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Show 236 squeezed. "Why don't you come see me anymore?" she asked. "Busy," he said. Her fingers, playing on his skin beneath his shirt, made him nervous. Morocco was still days away. "Oh Philip, really! I deserve a better excuse than that." "Distracted," he said. He broke away, went to the refrigerator to find the barbecue sauce. It was beside the grenadine. "I've missed you," she said. He knew it was true. Occasionally this summer he had missed her too; but as the stifling heat and dryness had risen around him he had missed her less and less. "I'm sorry," he said. "Bullshit," said Tia, "if you were really sorry, you'd do something about it." Philip wasn't sure whether she was pouting now, being playful, or was truly angry. Either way, he wished she would stop. There was nothing he could do about this drought. "Ever since Julia . . . " he began, then quickly closed his mouth, knowing that Tia would seize upon it, somehow make him feel even more guilty than he did about something he didn't understand at all. But it was too late; he could already hear and taste the sand between his teeth. "I know," she said, "that must have been rough. I know how much you both wanted that baby. But Philip, it's just no excuse for the way you've treated me." Philip thought about it. Of course she was right. He poured |
