He frowned at her. “You’re not working. You don’t have anything else going on. You said you weren’t prepared to dive into the job search immediately, that you needed a rest and time to think, which is a very good decision. I’m going to Cambridge in the fall for one semester. You should come with me.”

“So you’re going to rescue me?” she asked.

“I hadn’t thought of it exactly like that, but wouldn’t it take some of the stress off you?”

“Very sensitive, Michael,” she said. “My job loss and my dying sister make it a convenient time for you to drag me to England for six months. How perfectly relaxing.”

“If you’re going to be irrational, I withdraw my offer.”

“You needn’t withdraw it,” she said. “I decline the very romantic proposal.”

“You want romance, Charley? Here’s the romance of it! My father died when he was fifty-seven. I’m fifty-four. I’m perfectly comfortable with our relationship except for one thing—Eric. No, that’s not all—there are several things actually. If my fate is similar, I’d like to leave a widow, not a girlfriend. I’d like to bypass inheritance issues. Hell, if I’m sick in a hospital I don’t want you to be denied being at my bedside because you’re not my wife.”

“Who’s going to bar my way? Our son? Your mother, who adores me? Your sister, who wants to be my best friend? Girlfriend! After twenty-two years and a son!”

“You know you’re more than a girlfriend,” he said.

“But apparently you don’t!”

“I didn’t think it mattered, being unmarried,” he said. “Lately it’s started to matter to me. I love you. You love me. I’d like a legal commitment. I want there to be no doubt how we feel about each other.”

“I didn’t think there was any doubt,” she said. “Apparently you have some doubts if you suddenly need to legalize things.”

“It’s not doubt,” he said. “It’s the feeling that something is missing. As I get older that feeling gets stronger.”

“And so you decided that this moment, when I’m crushed by suddenly being fired and terrified that my sister could die…this would be the best moment for me to make a decision like this?”

“We could have an extended honeymoon in England,” he said.

“While you work? What is it you expect me to do while you’re working?”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t be bored. Look, this isn’t just for us but also for Eric. For Eric’s children. But I don’t want to push you into making a commitment you don’t feel.”

“Eric is eighteen,” she rallied. “We have, if nothing else, a common-law marriage.”

“Common law?” he shouted back. “Is that good enough for you? Because it’s not good enough for me!”