Blue Smoke

see your family every few weeks if you want to. Though it’s past time you cut the cord there, if you ask me.”
    “I haven’t asked you,” she said quietly. “Any more than you’ve askedme. I’ve recently gotten promoted myself, which it occurs to me we never bothered to celebrate.”
    “Oh, for God’s sake. You can’t really compare—”
    “I’m not. I’m just taking stock.” Long past time to take it, she admitted. Her fault. “You couldn’t have been less interested in my work, but you assume I’ll resign from the unit here and happily move off with you to New York.”
    “You want to keep playing with fire? I hear they have them in New York, too.”
    “Don’t belittle what I do.”
    “What do you expect?” He shouted now. “You’re putting your job ahead of me, ahead of us. You think I can afford to turn down this promotion so you can stay here in Baltimore and cook up spaghetti on Sundays? If you can’t see why my career’s more important, then I’ve seriously misjudged you.”
    “I can’t, so you have. But even that’s beside the point. I never said I wanted to get married—and I don’t. Not now. I never said I would marry you. You didn’t bother to let me answer.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous.” His face was ruddy, as it became with temper. And was moving toward red. “You sat right there and accepted. You’ve got the ring on your finger.”
    “I didn’t want to make a scene. I didn’t want to embarrass you.”
    “ Embarrass me?”
    “Luke, the waiter was right there.” She lifted her hands to scrub them over her face. “And those people at the next table. I didn’t know what else to do.”
    “So, what, you just strung me along?”
    “That wasn’t my intention. It’s not my intention to hurt you now. But you’ve made all these plans without consulting me first. Marriage is . . . I’m just not ready for it. I’m sorry.” She pulled the ring off her finger, held it out to him. “I can’t marry you.”
    “What the hell is this?” He gripped her shoulders, gave her a quick shake. “You’ve got some sort of hang-up about leaving Baltimore? For God’s sake, grow up.”

    “I’m happy here, and I don’t consider that a hang-up.” She pulled away. “My home is here, my family is here, my work’s here. But Luke, if I were ready to get married, if I wanted to get married, and leaving here was part of it, I would. Marriage isn’t on the table for me right now.”
    “What about what I need? Why don’t you think about someone else for a change? What the hell do you think I’ve been doing with you these past months?”
    “I thought we were enjoying each other. If you were thinking along these lines, I didn’t pick up on it. I’m sorry.”
    “You’re sorry. You’ve humiliated me, and you’re sorry. That makes it all fine, doesn’t it?”
    “I went out of my way not to humiliate you. Don’t make this harder than it is.”
    “Harder than it is.” He whirled away. “Do you know how much trouble I went to, with everything else I have to deal with, to give you the perfect night? To find the perfect ring? And you’re throwing it back in my face.”
    “I’m saying no, Luke. You and I don’t want the same things. There’s nothing else I can do but say no, and I’m sorry.”
    “Oh yeah, you’re sorry.” He spun back, and something in his face made her palms go clammy. “You’re sorry you’re putting your stupid job before me, your smothering, middle-class family before me, your fucking blue-collar lifestyle before me. After everything I’ve invested in you—”
    “Whoa.” Her temper began to stir, to mix with his. “Invested? I’m not a stock, Luke. I’m not a client. And you’re going to be careful what you say about my family.”
    “I’m sick to death of your fucking family.”
    “You need to go now.” The stirring was moving toward rapid boil. “You’re angry with me, we’ve both been drinking—”
    “Sure. You didn’t have any problem sucking down champagne at two-fifty a bottle while you were planning on kicking me in the face.”
    “Okay. Okay.” She stalked into the bedroom, yanked open her desk drawer to pull out her checkbook. “I’ll write you a check—I’ll write youone for both bottles and we’ll call it a day. We’ll just consider we both made a mistake and—”
    He jerked her arm, throwing her off balance. Before she could blink, he’d backhanded her. The checkbook flew out of her hand, and her