“Is that so?” Thomas asked. “Well, maybe if we have time, and you decide you are hungry, we can stop on the way to school and pick you up a bagel. How does that sound?”

Gerald shrugged. “I’d prefer a muffin.”

Thomas chugged down a big glass of water. “We’ll see about that,” he said, mild but in control. His skin looked firmer, and that girdle of fat that clung to his waist was definitely shrinking. Perhaps he’d changed his diet as well, in subtle ways she wouldn’t necessarily notice—smaller portions, skipping lunches. People like Thomas, thinkers who ordinarily didn’t register on exercise as a part of daily life, didn’t take up jogging all of a sudden unless something was troubling them, unless they felt they needed to spruce themselves up.

“How come you’re so wet?” Gerald asked.

“I’ve been running in the heat. And when you get hot, your body perspires, and the water on your skin evaporates and cools you down.”

“Do you like running?”

Thomas cocked his head. “Do I like it? You know, I hadn’t thought of it in that way. I was viewing it more as a daily trip to the dentist. Although now that you mention it, I am beginning to enjoy it. It gives me more patience. It’s helped me put some things in perspective.”

“What kinds of things?”

“Little things,” he said. “I hope they’re little. Now you better get ready or we’ll have to skip the muffin.”

Little things. He could be talking about students, the ever-grating English Department, a paper he was trying to finish on The Confidence-Man. And yet the weary tone of his voice suggested it was something more personal. She owed it to him to tell him that she was seeing Dr. Berman again. It was a simple, matter-of-fact way to start opening up to her husband. She could even report on what she was discussing with Berman, since she hadn’t opened up to the good doctor very much.

Gerald turned as he was leaving the kitchen. “Why do we have to go to New Hampshire? I hate New Hampshire.”

Thomas knelt on the floor in front of him and said, “We’ve been asked by some very nice people, and it would be rude to say no, and there’s a beautiful lake, and even though you don’t realize it yet, you’re going to have a good time.”

“I hate water.”

Thomas chuckled and gave him a gentle nudge toward the hallway. When they could hear him stomping up the stairs, he grabbed a banana and said, “I have to run. I have to take Sarah for her checkup later this morning. What do you have on today?”