“I know you’re having an affair.”

“That’s all it is. It just ended.”

“Because my legs are broken?”

“I don’t know. Yes. Because your legs are broken.” She held her breath for a moment, then released it. “It’s not my first.”

“No.”

“I need a cigarette for this.”

His body started to sit up, to rise from the bed and climb the stairs to get her purse. Then she was gone, to her room, then the bathroom, and she came down with fresh makeup and her cigarettes, and lay beside him and looked at his eyes. She said: “I’ve never loved anyone else.”