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.The nondominant’s voice rose.“I don’t like it.It’s not right.Are these things even natural? Are they genetically engineered or something? Anyway, aren’t they supposed to have sex all the time? They haven’t done it once since they got here.”“They’re caged separately, you imbecile.”The food man shifted from foot to foot, looking uncomfortably up and down the hall.“But you wait,” said the alpha.“This is going to revolutionize everything.” He leaned closer to the cage.“Are you my girl?” he whispered.Bonzi, whose response for no was simply not to respond, remained still.“You’re my girl, aren’t you?” he repeated.His voice was a hiss of rank breath between his teeth.Bonzi stayed motionless.“I’m going to move you soon.”He rose and addressed the other man.“Come on.Let’s go.”On his way past, he double-whacked the front of Sam’s cage with an open palm.The clash reverberated through the cement hall, and Sam shrank into a corner.10Amanda had brought so few clothes to Kansas that when she split her things out from John’s they all fit into her backpack.“I don’t suppose you’ll be going back to Philly anytime soon?” she asked ruefully, as she rolled up her fourth and final shirt.“I don’t know,” John said.“It depends entirely on what happens with the story.”“I wasn’t thinking about clothes when I decided to leave from here.” She zipped the backpack and stood staring at it.“I guess I could ask your mom to put some things together, although I really don’t like the idea of her rummaging through my underwear drawer.”John snorted.“Better than your mom.”She slapped his chest.“Ha! True, that.”John checked his watch.“Well, I guess it’s time.”——They grew quiet as they approached the airport, and quieter still when they parked the rental car.By the time they got into the security line, it had been minutes since either of them had said a word.They held hands, shuffling closer and closer to the point where they would have to part.Amanda suddenly swung around and pressed herself against John’s chest.He cupped her face in his hands and raised it to his.He could see that she was trying not to cry.John wiped her eyes with his thumbs.“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”She sniffed and nodded.“Uh-huh,” she said, too brightly.“I’ll be fine.” She dug a tissue from her purse and blew her nose.“We’re not going to see each other every weekend, are we?”John hesitated, and then shook his head.He would have given anything to provide a different response, but he had spent much of the previous night awake, analyzing their new financial situation.They had been barely surviving on his salary as it was.There was not a chance they wouldn’t be dipping into their savings, even before taking into account any travel.“Not unless we win the lottery.But we’ll talk every day, and Ariel’s wedding is only two and a half weeks away.”Amanda was now second in line.“It’s going to be okay,” John said encouragingly.“Between now and then I’ll figure something out.We might be able to swing a visit every two or three weeks.That isn’t too bad, as long as it’s temporary.”Amanda brought her hands to her face and ran them over her forehead and cheeks.Then she said, “Am I doing the right thing?”“I think so,” said John.“I hope so.Anyway, we’re in it together.We’re a team, remember?”The man in front of Amanda passed through the checkpoint.“Boarding pass and ID,” said the TSA officer.Amanda handed them to her and turned back to John.“I guess this is it,” she said, kissing John.“Good-bye.”“Bye, baby,” he said, squeezing tight.“Call me the second you get there.”“Will do.”The TSA officer looked from Amanda’s driver’s license to her face, squiggled something in highlighter on her boarding pass, and handed both back to Amanda, who flashed a tight, brave smile and disappeared.John walked around the glass wall until he could see her again.He watched as she took off her boots, purse, and laptop and placed them in gray bins on the conveyor belt.He watched as she was reprimanded, and removed her boots and purse from the bins and laid them directly on the belt instead.He watched as she stood in her stockinged feet in front of the metal detector waiting to be waved through, and then she was truly gone.“Bye, baby,” he said quietly.——His cell phone rang just as he was pulling into a parking space at the Residence Inn.For a fleeting moment he dared hope Amanda’s flight had been canceled, or at least delayed.Even if it just gave them a final meal together—“Hello?” he said.“Hey, it’s Elizabeth.”“Hi,” he said, trying not to sound disappointed.“Did you get the amendment?”“Yeah.Hey, listen, I need you back in Philly.How soon can you arrange it?”“What? Why?”“I need you to cover something.”“I’m already covering something.”“Yeah, but that whole ape thing is becoming more like Cat’s kind of thing—”“The hell it is!”“—and you two don’t seem to be working too well together anyway—”“What did she say to you?”“It doesn’t matter.I need you here.”“What … did … she … say … to … you?”“It doesn’t matter.Frankly, I don’t have the resources to keep the two of you out there anyway, and she’s more than capable.And I need someone to cover another column.So get back here as soon as you can.” She hung up.John flipped his phone shut and threw it on the passenger seat
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