"No," I said. "I guess you didn't."
"But I didn't know what to say. It wouldn't have been right to have
pretended to be happy about it."
I sighed. "That's true. There's no good in pretending--not at this
point."
"But this was the first I realized he was really _serious_, Ben. Oh,
you know how he talks." She stared at her cigarette for a long moment.
"He's wonderful, Ben--" she said softly. "You know that, I think--"
"He's the most wonderful guy alive."
She looked up at me gratefully. "I think you mean that. I've known
it--ever since our first date. He brought me into a new world, a
completely new, wonderful, exciting world. I kept fooling myself that
I could be part of it, I guess, that somewhere he could find a place
for me there, too. He loves me, I'm sure of it--but I'm only part of
his world, just one tiny little facet--"
I snuffed out my smoke, and looked over at her. "And you?" I said.
"What about your world?"
Her voice was very low. "Bart's my world. All of it. Nothing else
really makes much difference to me."