n in his bed, belly tight with undigested steak, he was
feeling wonderful and at peace with the world. Linda climbed in beside him,
wrestled away a pillow and some covers, and snuggled up to him.

"That went well," Art said. "I'm really glad you two hit it off."

"Me too, honey," Linda said, kissing his shoulder through his tee shirt. He'd
been able to get his head around the idea of sharing a bed with his girlfriend
under his grandmother's roof, but doing so nude seemed somehow wrong.

"We're going to have a great week," he said. "I wish it would never end."

"Yeah," she said, and began to snore into his neck.

The next morning, Art woke stiff and serene. He stretched out on the bed, dimly
noted Linda's absence, and padded to the bathroom to relieve his bladder. He
thought about crawling back into bed, was on the verge of doing so, when he
heard the familiar, nervewracking harangue of Linda arguing down her comm. He
opened the door to his old bedroom and there she was, stark naked and beautiful
in the morning sun, comm in hand, eyes focused in the middle distance, shouting.

"No, goddamnit, no! Not here. Jesus, are you a moron? I said *no*!"

Art reached out to touch her back, noticed that it was trembling, visibly tense
and rigid, and pulled his hand back. Instead, he quietly set about fishing in
his small bag for a change of clothes.

"This is *not* a good time. I'm at Art's grandmother's place, all right? I'll
talk to you later." She threw her comm at the bed and whirled around.

"Everything all right?" Art said timidly.

"No, goddamnit, no it isn't."

Art pulled on his pants and kept his eyes on her comm, which was dented and
scratched from a hundred thousand angry hang ups. He hated it when she got like
this, radiating anger and spoiling for a fight.

"I'm going to have to go, I think," she said.

"Go?"

"To California. That was my fucking ex again. I need to go and sort things out
with him."

"Your ex knows who I am?"

She looked blank.

"You told him you were at my grandmother's place. He knows who I am?"

"Yeah," she said. "He does. I told him, so he'd get off my back."

"And you have to go to California?"

"Today. I have to go to California today."

"Jesus, today? We just got here!"

"Look, you've got lots of catching up to do with your Gran and your friends
here. You won't even miss me. I'll go for a couple days and then come back."

"If you gotta go," he said.

"I gotta go."

He