She stood in the open doorway, watching him covering his face with a thick coat of shaving lather.

"Don't just stand there," he said as though he were scolding her like a child. "I want something to eat before I go to work. I have to make a good impression on them. The company hired me on good faith, and I don't want to disappoint them."

"Why… well… what about me?" Kate asked, trying to keep her voice under control. "I'm your wife…"

"And the honeymoon is over," he interrupted her. "Have you forgotten that that trip took just about all our savings?"

Kate's mouth dropped to the floor and her shoulders slumped. Mark had never been so inconsiderate before. As she stared at him, she saw that his shaving motions stopped, and he was looking at his reflection in the steam-covered mirror.

"Look," he said softly. "There is nothing I would like better than to start the day out right. I really want to fuck you, but the hard cold fact of the matter is, we aren't in college any more, and we aren't on vacation. I have to get to work. Unless you want to live in a tent somewhere."

"Don't be ridiculous," Kate snapped.

"Don't you be ridiculous," he retorted. "Living in this world costs money. The rent on this place is going to be due in another month. Where are we going to get the money to pay that? And the electric bill… and the gas and the heat…"

"All right," she snapped, spinning around and walking away from him. "I'll have your damn breakfast ready."

Mark started to say something after her, but he thought the better of it. He wondered if they were about to have their first fight. He had heard that things like that were inevitable, but he would like to postpone it for as long as possible.

Then he shrugged his shoulders. Surely she could see that he loved her. After all, he was willing to put off a little pleasure so he could make ends meet. Maybe when she got a job of her own, she would understand. Hell… by then they might have enough money so that he could afford to take a morning off… or at least be a little late.