Rapture

"I'm glad to see you, too." Georgianne squeezed Jeff's arm lightly.

"Tell me about yourself."

"Oh, it's pretty boring," Georgianne said. "When I was in my second year of college I fell in love with a great guy. We got married right away, I quit school, and we've been together ever since."

"Terrific," Jeff said quietly.

"We have a daughter," Georgianne went on. "She's about to graduate from high school, if you can believe that. Sean-my husband-teaches in the middle school here in Danbury. We built our own house, piece by piece, and it took two long years. And ... what else can I tell you? Sean's a jogger; I go swimming every morning. Oh, and I do some pen-and-ink sketches-not very good, but it's better than just watching the soaps. It's all pretty quiet and normal, I guess."

"Not at all," Jeff said. "It sounds great. The main thing is you like it and you're happy."

"Right. I do and I am."

"That's all that matters then. Tell me about your husband and daughter. Just the one child?"

"Yes." The note of regret was clear in her voice. "Bonnie came early and lightning never struck again."

"You would have liked more."

"Sure, but we were lucky to have Bonnie at least. She's a great kid. Did I tell you she's graduating a year early? She's only seventeen. We're very proud of her. And Sean-he was a junior stockbroker when I met him, but he hated it and gave it up after a year."

"Good for him," Jeff said. "A lot of people don't have the nerve to make that kind of move."

"You must be married, Jeff."

"Ah. I'm the one who's normal there," he said with a smile. 'I was married, but it didn't last long. You could say it was a California romance. I was working sixteen-hour days, trying to get the company off the ground. She ran off and I let her go. Eventually we got around to the formality of a divorce.'

"That's a shame," Georgianne said.

it was all wrong from the beginning,' Jeff added. "If I had been honest about it, I wouldn't have married her in the first place. I knew I'd be working all hours as far ahead as I could see, and that's no basis for a marriage. You've been very lucky."

'1 know. Sometimes I look at my daughter and think, It's a miracle, nothing less than a miracle, that she's the person she is. That she hasn't been messed up or damaged in some way. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems it was easier when we were growing up."

"I know what you mean," Jeff said politely. He had his own thoughts about the past, and they had nothing to do with that kind of middle-class paranoia.

They had a second round of drinks and then ordered lunch. Jeff didn't want to move. They talked about old friends and acquaintances, where they were now and what they were doing, and Georgianne told him about her everyday life in greater detail-things that ordinarily wouldn't have interested him at all, but that now, in her presence, he found strangely fascinating. He could listen to her talk all day, and all night, too, probably. Just so long as he was with her.

After the meal, Jeff ordered a cognac and persuaded Georgianne to have something else. She settled on Irish coffee.

"I never drink this much," she said, "and it's beginning to catch up with me."

"That's all right. It's a special day."

"It certainly is," she agreed merrily. "Where are you staying, Jeff? The Hilton?"

This threw him momentarily. The Mortlake Motel made little sense for someone supposedly in town to do business with Union Carbide. He was annoyed that he hadn't anticipated the question.

"Uh ... no. I just drove down here this morning and I was planning to go back to the house in Millville tonight."

"It's not that far," Georgianne said. "How long will your work keep you here?"

He shrugged. "It's a day-to-day thing, but I expect to be back in California by Monday."

"Oh, well, you must come to dinner. I'd love to have you meet my husband and daughter."

"I'd like that very much," he said. "But first I'd like to take you out. How about dinner tonight, all of us?"

Jeff had worked this out beforehand. In his mind it was important that he take the Corcorans out first. Dinner at their house-he had expected the invitation, of course-had to come later.

"That would be wonderful," Georgianne said. "But you don't have to do that, Jeff."

"I want to. Really."

"Well, Bonnie can't make it. She has a party tonight. But Sean and I could come."

"The three of us, then. You pick the place, and make it the best. My treat."

"All right, but then you're coming to our house for a good home-cooked meal," Georgianne insisted. "Tomorrow night?"

"You're on."

She smiled and took Jeffs hand in hers and held it for a few moments. He felt a charge from her touch surging through him. They agreed that the easiest thing would be to meet again at the same cocktail lounge, have a drink and go on to another restaurant. Jeff hated to leave Georgianne at all, even for a couple of hours, but he knew it was necessary.