“Yes. Nymph magazine. And when I called you yesterday, whoever answered the phone said—that’s right! ‘Nymph magazine.’ Quite a coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”
“Let’s not play games about it, Archer. I worked at Nymph magazine. I never denied it. You were never interested enough to ask me the name of the place, that’s all.”
“Was I supposed to ask you what you wore on the job too?”
“Well, no—I guess I did want to conceal that from you.”
“I guess you did. And I guess you wanted to hide the fact that you were balling everybody in the office too.”
“But I wasn’t!”
“Come on now!” Archer’s control was slipping now, and his voice went up the scale.
Llona’s reaction was instinctive and female. When on the defense, always attack! “Just because you feel guilty about your hospital interlude with that fat nurse,” she told Archer, “is no reason to come on all moralistic and attack me.”
It threw Archer off balance. “What do you mean? There was nothing between me and Miss --”
“Oh, wasn’t there?” Llona followed up her advantage. “How about that tearful good-bye scene. What about that three-times-a-day stuff? Or don’t your anal amours count?”
“It wasn’t like that,” Archer protested. “She was only doing her job.”
“So was I!” Llona cackled triumphantly.
“But she kept her clothes on!” Archer tried to recover lost ground.
“And I didn’t go around playing with men’s bottoms three times a day!”
“It was part of the treatment. Hospital procedure!”
“You told me yourself you enjoyed it,” Llona reminded him.
“Well, only because there was nothing else to do. I mean, when you’re hanging from the ceiling with a cast on your leg and your wife is off somewhere with who-knows-who, it’s only natural that --”
“Natural!” Llona leaped on the word. “Natural! Archer, whatever it was that you and that fat Florence Nightingale had going, it wasn’t natural!”
“That doesn’t excuse you! I was at her mercy. But you had a choice.”
“And I exercised it. I was faithful to you.”
“I wish I could believe that.” Archer was weakening. It wasn’t just Llona’s arguments. It was also the fact that throughout the discussion she had been undressing and now she was standing across from him completely nude. It had been a long time. Archer’s face betrayed his interest.
“I missed you,” Llona told him softly, coming closer. “Didn’t you miss me a little bit?”
“Yeah.” Archer gulped. “Yeah, I did.”
“I’ll bet I can make you forget that fat nurse and her enema bag,” Llona crooned.
“I’ll bet you can.”
“I’ll bet I can make you forget everything.” Llona put her arms around him . . .
But she wasn’t quite right. Archer couldn’t forget everything. Later, after they’d made love, he came back to it again with a sigh. “I guess I’m better off not knowing what really happened between you and those creeps up at Nymph,” he sighed.
“I guess so. But I’d like to tell you one thing, Archer.”
“What?”
“I’ve always been true to you. All the time you were sick. Nobody else had me. That’s the truth.”
“You were faithful to me?” There was wonder in Archer’s voice.
“I was faithful to you!”
And, strictly speaking, it really was the truth!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Waves of sex can wash away the suspicions of marriage. Llona knew this intuitively, and during the days that followed she made sure that the breakers rolled constantly so that Archer, riding the crest of one after another, had no time to brood over questions of fidelity in the recent past. Their time was filled with erotic pleasures and Archer’s questions remained unanswered.
Slowly, he forgot to wonder about them at all. The Pierre Strongfellow story which had been the start of Archer’s quarrel with Llona receded into the unexamined past. The job with Nymph, since Llona had quit it, was no longer an issue. Whatever had happened had happened and Archer didn’t dwell on it. Their marriage had turned a corner and the road ahead seemed tranquil.
Only one pothole remained from the time prior to Archer’s hospitalization. This was the matter of his employment. During his convalescence, both he and Llona skirted the subject. But the day came when the cane he’d substituted for crutches was no longer necessary; his convalescence was over and he and Llona were forced to take stock of their financial situation.
It wasn’t encouraging. The time he’d spent at home after his discharge from the hospital had eaten up virtually all of their savings. An immediate family income was imperative.
Diplomatically, not wanting to shake the boat, Llona refrained from suggesting that she look for another job. Instead, she went all-out to be supportive of Archer in his quest for work. But it wasn’t easy. There still wasn’t much demand in the promotional field for someone with experience in contraceptives.
Then, one evening, Archer arrived home with hope shining from his face. “You’ll never guess who I bumped into today,” he greeted Llona.
“Someone who owes you money from the look on your kisser,” she supposed.
“Nope. Even better. E. Z. Holdkumb, that’s who!”
“Your old boss?”
“The very same. E. Z. Holdkumb himself, right in the middle of Main Street.”
“What was he doing, checking the wrappers in the gutter to make sure his brand is getting its fair share of the market?”
“Don’t be sarcastic, Llona. As it happens, he was very friendly to me. Surprisingly friendly.”
“No kidding?—-as the company motto goes Well, it’s nice to know he isn’t still crying over spilled blood.”
“He didn’t even mention that incident with the Chihuahua. I'm telling you, Llona, he was really chummy. He asked me what I was doing and I told him the truth. I told him l was just getting over an accident and that I was looking for a job. He sort of mulled this over.” Archer grinned from ear to ear. “And then you know what he said? You’ll never guess!”
“Rubberiness is next to godliness,” Llona guessed.
“You’re being cynical. Don’t be cynicall” Archer wagged a finger in her face. “You’ve been supportive up to now. Don’t spoil it.”
“I’m sorry. What did he say?”
“He asked me to pay him a visit. Not just me. Both of us. He said there are things we can discuss. He’s going to offer me a job, Llona. I know he is! It’s the break I’ve been waiting for!” Archer was jubilant.
“When?” Llona asked. “When are we supposed to go there?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“I think you’d better go yourself. I don’t think I should come along.”
“Why not? Don’t be silly. Of course you should come, Llona. I need your help. I need all the help I can get.”
“I might be more of a hindrance,” Llona told him frankly. “I said all the wrong things last time. And then I went and sat on their-—”
“That’s all forgotten. I told you. And you won’t put your foot in your mouth again either. I have faith in you, Llona. That last time we were just married and there was all that unconscious hostility because of our lack of sexual adjustment, but this time will be different. We’ve got our sex life straightened out just great. Haven’t we?”
“Yes.” Llona smiled, pleased that he was satisfied, and glad that she had no complaints either. “Yes, we have.”
“Just don’t go trying to shove oral contraceptives down E. Z.’s throat,” Archer cautioned, “and everything will be fine.”
“I hope so,” Llona said. “I just hope so.”
Her fingers were still crossed the next night when she and Archer arrived at the Holdkumbs. Neva—Mrs. Holdkmnb—greeted them at the door. Mama Hippo hadn’t changed.