When she calmed down, she pulled away from me and opened the grill again. She did not look at me as she flipped the burgers. “So what is your plan?” she said. “Tm going to get Mick Riva to elope with me.” Her eyes, which already looked sore from crying, started to bloom again. She wiped a tear away, keeping her eyes on the grill. “What does that mean for us?” she said. I stood behind her and put my arms around her. “It doesn’t mean what you think it means. I’m going to see if I can get him to elope with me, and then I’m going to have it annulled.” “And you think that means they'll stop watching you?” “No, I know it means they will only watch me more. But they will be looking for other things. They will call me a tart or a fool. They will say I have terrible taste in men. They will say I’m a bad wife, I am too impulsive. But if they want to do any of that, they'll have to stop saying I’m with you. It won’t fit their story anymore.” “I get it,” she said, grabbing a plate and taking the burgers off the grill. “OK, good,” I said. “Youll do whatever you have to do. But this is the last I want to hear about it. And I want it to be over and done with as soon as possible.” “OK.” “And when it’s over, I want us to move in together.” “Celia, we can’t do that.” “You said this would be so effective that no one would ever mention us The thing is, I wanted us to move in together, too. I wanted it very much. “OK,” I said. “When it’s over, we'll talk about moving in together.” “OK,” she said. “Then we have a deal.” I put my hand out to shake hers, but she waved it away. She didn’t want to shake on something that sad, that vulgar. “And if it doesn’t work with Mick Riva?” she asked. “It’s gonna work.”