Those Weekends In New England

Chapter Six

Sometimes only the tune is catchy. Other times, it's the words. It's rare, and beautiful, when the words and the tune make the music.

By the time she got home, Hannah's tears were at a slow trickle. Georgi had already dropped Thel off at her house. "Are you coming in, Georgi?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Would you? Would you spend the night? I ... I don't want to be alone tonight."

Georgi went straight to Hannah's guest room. After she'd undressed and readied for bed in one of the nightgowns she kept at the house—she visited almost every time Peter went out of town—Hannah came in and plopped down in her grandmother's antique rocking chair.

"I'm hopeless, aren't I?" Hannah chewed on her left thumbnail.

"No. You've finally faced the truth. Now you have to find the guts to make some heavy decisions. Time has come. You forced your own hand."

"But I am married. What can I do?" The plea for advice was the closest Hannah had ever come to admitting to anyone she was dissatisfied with her marriage to Peter.

"Oh no, you can't get me to work this one out for you. Bad enough I got you to go out tonight. I have no intentions of digging my own hole any deeper." Georgi pretended to shudder. "Your husband would make mincemeat out of me if he had the slightest clue."

Hannah chewed around her entire nail. Then she bit through it until she felt her teeth meet. The nail was off and she spit into the air. "Denny was acting strange." She seemed to not even make note of Georgi's reference to Peter. "Something was really bothering him."

"Don't jump from one questionable situation into another, Hannah. Think this through. Don't let him be the reason for any of major decision."

Hannah looked at her nails in surprise. She hadn't realized she'd been biting them. "I'm not. Really, I'm not. But I can't help thinking about how odd Denny acted with me, and I'm a stranger to him. Remember the reports about his car accident?"

"Yeah. A fender bender, basically."

"News reports called it nothing more than a fender bender, but I'm sure now that was some sort of cover up. He gave a real sour reference to that accident. His ankle was bothering him something bad tonight." Figuring she'd already butchered the first few nails, she set in on the rest.

"So? Where are you going with this?"

"He was physically off balance, Georgi. One time, he almost fell. I tried to help and he pushed me away like he was embarrassed."

"Maybe he was drunk. Don't be so dramatic."

"He wasn't drunk. He'd had a little to drink but he wasn't drunk. I can tell the difference. Georgi, he has a scar on his forehead reaching from his hairline to his eye. Makeup does wonders on stage, but not when you're as close as I was." Hannah blushed, realizing the implication in her words.

Georgi smiled. "Finish this story, will you? What do you think is going on?"

"I'm not sure. That's why I'm worried. Denny was hurting. The look in his eyes--there was something there." She shook her head, not wanting to tell even Georgi about the discussion they'd had about Peter, and Denny's wife. "He wants me to meet him at the Arboretum tomorrow."

Georgi's eyebrow shot up. "Will you?"

Hannah completed one last roll in her rocking chair, back to front, disentangled her feet from under her body, and yawned. "I know I shouldn't. I'd be asking for trouble." She got out of the chair, flipped off the light, and just before walking out of the room, she mumbled, "But yes, I'm going. Heaven help me, but I'm going to meet him tomorrow."