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He seemed reserved, though I hardly noticed. He looked down at his plate or at Gina when they were in the middle of a conversation. When he did look at me, his eyes were cagey, as if he didn’t want me to throw myself at him. I ignored the implications. He was mine. I had won him through weeks of lunch dates and hand holding. That time in the back seat of my car proved that we were passionate about one another.
Linc and Gina seemed to be getting along better. He asked about her work, and she responded by venting about a new doctor on staff. “He doesn’t appreciate any of the nurses. He asks you to do things that aren’t in your job description, like changing sheets and mopping floors.”
“Sounds awful,” Linc commiserated.
“Some of them are just so full of themselves,” Gina said with a sigh.
“Do you ever think about quitting?” Linc asked.
“God, no.” She laughed. “We need the money.”
“How come you never got married?” Linc interrupted the quiet of the evening with an uncomfortable question. I watched as Porter turned to Gina, horror painted on his face. “I mean, if you guys get to poke your nose into my relationship with Aly, fair is fair.”
“Right,” Porter agreed. “I guess I can’t argue with that.”
“We just don’t think that we’re ready to get married,” Gina said hesitantly.
“But you have a child together,” Linc pointed out.
“If this was fifty years ago, yeah, we would have gotten married,” Porter said. “But we’re free to do what we want, and marriage just isn’t for us.”
“Why?” Linc wouldn’t let it drop.
Porter looked at his girlfriend, exasperated. “Marriage is a big commitment. It changes things.”
“So does a baby.”
“Linc,” I said, putting my hand over his. “Let it go.”
He finally looked at me and smiled in defeat. “Sorry.”
Porter rubbed a hand across his jaw. “I need a drink.”
Gina shot him a concerned look. “I’m sure Linc didn’t mean anything by it.”
Porter nodded, excusing himself from the table. I watched him go, wondering what had happened to our cozy meal. The rest of the evening passed awkwardly, until Linc and I excused ourselves to drive home.
“What was that all about?” I asked as soon as we had buckled up.
“What was what all about?” he asked, seeming to have forgotten his rude behavior.
“Why did you give them the third degree about marriage?”
He shrugged. “They’ve got a kid. Why aren’t they married?”
“Because they don’t want to be,” I said, defending my friends.
“But why not?” he pushed.
“I don’t know.” I backed out of the driveway and onto the street. “Some people don’t want to get married.”
“Do you?” He fixed me with a stare, shattering my blissful musings of only an hour before.
“I don’t know,” I sputtered. “Yes, I guess. Don’t you?”
He stared out the window, not answering.
“If you’re not interested in marriage, why did you give Gina and Porter such a hard time?”
