Fenn grinned at the driveway, marveling at the ingenuity of the human capacity for committing serious error. 'And
'I think you're pretty good all the way around,' Nora said. 'You stuck by me.'
'Yeah, well, I tried.' He gave her a rueful glance which managed to encompass compassion for what she had endured and anger at having been unable to spare her from it. 'Anyhow,' he said, 'I better get going.'
'If you must,' She walked him to his car.
'Look, maybe this is none of my business, but did you say that you were leaving your husband?'
'I already left.'
Fenn looked away. 'Are you going to stay in town?'
'I think I'll go to Northampton for a while. I can work with a woman who runs a catering business for a couple of weeks. I want to get away from the telephone and clear my head. After that, who knows?'
Fenn nodded his big, shaggy head, taking this in. 'After I'm through with Mrs Weil and your soon-to-be-ex- father-in-law, do you suppose I could come back here and take you out for coffee or something?'
'Holly, are you asking me for a date?'
'I'm too old for dates,' he said.
'Me, too. So come back later and we won't have a date, we'll just knock around together. I want to hear about your encounter with Alden. You can tell me all your favorite war stories.'
Fenn smiled at her with every part of his face. 'And I promise not to ask to hear yours.'
'Or tell me any lies.'
'I wouldn't know how to lie to you.'
Then it's a deal,' Nora said.
'Well, okay.' He lowered himself into his car, winked at her through the windshield, and backed away from the garage. A few seconds later, he was gone.
