A Conversation

So it was settled: Jules would come and stay with Kate from the wedding until New Year’s.

With one adjustment to the plan.

On the phone, the afternoon before the wedding, Kate talked to her partner at his house on the other side of town.

“Al, I was thinking. If it’s all right with you and Jani, I thought Jules and I might go north for a few days over Christmas. Maybe as far as Washington.”

“To see Lee?”

“Possibly. If we feel like it. I had a letter from her last week, asking me to come to her aunt’s island for Christmas if I could get it off.”

“Does she know you’re on leave?”

“She doesn’t know anything. I didn’t tell her about the shooting, or that I got hurt. I didn’t want to worry her, and once I got out of the hospital, it didn’t really seem like something I could put in a letter, somehow. She did say she was sorry not to make it to your wedding, that she’s writing you and sending you a present.”

“Are you two about to break up?” he asked bluntly.

“Jesus, Al, you do ask some good ones, don’t you? I don’t know. I just don’t know anymore. I don’t even know if I care. I haven’t even talked to her in four months, just these damn stupid cards of hers. But there won’t be any scenes, if that’s what you’re worried about. I wouldn’t take Jules into that. If we do go—and I really haven’t made up my mind one way or the other—then we’d just go for the day, maybe overnight, depending on the ferry schedule, but then we’d leave and go do something else. Does Jules ski?”

“Better than I do. Which isn’t saying much, I admit.”

“Maybe we could go to Rainier or Hood, then. If Jani approves.”

“I’ll talk to her, but I doubt she’ll have any problems with it. Do you want the car?”

“I’m going to take the Saab off its blocks. And if driving turns out to be a problem, we’ll come home. I’m not going to risk passing out or anything while I’m driving Jules. You know that, Al. I’d never put Jules into danger. Never.”