Jud popped the cork and poured the two women more drinks. Julie was really hungry now and she wondered how long it was going to be before she would be able to order dinner. Arlene seemed to have completely forgotten about food.

Julie's head was beginning to whiz around, she was beginning to feel more than just a little drunk. She found it hard to concentrate on the conversation, found her thoughts wandering much of the time, usually to wonder what she was doing here with Arlene Lowell.

Her face felt quite hot now and when she looked in the mirror over the fireplace she saw that her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes looked a little wonky too, and it occurred to her that she was more than slightly drunk. She couldn't remember being drunk in her entire life before except she had been tipsy one New Year's Eve. Bradley had been furious with her asking her how would it look to have the minister's wife completely drunk and making a fool of herself. That was just the trouble, Julie thought, Brad cares more about how I make him look rather than how I feel about myself, she thought bitterly.

The blonde chaplain's wife closed her eyes, wishing the spinning in her head would stop. Arlene seemed to be swaying back and forth in front of her and slipping out of focus, although Julie could see that the sophisticated dean's wife was sitting up, thoroughly composed beside her on the sofa.

She was startled when Mrs. Lowell reached out her hand and stroked her bare arm, gently, almost casually, just as startled to hear her say, "I don't want to appear like I'm prying, Julie, but you and the chaplain aren't very happy, are you?"

Julie's mind went back to the terrible scene the other night, when Brad had nearly raped her. How had Arlene known about that? Maybe she was just perceptive. She probably was not referring to anything specific. It didn't seem to matter how she knew. What was important was that another woman, her new friend, understood so completely her own feelings, even though she, herself, had not really accepted them until now. She heard her throaty voice as she probed further into Julie's thoughts. "You're wondering how I know that, aren't you, darling?"