"Lucky to escape with your life," Gordon said. "Eh?"
75
It was snowing softly. Jesse had parked his Explorer at the town beach, and he and Jenn sat in the front seat looking at the ocean through the clear quarter circle made on the windshield by the sweep of the wipers. A hundred yards out the snow and the ocean became indistinct. There was no one else in the parking lot, no one on the beach. Jesse could feel how isolated the car would look from a far distance, alone in the snow at the edge of the sea.
"You all right?" Jenn said.
"Yes."
"You'd say that even if you weren't," Jenn said.
"I know."
"This has been an especially difficult time for you."
"It's why I get the big bucks," Jesse said.
Behind them a plow clattered across the causeway toward Paradise Neck. When it had passed, the silence was broken only by the sound of the wipers and the low fan sound of the heater.
"Did they tell you why they did it?" Jenn asked.
"No."
"Did you ask?"
"No."
Jenn put her hand out, and Jesse took it. Holding hands, they looked silently at the snow and the ocean.
"I have not really been happy," Jenn said, "since the first time I cheated on you."
Jesse didn't say anything. He looked straight ahead at the snow and the water.
"You haven't either," Jenn said.
Jesse nodded. The snow was falling faster. It was harder to see the ocean. He could hear Jenn take a deep breath.
"I think we should try again," she said.
Jesse didn't look at her. The sentence hung in the silence.
"Why," he said after a time, "would it work better this time?"
"We want it to," Jenn said. "We've changed. We're older. We've had some therapy. We know that no one else will quite do."
Jesse was silent.
"We could be on a trial basis." Jenn was talking faster now. "You know? Like a trial separation, only the reverse."
Jesse's throat felt thick. He cleared it.
"How would this work?" Jesse said.
"We wouldn't have to even live together. In fact it might work better if we didn't. We'd keep doing what we do, and see each other on weekends, maybe some night during the week, you know, like a date."
The lady or the tiger, Jesse thought.
"We wouldn't have to get married again, or at least not right away, we could see how this worked."
She held his hand tightly.
"I need to get out of the car," Jesse said.
Jenn nodded and let go of his hand and they got out. They walked together through the snow to the little roofed pavilion at the edge of the beach. In its shelter they stood together, holding each other's hand again. There wasn't much wind and it wasn't very cold. All around the pavilion the snow fell straight down. The smell of the ocean was strong.
"We love each other, Jesse."
Jesse nodded.
"I was learning to be without you," he said.
"We love each other."
Jesse nodded again. Jenn put her head against his shoulder. The only sound was the movement of the water. He cleared his throat again.
"I met a lot of women I liked," Jesse said.
Jenn kept her head against his shoulder. The beach was snow-covered except at the margin where the waves rolled in and out, washing the snow.
"What about that?" Jesse said.
Jenn shook her head slowly against his shoulder.
"No other people?" Jesse said.
"Monogamous," Jenn said softly.
Still holding her hand, Jesse turned toward her. She pressed her face against his neck.
"The magic word," he said.
"I know."
"The one condition," Jesse said.
"Yes."
He continued to hold her hand with his. He put his free arm around her shoulders. Under the sea smell, her perfume was gently determined.
"Okay," Jesse said. "Let's give it another try."
The End
Robert B Parker - Stone 4 - Stone Cold Page 22