It startled him. But it was easy to oblige, because he did love her, he thought: it had been on his lips all night, his all-encompassing need for her. “I love you,” he said, running his hand over her stomach and over her breasts, caressed her chin and her lips, and kissed her. “Alma, Alma, I love you. I love you. I love you.”

They showered together in the upstairs bathroom, rubbing the lavender soap onto each other’s skin. It wasn’t like the soap at Clara’s, but the scent was light, and he hoped, if Effie smelled it on him, it wouldn’t arouse suspicion. She leaned her forehead on his shoulder as the hot water beat down on them. He loved her long toes, her slender ankles, the healthy veins that crossed them. He loved her shins and knees and thighs, he loved the soft swell of her hips, he loved her belly button, he loved her ribs, he loved each of her moles and freckles individually, he loved her small breasts, the nipples, fairer than Effie’s, that stood up half an inch when they were stimulated, as they were now, he loved her little attached earlobes, he loved the wet hair at her temples, he loved the smell of her head under his nose, he loved the warmth of her body, which seeped into his. He didn’t think what it meant, only that he loved every part of her.

Tuesday morning, seven o’clock. Blue sky, brisk fall breeze. He was pushing it this time. But he was only out for a walk, and to show he had nothing to hide, he strode in through the front door at Clara’s and let the screen door slap shut behind him.

Effie appeared at the archway to the kitchen, holding a spatula. “There you are,” she said, frowning. She was dressed already, bright and clean. Before now she hadn’t risen until nine, but she was feeling better, clearly. “Lord, Henry, how early do you get up for these walks of yours?”

It was this damned insomnia, he explained. He came over to her and kissed her head, felt suddenly wretched. “I was up and down all night.”

She didn’t seem satisfied. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I don’t know. I get this way sometimes.”