“Well, have a good time,” she said blandly.
“I’m only going shopping,” Margaret said. She glanced up at the clock. “I’d better go now.”
“Do you always dress that way to go shopping? You’d think you were going to a dance.”
“I like to be neat,” Margaret said.
“What time will Donald be home?”
“The same time as always.”
“He’ll be so surprised to see me,” Mrs. Gault said, and her eyes sparkled in anticipation.
“Yes,” Margaret said unenthusiastically. “I’ve got to go now. I’ll be back soon.”
The clock on the kitchen wall read 1:57.
He saw her instantly.
She was very easy to see, he realized. You looked, and you saw her at once. He stepped out of the car and said “Maggie” softly, so softly that he was sure she would not hear him. But she lifted her head as he spoke, and then she hurried toward the car. She wore a black tailored coat and black pumps, and there were dangling rhinestone earrings on her ears. She held the coat collar against one cheek as she walked with her head down, the ash-blonde hair catching the feeble wintry sunlight.
“Get in,” he said, smiling. He was very nervous. It amazed him that he could smile. What possible excuse could he offer to Eve should anyone witness this girl’s getting into his car?
“Why?” she asked.
“We’ll take a ride. I want to talk to you.”
“I don’t know what this is all about,” Margaret said. “I really don’t. I wish—”
“Let’s not argue here,” he said. “Won’t you get in?”
She looked at him for just an instant. Then she shrugged, went around to the other side of the car, and got in. He pulled out of the parking lot the moment she slammed the door behind her. She sat very stiffly, her hands folded in her lap. She had looked at him only once, and now she sat staring through the windshield, apprehension in her eyes.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” His own fear was growing. He had expected some measure of composure from her, but she sat stiffly tense and alert and her panic was spreading to him. The whole matter was taking on the aspect of a foolhardy, impulsive risk with nothing whatever to gain. He found his eyes darting all over the road, searching for faces he knew, faces he wanted to avoid. He began making excuses in advance to explain away the beautiful blonde who sat beside him on the front seat of his car. When the shopping center fell away behind them, he knew instant relief. He could feel his hands loosening their knuckle-white grip on the wheel.
“Where are we going?” she asked again. “What do you want from me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Whatever it is, the answer is no.”
Her words shocked him. Coupled with the fear he already knew, came the horrifying presentment that he had made a grave mistake. He had approached this woman erroneously, and she would now spread the story through the whole development, and he could see himself trying to explain it all to Eve. He stepped on the accelerator.
“Well?” she said.
“Well what? For God’s sake, relax, can’t you?”
“I’m sorry. Where are you taking me?”
“I told you, I don’t know. I’m just driving. It’s broad daylight. You’re absolutely safe.”
“From what?” she asked. “Don’t think because—” She stopped. She seemed to be very annoyed. “Don’t jump to the obvious conclusion, that’s all.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about my anatomy!” she said.
Coupled with his first fear and his later fear, there came a new and partially suspected terror. The girl was either stupid or incredibly direct, and both failings were dangerous. All he wanted now was to get away from her as quickly as possible in the hope she would keep silent once this was over.
Nervously, he said, “I only wanted to talk to you. Because you seemed so interesting. I wanted to find out more about you.” He looked at her hopefully. His words seemed to have had no effect on her. “Really,” he went on, “I wasn’t thinking... whatever... whatever you thought I was thinking.”
“I’ll bet.”
“I’ll turn back right now, if you say so.”
“Turn back,” she said.
“Sure,” he answered, relieved. He swung the car to the side of the road, waited for the car behind him to pass, and then executed a U turn.
“You do this often, don’t you?”
“No.”
She laughed derisively. “I’ll bet you don’t.” She seemed very angry with him, and he suddenly wondered what possible reason this complete stranger could have for being so damned annoyed. He hadn’t forced her into the car, and no one had pushed her to the shopping center.
“What are you doing in my car?” he asked impulsively.
“I... you said you wanted to take a ride.”
“And what did you think would happen on this ride?”
“I’m sure I don’t know.”
“Did you think I’d ask to see you again?”
“Yes. I guess so.”
“Suppose I did?”
“I don’t want to.”
“I’m not asking. I only said suppose.”
“I shouldn’t be here with you. You shouldn’t have asked me to meet you.”
“Why did you meet me?”
“I wanted to know what makes you tick.”
“And do you know now?”
“No. Look...” She was ready to say something, and then she shook her head.
“What is it?”
“Never mind.”
“Go ahead. We’ll never see each other again, so say it.”
“It’s not what you’re thinking.”
“I’m not thinking anything.”
“It’s... look, I was very lonely this summer. My husband was away and I...” She stopped. She turned away from him and stared through the windshield again. “I was very lonely.”
She did not say more than that, but it was enough to tell him he had not been wrong about her. He glanced into the rear-view mirror and then at the road ahead, slowed the car, and made another U turn.
“What...?”
“I don’t want to go back yet, do you?”
“I...” She wet her lips. “You’re driving.”
They drove in silence for several minutes. “You asked me what I want from you,” he said. “I know.”
“What?”
“I want to see you some night.”
“Oh, God, you’re so damned practiced. How often have you done this before?”
“Never,” he said flatly.
“You don’t even know me. You met me in the street! How do you know me?”
“I don’t. That’s why I want to see you. To—”
“I don’t want to know you,” she said.
“All right, then leave it at that. I’ll take you back.”
“Please.”
“Fine.”
He swung the car around a third time. He was beginning to feel a little foolish. The conversation so far had been completely ridiculous. But what had he expected? What do strangers talk about, anyway? The car was silent. He drove slowly. Now that he’d had his say and been refused, he was in no real hurry to get back. He felt only relief now and, curiously, a sense of peace.
“I saw your house,” she said suddenly. “The one in House and Garden.”
“Did you like it?”
“Yes, very much. It’s a... a strong house.”
“Thank you.” He paused. “Where did you find it? The September issue, I mean.”
“At the library.”
“You looked for it?”
“Yes.”
Again they were silent. He wondered what she was thinking, but he was almost afraid of knowing. He could feel her beauty beside him, a live presence that filled the automobile. His fear had evaporated, to be replaced by an extrasensitive awareness of her closeness. But she’s stupid, he thought, and then he wondered just how stupid she really was.