Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin

know I’m right.”
    â€œI’d like to strangle you,” said Guido.
    â€œYou’re being unreasonable.”
    â€œUnreasonable!” shouted Guido. “You’re the one who’s leaving me.”
    â€œI am not leaving you,” said Holly. “I am going to France for a little while. We are getting very smug and used to each other and I will not have us taking each other for granted. My instinct tells me that this is right. It isn’t for me alone. It’s for us.”
    â€œIt’s for you,” Guido said.
    â€œYou don’t want to understand this,” said Holly. “You want to feel as if you’re being badly treated. But you aren’t. I feel that our love is very secure—at rock bottom, I mean. I believe in security but not in the matter of love from day to day. I want to miss you and I want you to miss me. If you believe in me, let me go. It’s only for a little while.”
    Guido sat on the chaise. Holly slid off the edge of the bed and onto Guido’s lap. His anger did not get in the way of her irresistibility. She smelled of jasmine and her thick, dark eyelashes brushed his cheeks.
    â€œTrust me,” said Holly. “This is good for us.”
    By the next afternoon she was gone.
    Guido spent the first day of her departure in his office staring out the window. As the days went by, he stared more and more. In the afternoons he became increasingly weary. Often he put his head down on the blotter and took a short, miserable nap. He found himself talking to himself in the mirror.
    â€œI’m not going to be undone by you, or anyone like you,” he said. His mirror reflected back Holly. On good days he made plans for their future. On bad days he felt severed from all human contact.
    Meanwhile, he had to put up with Vincent, who had become increasingly more agitated in his pursuit of love.
    â€œIt’s cresting,” he said. “Misty invited me for dinner. Do you know, I’ve never seen the inside of her apartment before?”
    â€œGood for you,” said Guido bitterly. He was a little sick of love in its infant stages.
    â€œBetty Helen seems to be helping you out a lot,” said Vincent brightly, hoping this change of conversation would engage Guido. It did not.
    â€œI mean, with Holly gone and all, she’s a real symbol of dependency. Misty says it says a lot about you that you hired her.”
    â€œI will not have Betty Helen made into a symbol of my mental state,” snapped Guido. “And I do not wish to hear the ravings of your psychoanalytical girlfriend on this subject.”
    â€œI’m sorry, Guido. I was just trying to cheer you up. But Misty says some very interesting things about things.”
    â€œI don’t want to hear another interesting thing said by a woman,” said Guido. “They’re all far too interesting.”
    â€œBetty Helen must look pretty good to you,” Vincent said.
    â€œVincent,” said Guido in a voice of sinister calm. “Get out of here. You have turned into a chimpanzee. Stop gibbering and go back to work, if you can work.”
    â€œI’m sorry, Guido,” said Vincent. “I’m not too good about knowing how to react. I feel awful about Holly. I just don’t know what to do. Maybe I should take you out and we should get drunk.”
    â€œThat sounds fine,” said Guido. “As long as you don’t say anything.”
    When Vincent left, Guido canceled all his afternoon appointments and gave Betty Helen the afternoon off. She peered at him, puzzled.
    â€œI don’t understand,” she said.
    â€œI’m declaring a holiday,” said Guido. “And giving us both the afternoon off.”
    Betty Helen peered at him again.
    â€œThis is probably a more casual office than perhaps you’re used to,” said Guido. “Go shopping. Go to the zoo. Go to the movies. Entertain yourself. Tomorrow will be