“I don’t understand. I didn’t even drink that much.”

I was inclined to disagree, but instead said, “Yeah, it sometimes sneaks up on you like that.”

I helped her up. She took the pills, drank the entire glass of water, and crawled into bed.

“Will you get me more?”

I filled another glass and this time she finished half.

“Will you hold me?”

“Of course,” I said.

6

The next time I woke, it was eleven and I heard footsteps above me. Carolyn was still asleep. I climbed out of bed and went upstairs. Gene answered the door but only opened it six inches. He was already showered and dressed.

“How’d it go?” I asked.

I tried walking in but his foot was stopped against the bottom of the door. I was confused at first, but then I heard the shower click off and the reality of the situation slowly dawned on me. I flashed him the biggest shit-eatin’ grin that ever graced my face.

“You son of a bitch,” I said. “She stayed here last night, didn’t she?”

He tried suppressing a smile but the corner of his mouth defied him and subtly curled upward. He then brought his index finger to his lips as if to tell me to keep quiet.

“You’re the man, Gene,” I whispered.

I went back downstairs and couldn’t stop smiling. Carolyn was still asleep but I wanted desperately to wake her up and tell her the news. I lay beside her.

“You awake? ” I asked. Nothing. I gently shook her. “Hey, you awake? ”

“Mmmmm,” she groaned.

“You’re not going to believe this. I just walked upstairs and Linda’s still there.”

I waited for a response. She remained silent.

“Hey, did you hear me?” I said, nudging her.

She opened her eyes. “Of course she’s still there. Didn’t you see the way they kept looking at each other?”

I thought about it a minute. “You know, I think I give you far less credit than you deserve sometimes.”

“Yes, you do,” she said.

She fell back to sleep. I went to the desk and removed all the pages I had written, all 268 of them. The whole damn book. I wanted to see it and bury my nose in the middle and breathe in the smell of ink and toner and paper. I thumbed through them all and stopped randomly to read a sentence or two, smiling proudly. I moved the chair and propped my feet up on the windowsill with the book in my lap and sat staring out.

“What are you doing?” Carolyn asked behind me twenty minutes later.

“Just thinking.”

She swung her feet over the side of the bed and sat up. I turned in the chair.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Much better now, thank you. What are you thinking about?”

I shrugged. “Just proud, you know.”

“You should be. You just finished a whole book.”