She wasn't a streetwalker, a common slut without pride or decency in what she did, and Tim had no right treating her like she was one – especially on this last night that they'd be together! She knew she had to leave the Bijou this very instant or she would find herself in a situation with an unsober husband she could not control! How embarrassing, how utterly humiliating that would be, to have something happen in front of her new employer!

"Tim!" she whispered on the verge of hysteria, pulling his hand from inside her dress. "We must go! We must go right now!"

"For Christ's sake," he snarled bitterly, "What's the matter now?"

"I can't take any more of this… this awful movie!"

"You've got to be kidding!"

"I don't care I don't care, please take me home. Please don't make a scene, Tim, not on our last night together," she quavered, tears suddenly filling her eyes.

"And if I don't go?" he sneered drunkenly, anger smoldering in his glaring eyes.

"I'll… I'll go home by myself!"

"Gawd Almighty," Tim swore thickly, but he jerked his wife angrily to her feet, reaching behind him to grab his own coat. "Then let's get the hell out of here and home, so I can have my little going away present." He snickered obscenely as he thought about it. "Yeah… that'll be better than watching a movie."

"Ohhhh, Tim!"

He shoved her through to the aisle, his rage still growing inside him. "Don't 'Oh Tim' me, you wet blanket. I'm telling you now, Melanie, that you'd better be good to me tonight. Damned good, you hear?"

Melanie gave him a cold stare in answer and walked stiffly up to the lobby, Tim trailing behind her. Out in the lobby, the sudden glare of bright lights made her pause for a moment, and then Tim caught her roughly by the arm. "C'mon," he growled. "I'm hotter than a firecracker."