She glanced at his drink, then held her own glass up. “And fix us both another. I’m not your secretary now, you know. I’m a woman, and I want to be waited on.”
“You can kick me out if you want to go back to sleep,” Jack said. “But I hope you don’t.”
“Kick you out? Not much chance of that. You might fire me in the morning, when you’re my boss again. Besides, I happen to like you.”
“Do you, Sylvia?” Jack said seriously. “Do you really? I guess I haven’t been feeling particularly likable lately.”
“And it hasn’t occurred to you that that might have something to do with the way Rose has been treating you? It’s hard to feel good about yourself when someone you love is making you feel bad about yourself.”
“I’m not sure I love her,” Jack said slowly.
Sylvia glanced at him, and the corners of her mouth flickered upward. “I suppose I could read a lot into that, if I wanted to, but I won’t. You love her, Jack, even if you don’t believe you do. You’re used to her, and a lot of love is nothing more than habit.”
“I thought love had something to do with passion,” Jack said, trying to keep his voice light.
“Passion? I’m not sure passion has anything to do with it at all. Look at me, for instance. I’ve loved you for a long time.” She smiled at his expression of surprise. “You didn’t know? Well, why should you? It wasn’t the kind of love that demands attention. It was the kind of love that’s comforting. I knew it was there, and it helped me. If you didn’t know it was there, or nobody knew it was there, it didn’t matter. It was my love, and I liked it. And it had nothing to do with passion.”
“And what about the other afternoon?”
“That was passion,” Sylvia said softly. “And I liked it. But it scares me.”
“Scares you?”
“Yes. I keep wondering—after the passion dies, will I still have my love? Or will that fade too? I don’t want it to, Jack. I want to be able to go on loving you.”
Their eyes met, and Jack reached out to touch her hand.
“And I want you to go on loving me, Sylvia. I want you to very much.”
Together they walked to Sylvia’s bedroom and closed the door. Their drinks sat forgotten on the kitchen table, and the ice in the glasses slowly melted.
Rose heard the car grinding up the driveway and glanced at the clock. He’d been gone almost three hours. She wondered if he’d notice the light under the study door when he came in, or whether he was too drunk. She heard the front door open, and her husband’s footsteps in the hall. They stopped, then started again, and she heard him coming toward the study. He’d seen the light.
She waited till the study door opened before she spoke.
“I hope no children disappear tonight,” she said coldly. “I won’t be able to vouch for your whereabouts.” She looked at him icily, but he didn’t flinch. She realized he was sober.
“If it becomes necessary, Sylvia Bannister can tell anyone who’s interested where I’ve been tonight. And what I’ve been doing.”
“I see,” Rose said quietly, absorbing what he was telling her. “I suppose I should have known. She’s been in love with you for years. I didn’t know it was mutual.”
“I didn’t either, until recently,” Jack said. “Are we going to have a fight about it?”
“Do you want one?” Rose countered.
Jack smiled and sat down. “No, I don’t I’ve had enough of fighting, Rose, with you, with everything. If you really want to know, I didn’t want to come home tonight Sylvia sent me.”
“Sent you?” Rose asked, her brows arching. “Was she afraid the neighbors would talk?”
“No. She was worried about you. She likes you, you know.”
“And I like her. But not so much that I’ll let her take my place.”
Jack chuckled. “It wasn’t very long ago that you were thinking about leaving me.”
“A woman has pride. If I left you it wouldn’t be so that you could marry Sylvia Bannister. You’d be so broke that you wouldn’t be able to marry anyone.”
“I see, Jack said, standing up.” Somehow this conversation seems to have gotten out of hand. I have no intention of asking you for a divorce, at least not right now. So I think “I’ll go to bed.”
“Not yet,” Rose said. She realized that it sounded like a command, and that Jack wouldn’t respond to