But a change had come over her that made her responsiveness to Dominic’s lovemaking strained. The spontaneity was no longer the same. Not that she loved him less, but her self-esteem had been so crushed. One evening at dinner, he said, “Let’s go away, darling, I think the change would be so good for us.” She toyed with her food, not looking at him. Then she said, “I’d love to, Dominic, but I really must be here until Thursday.” “Thursday?” She looked up, “Darling, I do have a practice, after all… we’re going into court.” “Couldn’t someone else take over for a few days?” “I don’t think so, dear, not on this case. It’s really my baby.” He hesitated, then finally said, “You don’t want to go, do you?” “That’s not true … of course, I do, but I simply can’t. “You’ve left cases before.” “I know, but not this one.” “I see … Victoria, we’ve never held back with one another. Let’s talk about this.” “Talk about what?” “I think you know.”
