He said, “How long can we keep this up, Gail?” I had to finish dragging my plastic spoon upside-down along the length of my tongue before I could answer him. I had to swallow. It was awkward. Then I said, “I don’t know how long.” What I should have said was, “We can keep this up forever. We can go on leaving things unspoken, letting them teeter in the balance, because isn’t everything perfect just the way it is?” But I didn’t.
