“Tony?!”
“Yeah, yeah. I just had ta go. You know what beer does. God it’s hot! I can’t believe it’s still this hot this late.”
“Where are the cigarettes?”
“Cig—Oh s**t. I ... I ran into that guy we met dancing. You know, the guy with the acne.”
“So?”
“Oh, we started to talk ... I guess he’s been up here for four years. The Red Sox won the pennant two years ago. Did you know that?”
“Tony, what are you talking about?”
“We were talking about baseball. I musta left the cigarettes on the counter. I’ll go back and get em.”
“Oh, forget it! Baseball! Let’s just go to sleep.” With that she turned off the unit under the coffeepot, then she glanced up at Tony’s face. “Are you okay? You look really pale.”
“Do you love me?”
“More than anything.”
“Why don’t men say, ‘I love you’?”
“Because t
