She hesitated. “I feel like crap. Thanks for asking.”
“I’m sorry to hear it.” A short pause. “And what about my second question? Are you still talking to me?”
She bit her lip. The simplest thing, she decided, would be to play dumb. If he had any decency at all, he’d go along with her.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked innocently. “Of course I’m still talking to you. I mean, as much as we ever talk to each other.”
There was another pause. “So that’s how you’re going to play it,” he said. “I should have known.”
Her grip on the phone tightened. “What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean. You’re going to pretend none of it happened.”
“Well, what’s wrong with that? Why wouldn’t I want to forget last night? I was drunk, Alex. If you were a gentleman, you’d forget about it, too.”
“A gentleman? If I wasn’t a gentleman, I—” He stopped abruptly.
“What?” she asked, daring him to finish the sentence.
“Let’s just say you seemed—receptive.”
“If I seemed receptive, it’s because I was drunk,” she said coldly. “Because I am not receptive. Not to you, anyway. And I never will be. You’re pushy and arrogant and you throw women over your shoulder like some kind of Neanderthal. I could never be interested in someone like you.”
“Right, of course. I obviously don’t meet your high standards for men. Like Brian, the disappearing father. Or Rich, who would have slept with you for a couple of weeks and then dumped you.”
A wave of anger made her sit straight up in bed. “How dare you judge me? I don’t see you in any perfect relationship. In fact, I’ll bet you’ve never been in a relationship.”
“I’ve been in plenty of—”
“I’m not talking about sex. Tell the truth, Alex. Have you ever been with one woman for more than three months? Have you ever gotten to the stage where you left a toothbrush at her place?”
There was a pause. “Just because I haven’t found the right woman yet doesn’t mean I—”
“Oh, come on, Alex. You’re in your thirties. You’re never going to find the right woman. I bet you don’t even want to. You’re perfectly happy playing the field. And hey, it’s a free country. I don’t care what you do in your personal life. But you’ve got no right to judge me, and you had no right to carry me out of that bar last night. I’m a grown woman, and if I want to have some fun with a guy I just met that’s my business. If I want to have a wild affair with him, that’s my business, too.”
There was a longer pause.
“Fine,” Alex said coldly. “Forget I said anything. It’s obviously impossible to do you a favor, so I won’t. Good luck with the wild affair by the way. Of course after a three year sabbatical you might be a little rusty—”
“Okay, that’s it. You know, Alex, in my alcohol-induced fog last night there were actually three or four minutes where I didn’t feel like killing you. Those minutes are now officially over. Goodbye.”
She hung up without waiting for a response and fumed. After a few minutes she threw off the covers and got out of bed so she could fume while pacing back and forth. Much more satisfying.
“Hey, you’re up,” Will said, coming into the room with a tray that held, thankfully, nothing but a glass of water, a mug of coffee, a vitamin pill and two aspirin.
“What did Coach want?” he asked as he set the tray down.
“Nothing,” Holly said. She downed the vitamin and aspirin with big gulps of water. “Thanks for this, by the way. Did you have breakfast?”
“Sure, I had breakfast.” He frowned suddenly. “That reminds me. When I was down in the kitchen there was this smell—like burning or melting or something. It was pretty faint and I couldn’t tell where it came from. It might have been my cooking, but do you think we should have it checked out? In case it’s something electrical.”
Holly sipped her coffee. “It’s probably the oven. I’ve been meaning to give it a good cleaning. I’ll go down later to check.”
“Okay. Is it all right if I go over to Tom’s house today? We’re working on that social studies project together.”
“Of course. I’ll enjoy a Sunday afternoon without football for once.”
“I’ll see you tonight, then, around nine o’clock. Tom’s parents invited me to stay for dinner if that’s okay.”
“Sure thing. Have fun.”