Throughout the wedding, which was at Gene’s mother’s house, Marian studied Gene carefully. She was always a little jealous of anyone younger than herself, and she was sure these girls of Gene’s age had been around much more than she had when she had been married. Gene looked nice enough; but girls always did at their weddings. She had no striking features, dark hair and eyes, an animated way of speaking, but a suggestion of a pinched, nervous look around the eyes. Her figure was all right, Marian thought, although a little flat-chested and a little narrow across the hips.
Marian and Arch, the Tullys and Smitty, the grade foreman, left as soon as Jack and Gene had driven off in Jack’s Mercury. After half-promising to come over to the Tullys’, Arch and Marian walked on down the street to where Marian had parked the Studebaker.
“Well, nobody sure paid any attention to us,” Marian said. “I wasn’t going to go thank that Mrs. Geary. I certainly don’t think much of her.”
“I guess she was just as embarrassed with us as we was with her,” Arch said as he pulled the car away from the curb.
“They had another steak set. Did you see it? I didn’t think it was as nice as the one we gave them, though.”
“I should hope not. You shot our wad on the damn thing.”
“Did you think the wedding was as nice as ours, Arch?”
“Nobody dropped the ring,” Arch said. “No, it was all right, though.”
She sat silently as they turned corners and finally came out on the streetcar tracks. Pepper trees hung over the street and the streetlights were coming on. Arch was frowning.
“What’s the matter, Arch?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re thinking the same thing I am, aren’t you?”
“How do I know what you’re thinking?”
“What are you thinking, then?”
“Oh, Jack got a telegram down at his place before we came up. I was wondering what it was.”
“When? You mean before the wedding?”
“While he was getting dressed. He looked like he’d got hit with a dragline and bucket when he read it.”
“Somebody congratulating him or something. Arch, don’t you…”
“No,” Arch interrupted, shaking his head. “He looked really snowed. He tore it up like he was sore as hell.”
“You should have read it when he wasn’t looking. Arch, don’t you feel sorry…”
“I asked him what it was,” Arch said. “He said a friend of his was getting married, too. Now why do you suppose he got all upset like that?”
“I don’t know. Arch, don’t you feel sorry for that girl? I sure do.”
Arch guided the car through a traffic signal, and then turned toward her. He looked annoyed. “You don’t need to feel sorry for her,” he said. “She’s all right. What do you mean you feel sorry for her?”
“She just hasn’t got it, that’s all. She should have married that other boy.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“She can’t hold him.”
“What do you think you are?” Arch said angrily. “A prophet?”
“I don’t need to be a prophet to see that. You saw it too, only you always take the other side whenever I say anything. She should have married that other boy.”
“Will you tell me what the hell you mean?” Arch cried. “I’m so stupid I only saw Jack Ward and Gene Geary getting married, but you seen the preview or read the plot in a movie magazine or something. Why don’t you tell me what you mean?” He stopped for a red light, which changed as soon as he had stopped, and he rasped gears getting started again.
“Oh, she’s nice enough,” Marian said. “She’s sweet and she looks like a doll and all that, but she hasn’t got the stuff. Jack’s going to get sick of that sugar candy and go hunting some roast beef, and you remember I said it…”
“Jesus!” Arch said.
“You just remember I said it. And you know what she’s going to do? She’s going to think up some way to get him back, or read a book about how to get your husband back, or something, and you can’t do it that way. Not that Jack Ward. She’s going to be real sweet and forgiving when she ought to claw his eyes out and then get him in bed and show him what he can’t get anywhere else, only she hasn’t got it, that’s all.”
“Oh, Jesus!” Arch said.
“You just remember I told you.”
“We better start playing the horses, you know so damn much about the future,” Arch said irritably.
He drove into the auto court and parked the Studebaker in the shed beside their cabin. Inside, he went to the icebox, chipped some ice, and made them each a drink. “You want to go over to Tully’s, hon?”
“I certainly don’t,” Marian said. “I can’t stand that dumb Liz Tully.” She took off her coat and hung it on a hanger in the closet. She had spilled punch on the sleeve of her dress and she ought to get after it with the spot remover. Arch sat down in the easy chair, hung one leg over the arm, and switched on the radio. It began to hum and the light glowed behind the dial.
“He knew it when he was marrying her,” Marian said, sipping her drink and looking at Arch accusingly. “He knew he was going to give her a bad time when he stood up there with her. You could see it on his face.”
“Okay,” Arch said. “You know it all.”