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Greg remembered his own anguish. "Me, too," he said. He was tempted to reach across the table and take her hand, but he was not sure she would want that.
She went on: "He said he would give me a weekly allowance just to keep away from you. He's still paying me. It's only a few bucks but it takes care of the rent. I promised--but somehow I managed to summon up the nerve to make one condition."
"What?"
"That he would never make a pass at me. If he did, I would tell you everything."
"And he agreed?"
"Yes."
"Not many people get away with threatening him."
She pushed her plate away. "Then he said if I broke my word Joe would cut my face. Joe showed me his straight razor."
It all fell into place. "That's why you're still scared."
Her dark skin was bloodless with fear. "You bet your goddamn life."
Greg's voice fell to a whisper. "Jacky, I'm sorry."
She forced a smile. "Are you sure he was so wrong? You were fifteen. It's not a good age to get married."
"If he had said that to me, it might be different. But he decides what's going to happen and just does it, as if no one else is entitled to an opinion."
"Still, we had good times."
"You bet."
"I was your gift."
He laughed. "Best present I ever got."
"So what are you doing these days?"
"Working in the press office at the State Department for the summer."
She made a face. "Sounds boring."
"It's the opposite! It's so exciting to watch powerful men make earth-shaking decisions, just sitting there at their desks. They run the world!"
She looked skeptical, but said: "Well, it probably beats waitressing."
He began to see how far apart they had moved. "In September I'm going back to Harvard for my last year."
"I bet you're a gift to the coeds."
"There are lots of men and not many girls."
"You do all right, though, don't you?"
"I can't lie to you." He wondered whether Emily Hardcastle had kept her promise and got herself fitted with a contraceptive device.
"You'll marry one of them and have beautiful children and live in a house on the edge of a lake."
"I'd like to be something in politics, maybe secretary of state, or a senator like Woody Dewar's father."
She looked away.
