“Hi.”
“I kept waiting for you to storm the office with the SWAT team or fire tear gas into the upper story of the newspaper building. When you didn’t, I decided I’d better bring these and see how much trouble I’m in.” She shook the large envelope she carried. “Contact sheets and prints. I also typed out a statement and put it in there.”
This was awkward, and he didn’t know what he could say to repair the damage they’d done to each other this morning.
Apparently neither did she, because she didn’t come farther, but waited in the doorway with a wary look, as though she’d turn and run if he made the wrong move. Seeing her so uncertain of him put a knot in his gut. Marriage wasn’t supposed to be like this.
He picked up his own envelope from the desk. “Negatives only. I didn’t feel right wasting taxpayers’ money printing photos of produce.”
“I figured that. Will you consider an even swap?”
The small group beyond her was watching, obviously speculating on what was being said. Jack rose. “Come in,” he suggested. “We have an audience.”
She glanced over her shoulder, turned back and nodded. “I guess they’ve been giving you a hard time.”
“You could say that.”
Taggert was still snickering, the asshole. He was probably the one responsible for the stupid cartoon making its way around the building.
“You know I wasn’t trying to embarrass you by switching the film,” Lucky said, “but apparently I did. I was so mad I didn’t stop to think of the consequences.”
“I’ll live.”
He came around and closed the door behind her, and also drew the blinds for privacy. Picking up the phone, he punched in the secretary’s extension and asked her to hold his calls for a few minutes.
He and Lucky exchanged envelopes. She declined the chair he offered her, saying she preferred to stand. She moved restlessly around the room and examined the certificates on the wall as if she’d never seen them before.
Finally she stopped pacing and turned, keeping several feet between them. “I’ve been thinking a lot about this morning, and I’m wondering how two people who claim to love each other can act the way we do.”
“I’ve been wondering the same thing.”
“Did we make a mistake getting married?”
His insides seemed to drop to his knees. “Do you think we made a mistake?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes. When we fight, I do. When we aren’t fighting, I can’t imagine not being married to you. Lately, though, we fight more often than we don’t.”
“All couples fight.”
“And half of them end up divorced.”
Now it was his turn to feel restless, smothered by the topic she’d chosen. “That won’t happen to us. I’m crazy about you. You know that.”
“But it is happening to us. Don’t you get that? With this separation we’re already part of the way there. Our marriage is failing.”
“No, it isn’t. I admit we have problems, but we can fix them.”
“How? How do we fix them?”
“I can think of a couple of things for starters.” He moved toward her, intending to take her in his arms and apologize for having been such an ass earlier, but she scooted around the desk out of his reach.
“No, don’t start this, Jack. Stay over there and promise you won’t touch me.”
“Why can’t I touch you?”
“Because.”
The answer made no sense, so he came forward again. They did a little dance back and forth. He went left. She went left. He went right. She went right. “This is crazy,” he said, stopping. “I feel like I’m in first grade again, playing tag with Mary Louise McGillray. Why can’t I touch you?”
“Because for once I’d like to have a conversation with you without ending up flat on my back with my underpants around my ankles.”
“We’re in my office. That’s not going to happen.”
“Of course it will. We played a game of Toad in the Hole not more than two weeks ago on this very desk, and we’ve been downright acrobatic in that chair several times.”
He smothered his amusement at her euphemistic choice of words, knowing that if he laughed, he’d only make her mad.
She was deadly serious. Her expression told him that. And she had a point. They’d engaged in a little creative sex in his office before, and their arguments often did end with it.
But in his own defense…every time they’d made love here had been after hours and with the door locked. This was afternoon, and the building was full of people. He wasn’t about to do anything. Holding her had been the only thing on his mind.
Well…probably.
He grumbled to himself. Okay, admittedly, when he held her he usually ended up kissing her. And when he kissed her, they both had a way of coming out of their clothes. But she was his wife, dammit, and he enjoyed making love to her. In resignation, he backed up and folded his arms across his chest. “All right, I’ll stay over here. Let’s talk this out. What do you think we should do?”
“I want us to go for marriage counseling.”
“Ah, hell, no. You can forget about that.”
“Jack, please. The least you can do is consider it. Don’t be pigheaded.”
“I’m not airing our problems in front of some stranger. I categorically refuse.”
She swore under her breath. “Fine. Then you come up with something. You never go along with anything I suggest.”
“If we’d dated longer or taken the time for a real engagement, we’d probably have worked out the things we’re fighting about now. Do you agree with that?”
“Yes, I guess so.”
“So is there any rule that says we can’t start over again? That makes a hell of a lot more sense to me than going to some guy we don’t know and whining about how we don’t have anything in common.”
“What exactly are you suggesting?”
“That we pretend we’re not married and do it right this time. We go out. We try stuff we haven’t tried before and take an interest in each other’s hobbies. We get to know each other better.”
He’d caught her interest. Her mouth had started a slight upward turn. “As in a real courtship?” she asked.
“Sure, if that’s what you want to call it. Dates. Movies. Picnics. All the things couples do when they meet and start to fall in love, but that we didn’t do the first time around.”
“We spent all our time together in bed.”
“I know, and it was a mistake. But to prove my sincerity, I’ll even go fishing with you.”
“You’re joking. You hate the thought of baiting a hook.”
“You can do that part for me. And in return, I’ll teach you how to play golf.”
She wrinkled her nose in distaste, then faked a smile. “Golf. Sounds…wonderful.”
“You don’t have to like it or even pretend to like it, but you do have to try it. That’ll be our new rule. We don’t discount anything, even if it doesn’t sound fun or it’s not what we’d normally do. If the other person enjoys it, we give it a shot.”
“Would