“Ski patrol, if you don’t mind. Ski patrol and landscaping. It wasn’t a big, fancy job maybe, but a couple of little, decent, ordinary jobs that regular people do. And I only said I was glad because I was too proud to say I couldn’t stand it that you would just leave like that.” He snapped his fingers. “Without a backward glance!”

“Without a—” She ran a hand over her hair. “Sorry if I offended,” she sarcastically replied. “I needed a paying job somewhere. I was pregnant! The grant was offered by UCLA. I had to move, John.”

“Oh. Oh, I get it. So, you just came by to say hello. It wasn’t like you came back to see me or anything.”

Leigh stared for a second and opened her mouth to speak, but it turned into a huff. She began again. Another huff. She put a hand on her hip. “I came back to see my mom and you. My divorce was final. I thought I’d ask again if you wanted to try L.A. But…if you didn’t, I thought maybe we could work something out.”

“Work something out?”

“A commute. I don’t know. What’s the difference, John? You weren’t available. You were on your honeymoon!”

“I was on my honeymoon because I got married, which I did four months after you couldn’t be bothered to answer any of my calls or letters.”

“Calls and letters? You dummy! I didn’t get any calls or letters!”

“I left messages! I wrote!”

“Well, I went back to Los Altos, packed up and moved. I didn’t know I was supposed to somehow keep you unmarried. Most people get married because they want to, not because someone else doesn’t answer the damn phone!”

“No one told me you moved! And don’t call me a dummy! You know I already feel like a dummy just being in the same town with you, since your IQ is around four thousand and something! So, is there any particular reason why you didn’t try writing or calling or something?”

“No, no particular reason,” she shouted back. “Except I was a little busy. I was working on a scientific project, pregnant with twins and visiting with a psychologist to find out how in the world I had managed to be so smart and still mess up my life so badly! Now, I’d love to hang around and fight with you, but I have things to do! Are you going to do the damn yard for my mother? Or what?”

“Yes!” he shouted. “I’ll be out tomorrow!”

“Great!” she shouted back, turning so dramatically that her long blond braid swung out so far behind her that it hit him in the nose. She stomped out the door.