Free Leaving Haven by Kathleen McCleary Page B

a pear into neat sections, which she put on a plate with a hunk of Brie. He came back in the kitchen and looked at the glass of wine.
    â€œI think I’ll have a beer,” he said.
    â€œI’m sorry, I thought—,” Alice began.
    â€œIt’s fine,” he said, walking over to the refrigerator. “I’m just in the mood for a beer.”
    Alice could not remember that Duncan had ever interrupted her before. Her heart began to beat faster, and she could feel her pulse pound in her temples.
    â€œIs something wrong?”
    Duncan turned from the refrigerator, a bottle of beer in his hand. “Wrong? Why?”
    â€œI don’t know. You seem, I don’t know, a little upset or off or something.”
    He shook his head. “I’m not upset.” He reached up and opened the cupboard and took out a large mug, made of blown glass with a heavy base, one of a set of six his best friend had given them as a wedding gift. He twisted the cap off the beer and poured it into the mug, tilting it as he poured. He sat down on a stool at the kitchen counter.
    â€œSo you really didn’t have any boyfriends before me?” he said.
    Alice’s pulse beat everywhere now, her head, her throat, her stomach. “That’s an odd question,” she said. “What brought that up?”
    He took a sip of his beer and shrugged.
    â€œNo, I didn’t have any other boyfriends,” Alice said. She put her hands on the counter, looked him in the eye. “You’re the first man I ever even kissed.”
    â€œThe first man you ever kissed,” Duncan repeated.
    He knows. He knows. He knows. Alice had a wild urge to run from the room, to run out the door, up the driveway, down the street to the bike path, and to run and run in the twilight, until she disappeared.
    â€œWhy are you asking me about Georgia and my boyfriends?”
    â€œI’m curious.”
    â€œDo you want to go to a movie tonight?” Alice changed the subject, took a sip of her wine. “I made dinner reservations at nine at Founding Farmers for our anniversary, but we have time before that to see an early movie. Then I have a surprise.”
    She had booked a room (an extravagance on their budget these days) at the Hay-Adams for the night. Wren was in Montreal on a field trip with her French class, a trip Alice had agreed to with reluctance but that was, according to Wren’s latest text, awesome!!!!!
    â€œThere’s that new movie with Julia Roberts,” she said. “What do you think?”
    Duncan wrapped both hands around his beer glass. “You like Julia Roberts?”
    Why was he acting so odd? “Well, I hated Pretty Woman, as you know, but I think she’s beautiful and a good actress.”
    Duncan arched one eyebrow. “You think she’s beautiful.”
    â€œYes. Why are you repeating everything I say?”
    â€œFor clarity. I’m a lawyer.”
    Alice was tired of oblique conversations and half truths, her own and Duncan’s.
    â€œYou need clarity on my feelings about Julia Roberts?” She put her wineglass down on the counter. “Duncan, what is going on?”
    He turned his head, angled his face away from hers. “If you want to know, I was wondering if you’d ever been attracted to another woman.”
    This was so unexpected that Alice lost her words, opened her mouth in a round O of astonishment.
    He looked at her. “We’ve been married a long time; our sex life has dropped off lately; you’re very athletic—”
    â€œI’m very ‘athletic’? Are you kidding me? I wear pants, too. Does that make me a lesbian? What is wrong with you?” She paused, reconstructing their conversation of the last few minutes in her mind. “And you think I’m having an affair with Georgia ?”
    â€œYou and Georgia are very close, ” he said.
    His voice was defensive, but his shoulders slumped, and the pain of