m sure you’d take care of it.”

“Do you always lavish compliments on women you hardly know?”

“Hardly know you? Good God, I thought we were old friends by now.” He brought his hand to his heart as if wounded, then made a rapid recovery. “Here’s what I’ve got: Number one, you just bought a house by yourself, which means you’re independent and financially solvent. Number two, you’re already getting your school papers together even though it’s July, which means you’re responsible. Or you’re a liar, but I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt.” He was raising one finger for each point. “Number three, you’re a crackerjack charades player.” This was untrue; my enactment of

The Sound of Music

had been particularly abysmal. “Number four, either you have a boyfriend but are pretending not to because of your overpowering attraction to me, or you don’t have a boyfriend and are letting me down easy. Whichever it is, these are challenges I’m willing to surmount. In conclusion, I know all about you.” As we walked, I could feel Charlie looking at me, grinning. “I understand you, I sense a long and happy future for the two of us, and I’m sure you sense it, too. Oh, but you have to like baseball—you like baseball?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m a die-hard fan.”

“You will be.” Charlie swung an imaginary bat through the air. “The Brewers are finally pulling it together. A lot of young talent on the team, and you mark my words, this could be a winning season.”

“Truthfully,” I said, “the only reason I went to the Hickens’ party tonight was to help Dena catch your eye.”

“Dena?” He sounded puzzled. “You mean the divorcee?”

“Who told you that? No, never mind—you’re as bad as Rose and Jeanette. Dena’s a wonderful person. She was a flight attendant for more than five years, and she’s traveled the country.”

“Yet she still hasn’t learned to hold her liquor.”

“She didn’t have much to eat,” I said. “That’s why.”

“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “You can look at her face and know she’s done some hard living, but who am I to throw stones? She seemed like a perfectly nice girl. But she does not, if you catch my meaning, strike me as marriage material for a rising star of the Republican Party.”

His arrogance was really rather extraordinary; it was amusing, and it was also irritating. “I’m a registered Democrat,” I said. “That’s something you might want to include in your dossier on me. And I have to say that you’re remarkably confident for someone who’s about to run against a forty-year incumbent.”

Rather than being insulted, Charlie appeared delighted. “I always appreciate someone who’s done her