'Of course she does,' Susan said. 'Plus your wonderful Amos and Andy accent.'
'You'd prefer me to sound like an upward mobile WASP,' Hawk said, sounding remarkably like an upward mobile WASP
'I love you just the way you are,' Susan said.
'Anyone would,' Hawk said.
Andrea came over in a little red satin dress, carrying a glass of white wine.
'You wear that outfit to work,' I said, 'you may cause more heart attacks than you prevent.'
'Is that a sexist remark?' Andrea said.
'Probably,' I said.
'And God bless it,' she said. 'Hawk, will you please come over here and meet my department head?'
'Impress him,' I said to Hawk. 'Go with the upward mobile WASP accent.'
Andrea stuck her tongue out at me and took Hawk's arm as they walked into the next room.
Susan and I hunkered down in our corner of the party and watched.
'Speaking,' Susan said, 'of sexism. You haven't told me how things are going with Brad.'
'I didn't know that you wanted me to,' I said.
'I'm interested, of course.'
'Okay. It's kind of a hard one to get hold of. I mean, the charge has been made, apparently the lawsuit is moving forward, but I can't get anybody to tell me what happened, exactly.'
'What did you think of Brad?'
'Well, you were right, I kind of like him, but he's either deliberately evasive, or so unfocused that he can't track an idea.'
'Like how?'
'I can't get a real sense of whether he harassed these women or not. He's so out of touch with the current standards of male-female propriety that he could have sinned without realizing it.'
'What does his lawyer say.'
'He hasn't got one.'
'Isn't that a mistake, to be faced with a lawsuit and have no lawyer?'
'Certainly. But he says he doesn't want to waste money on a lawyer for a case that isn't going anywhere.'
'But how can he be sure?'
'I don't know. He seems entirely unfazed by the whole deal, which seems at odds with the way he presented his situation to you.'
'Are you saying I misunderstood?'
'No.'
'Because I didn't,' she said. 'He came to me and said he was desperate. That he had no money. That even if he won, the case would destitute him.'
'He says that is not the situation. He says he's doing fine.'
'What does he say when you tell him what I told you?'
'He says you were always a little dramatic.'
Susan was silent. She swirled her glass of wine and looked at it as if something might be floating in it.
'And how did you respond to that?' Susan said.
'I disagreed.'
She looked at her wine some more.
'I hate the image,' she said. 'Two men sitting around discussing whether I am dramatic.'
I nodded. The cocktail party mingled loudly around us. I could see Hawk, taller than most of the room, listening impassively to some guy wearing round gold rimmed glasses, who was making a chopping gesture with his right hand. Probably talking about HMO fee structures.
'Did you get to discuss sleeping with me?' Susan said.
'No.'
'I hate this.'
'Would you like me to drop it?' I said.
'No.'
'Sort of narrows the options,' I said.
'Oh don't be so goddamned male,' Susan said. 'This is very painful. My ex-husband, my current, ah, lover, sitting there talking about me.'
