And suddenly the glass was taken from him and emptied. Well, it wasn't beyond reason to think that she needed it more than he did. To give himself something to do and give her time to process the information - 'oh', indeed - he stood and made for the kitchen.
When he returned, it was with a second glass.
He resumed his seat beside her, then wordlessly topped up both glasses. All quite calm and reasonable. Perhaps this would look better on the other side of sobriety. Things usually did, when it came down to drinking with Martha. Or perhaps he was simply drinking to avoid the issue, which was -
Which was.
Well. Lily.
He had burned her photograph and the scrap of letter. He had married Martha, bought a house with her. Planned a future with her. Lily promised to be...revisiting old obsessions. That rather settled things, didn't it? He downed his drink before he could bring himself to say anything.
"We went to Bermuda, you know." How...random a change in subject. But all right, very well. Start there. He eyed his empty glass as he spoke. "Two weeks. I waited until you were nearly to the lift and told the desk clerk to hold our calls for two days. No housekeeping, no messages."
no subject
When he returned, it was with a second glass.
He resumed his seat beside her, then wordlessly topped up both glasses. All quite calm and reasonable. Perhaps this would look better on the other side of sobriety. Things usually did, when it came down to drinking with Martha. Or perhaps he was simply drinking to avoid the issue, which was -
Which was.
Well. Lily.
He had burned her photograph and the scrap of letter. He had married Martha, bought a house with her. Planned a future with her. Lily promised to be...revisiting old obsessions. That rather settled things, didn't it? He downed his drink before he could bring himself to say anything.
"We went to Bermuda, you know." How...random a change in subject. But all right, very well. Start there. He eyed his empty glass as he spoke. "Two weeks. I waited until you were nearly to the lift and told the desk clerk to hold our calls for two days. No housekeeping, no messages."