Completely (New York 3)

“I’m a big girl, Kal.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“I want you to do whatever it is you want to do.”

He slid his elbow along the counterpane until his head hit the pillow. Then he turned over onto his back again and commenced a careful survey of the ceiling. “I snore,” he said after a very long silence.

“It’s been rumored that I do, too.”

“You didn’t in Lukla.”

“I can’t imagine you would have heard me if I had.”

“Over the sound of my snoring?”

“Through the haze of your exhaustion.”

“You’re probably right about that.”

“I’m right about a great many things.” Rosemary began to feel she’d like to be dressed. A hot shower, a soft towel, a white cotton nightgown, and the window open to let the spring breeze in.

“Do you think there’s a baby?” he asked. “From Lukla?”

He said this to the ceiling rather than to her face. Annoyance made her response curt. “No.”

“But you don’t know for sure.”

“I haven’t taken a test, if that’s what you mean.”

“Could you? Or wouldn’t it be accurate yet?”

“I’ve no idea. I haven’t had a cycle in ages, and I don’t think I’m fertile at the moment. But I’ll look into a test.”

“Good.” He was quiet a moment. “When?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Right. Tomorrow.”

Her affection for him remained undiminished, but he was officially trying her patience. “Have we settled that you’ll stay the night?”

“Probably.”

“We’re to meet your mother at the break of dawn. It’s already late. Just stay.”

“Okay.”

She waited for him to soften, or reach for her, but he didn’t, and she wondered if there would ever come a time he could learn not to retreat into silence and blithe, noncommittal conversation when there were important things to talk about.

Given what she’d seen of his family around the dinner table, perhaps not.

Rosemary pushed Kal’s elbow out of the way and snuggled herself against his chest. “Why do you think your mother wants to go to Wisconsin?” she asked.

“She moves in mysterious ways.”

“She didn’t seem to want to be interviewed on the phone or by video.”

“Most nights she has her phone glued to her ear, talking to somebody or another. She probably has some reason she wants to do it this way. She usually does. But we’re not going to find out what it is until she’s good and ready to tell us.”