Silver Linings

just told you, I am not sleeping with your husband. I have never slept with your husband. I have no desire to sleep with your husband. And he has no desire to sleep with me. He loves you.”
    “He went to you last night. He didn't come back home. He went straight to you. Did you comfort him, Mattie, the way you did the others? Offer him herbal tea and sympathy? Tell him you understood all the stress he was under? Damn you.”
    “For Christ's sake, give it a break, Ariel,” Hugh ordered brusquely. “Grafton's here, all right. He slept on the couch. I should know. I'm the one who spent the night in Mattie's bed. I would have noticed a third party in the sheets, believe me. I'm fussy that way.”
    “Hugh? You're there, too?” Ariel's sobs halted with dramatic swiftness.
    “I'm here, all right.”
    “You were there all night?”
    “Where the hell else would I be? I'm engaged to Mattie, remember?”
    “Thank God,” Ariel said, switching instantly from pathetic victim to vengeful shrew. “Put Flynn on the line at once.”
    “My pleasure,” Hugh said.
    There was a brief, fumbling sound and then Flynn's voice spoke very coolly into the phone. “Ariel?”
    “Flynn, how could you do this to me? I was so frightened when I woke up this morning and realized you'd never come home. Do you have any idea of what I've been through? Do you know what it was like having to call my own sister to find you? How dare you do such a thing?”
    “You're the one who told me to get out and stay out, remember?” Flynn sounded vaguely preoccupied. He also sounded as if he were munching on something.
    Mattie dropped the receiver back into the cradle, got out of bed, and reached for her robe. She went to the edge of the loft and looked down over the waist-high red metal railing.
    The first thing she noticed was her modest nightgown. It had been tossed rather negligently, Mattie thought, over the back of the chair Hugh was occupying.
    Hugh himself looked arrogantly at ease, quite the master in his own home, as he sprawled in the chair. He had a mug of coffee in his hand, and there was a plate of bran muffins on the low table in front of the couch. He had not bothered to put on anything except a pair of jeans, Mattie realized. His bare feet were propped on the coffee table, and his bare shoulders gleamed in the morning sunlight.
    Flynn, rumpled from a night in his clothes, was eating one of the bran muffins as he listened to Ariel's tirade.
    “I hear you, Ariel,” he said calmly. “Ease up, honey. You've made your point.”
    Flynn took another bite of muffin and wrinkled his nose while he listened to Ariel's response.
    “What was I supposed to do after you locked the door? Stand out in the hall and beg?” he finally asked.
    More munching while Flynn listened.
    “No,” he finally said during a pause. “Nothing's changed. I know you don't like it, but I've done a lot of thinking about this and my mind is made up. I'm going to ask Mattie to hang my more commercial stuff and that's final.” Flynn finished the muffin and picked up his mug of coffee. “Ariel, I may be the greatest undiscovered artist who ever lived, but I'm also your husband. With any luck, one of these days I'll be a father. I've got some pride, okay? I want to carry my own weight in this family. Maybe I'd better talk to you later when you're feeling calmer.”
    Flynn hung up the phone quite gently and sat hunched over his coffee. “The lady is very unhappy,” he said to Hugh.
    “I got that feeling,” Hugh replied. “Wish I could help you out with a few tips on handling her, but the truth is, I never did understand Ariel. She and I were like oil and water. Or gasoline on a fire. Whatever.”
    “Yeah, I know. It's not that I can't deal with her usual moods. I understand those. They're part of what makes her a great artist. She's very sensitive and she needs to be handled delicately. But last night I just lost it, you know? Told her I was tired of feeling like a kept man. Tired of feeling like I'm standing in her shadow, making no contribution to the relationship. We really got into it. Sorry I turned up here. That was a mistake.”
    “I guess one time isn't going to be a problem,” Hugh allowed magnanimously.
    “It won't happen again,” Flynn promised.
    “Right.” Hugh sounded satisfied.
    “It's just that this was the first place I thought of when I found myself locked out. The thing is, Mattie always seems so quiet and calm and levelheaded. So