“Because,” John said, moving ahead carefully, “I’ve been thinking about this whole thing, and I’ve come to some conclusions.”

“Let me guess. A vast left-wing lesbian conspiracy has kidnapped and brainwashed your girlfriend. The one you didn’t want to marry anyway.”

“I guess I deserve that,” John said. “But it is insulting.”

“Exactly,” Angie said. And then: “So go ahead, tell me your conclusions.”

He thought for a moment, considered retreating, and understood it would be the worst course of action, the one thing certain to alienate her, possibly past the point of recovery.

“I can see that Caroline has changed, I guess is the word. She stood up to her mother and her sisters. I didn’t think I’d ever see that happen, but she did.” He focused on a spot on the wall, because to look at Angie was to lose his resolve. “I’m willing to accept the idea that Caroline decided to back out of the wedding because she realized she can’t make that kind of commitment to any man.”

“But?”

“Maybe she is in love with Rivera and she’s already announced it to the world while we sit here eating stale doughnuts.”

“That’s doubtful,” Angie conceded.

“But maybe—and this is another maybe, Angie, but I’ve got to say it—maybe she’s not.”

“Not in love with Rivera?”

“Maybe she’s not gay, or if she is, maybe she’s decided Rivera isn’t the person she needs in her life. Or maybe—and I’ll admit to you that this seems the most likely situation to me—maybe Caroline has decided that she likes women but wants to be celibate. There’s a reason her sisters were worried when she ran off to the retreat house, you know. They’ve always half expected she’d end up a nun. So she might decide to live as a celibate, and whether or not that’s right or good or healthy, whether it’s fair to Rivera or herself or not, it’s her decision.”

His voice grew rough as he spoke and was almost hoarse at the end, just as Angie’s expression had gone from very still to stone. She wasn’t looking at him, but at her own hands, locked around her glass. John took short, shallow breaths and waited for her to scream at him or laugh at him or tell him exactly what an idiot he was being.