CHAPTER ELEVEN
"Hi."
"Oh -- hi, hello." Val stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Doug, one hand on the doorknob, the other hand still on the key which was inserted into the lock. The door stood half open. "How are things?"
Doug smiled, shrugging. "Okay, I guess."
There was an awkwardness that had grown between them, and Val wondered whether it would still be there later. She wondered if it would ever really be again the way it used to be. Maybe it would, but ...
"Have you been home long?" she asked.
"All morning. Your flight just get in?"
"Un-huh. I just got out of a cab a few seconds ago. My luggage is outside, on the lawn." She looked at Doug as if she were seeing him for the first time. "The cab cost eleven dollars from Kennedy to here."
"Wow, how come so much?"
"Traffic.
