Now and Then

4.

It does sound kind of affair-y,” Susan said.

“I saw them together,” I said. “It’s an affair. But it’s not proof of an affair.”

“I know,” Susan said. “Will you say anything to the husband?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “It would just be my opinion.”

“You want to offer him certainty?”

“I think until I can prove it, he’ll refuse to believe it,” I said.

Susan nodded.

“Hard to know, sometimes, what’s best,” she said.

“How about the truth?” I said.

She smiled.

“That’s often effective,” she said.

We were sharing sweet-and-sour pork for supper at P. F. Chang’s in Park Square. Unless you think that sharing means equal portions for both. In which case, I was having sweet-andsour pork, and Susan was having a couple of bites.

“But I don’t know,” I said, “at this stage of things, if I would have wanted to know without certainty.”

“You already had reason for suspicion,” Susan said.

“I did, but I couldn’t believe it.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t know if I couldn’t believe you’d do it, or I couldn’t believe it could happen to me.”

“Or wouldn’t,” Susan said.

“Same result,” I said.

Susan isolated a small piece of pork on her plate, sliced it in half, and ate one of the halves.

“So I think I’ll wait until I can prove it,” I said. Susan nodded.

“Are you planning to burst in on them with a video camera?” Susan said.

“Ugh!” I said.

“How about planting some sort of electronic device?”

“Ugh!”

She smiled.

“Are you sure you’re cut out for this sort of work?” she said.

“Doherty needs to know,” I said.

“Even though it will cause him pain,” she said.

“He’s in pain now,” I said.

She nodded again, and ate the other half of the small piece of pork.

“And the pain of knowing is better than the pain of not knowing?” she said.

“Yes.”

She nodded. She seemed to have very little to say about this. Usually she had a lot.

“Do you have a plan for proving it?”

“None,” I said.

“So what are you going to do?”

“What I usually do,” I said. “Plow along, try not to break things, see what develops.”

“And if nothing does?” Susan said.

“I nudge it a little,” I said.

“Yes,” she said. “You certainly do.”