Then he had a thought. Felt himself smiling.

“What?” She cocked her head. Smiled back, curious. “What?”

“I know how to cheer us up.”

“CAN I OPEN MY EYES?”

“Not yet.” Tom leaned forward, passed the cabbie a twenty. “Keep the change.” He opened the door, then put a hand under Anna’s arm. “Easy. Slide out.” He stepped to the curb, guided her beside him, then spun her south, facing down the strip of glittering window fronts. Saturday afternoon, and Michigan Avenue was jammed. On the opposite corner, a good-looking kid danced to a boom box beside a sign reading “Grad Student Discos for Dollars.” A crowd of tourists ringed him, snapping pictures and clapping. “Okay. You can look.”

Anna took her hands from her eyes, looked down the strip of shops. “The Mile?” She cocked her head. “We’re going shopping?”

“Ooooh yeah.”

She laughed. “Do you think we should?”

“Why not?”

“What if it turns out he has a family?”

“Then we’ll return it. But I think we’re entitled to a couple grand. Call it a finder’s fee.”

She shaded her eyes and looked down the row of stores. He could see her thinking about it, deciding. Then she turned back to him, said, “One question.”

“What?”

“Where do we start?”

It was a surreal experience, carrying five grand in his front pocket with the full intention of blowing it. Peeling off the first bill was hard, instinct kicking in to ask what the hell he was doing dropping six hundred on a leather jacket for her, three hundred on sunglasses for him. But by the time he stacked five bills on the counter for two pairs of heels, he was getting the hang of it. And when she leaned out of a Neiman Marcus dressing room wearing a twelve-hundred-dollar Carolina Herrera cocktail dress and a wicked smile, her finger crooked in invitation, he felt right at home. He stepped into the tiny room and pulled the door shut behind him, the two of them fighting first giggles and then moans as they made love against the mirror.

Afterward, laden with bags, they wandered over to State Street. There was a half-hour wait at the Atwood Café, but he slipped the hostess fifty, and suddenly they were sitting at a primo table in the corner of the patio. He started to order a beer, thought better of it. “You have any champagne?”

The air was sweet with spring, sun shimmering off the windows of cabs and the graceful flutes of bubbly. He sighed, closed his eyes and breathed it all in. “Now, this is living.”

“I could get used to it.”

He laughed. “Don’t get too used to it. At this rate we could burn four hundred grand pretty fast.”

She winked at him over the rim of her glass. They ordered and ate, chatting about nothing. After he’d scooped up the last bite of his salmon and washed it down with the last sip of champagne, he leaned back, crossed his ankle over his knee. “Times like this I wish I hadn’t quit smoking.”

“Times when you’ve dropped five grand in two hours?”

“If I had a nickel, right?” He ran his hands through his hair. “You want to talk about it?”

“No, I think it was good you quit smoking.”

“Smart-ass.”

She twisted pasta around her fork, stabbed a shrimp. Popped it in her mouth and chewed slowly. Shrugged. “What’s to talk about?”

“Just want to make sure you’re okay with everything.”

“I feel pretty good right now. A shopping spree will do that for a girl.” She set her fork on her plate, dabbed at her mouth with the napkin. “This was fun. But shopping sprees weren’t the reason I wanted to take it.”

“I know. Just thought I’d lighten the mood.”

“No, I’m glad you did. But…” Anna leaned forward, put her hand over his. “Tom, I want to try again.”

“For a baby?”

“Not a baby, a child. People talk about wanting a baby like it’s a puppy. I want the whole thing. To raise a child together.” She paused. “Don’t you?”

“Yeah, of course. It’s just…” He shrugged, stared out at the sidewalk. “I don’t know. It’s been rough. I mean, it’s not that I don’t want a kid. I do. It’s just it seems like so much work right now. The shots, the waiting, the appointments. Plus…”

“What?”

He hesitated. Watched two cops come out of a deli, coffee in their hands. One of them said something that made the other laugh.

“What is it?”

He turned to look at her. She was squinting against the sun, her hair lit gold, and he felt a wave of love for her, one of those moments when he was really seeing what he had, instead of taking it for granted. “This is going to sound silly, but I had fun today. And last night too. It felt more like it used to. Before.”

“The sex.”

“Sure, but not just that. I mean all of it. The feeling that we’re in it together, that it’s us against the world. Partners in crime.” He laughed. “Literally, now.” Her hand was warm against his, and he traced the edge of her index finger. “I guess I feel like the fertility stuff has just stressed us out so much. What if we didn’t go for IVF again? What if we thought about adoption?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. “We talked about that before. After everything we’ve been through…”

“There are a lot of kids out there.”

“There really aren’t,” she said. “You know that. There are a lot of older kids, but not a lot of baby-babies. The process can take a long time, if it happens at all, and meanwhile, the odds of me ever being able to get pregnant keep declining. And I don’t want to go all Madonna and adopt from another country. It seems like it could put too much on them when they grow up.”

He played with his spoon. “I just don’t want to lose you in all of this.”

“I know what you mean. I do.” She squeezed his hand. “But things are different now. So much of the problem between us had to do with money.”

“You think?”

“Are you kidding? We’ve got three credit cards maxed, a fourth on the way. The mortgage. We work sixty hours a week. Add all the fertility stuff on top of that? Yeah, it had a lot to do with the money.”

He rocked his head back and forth. She had a point. Every time things hadn’t worked out, every procedure, every visit to the clinic, some part of him was punching buttons on a mental calculator. Now that wouldn’t be a worry. They could pay their bills, get themselves even, and still have maybe three hundred grand, enough for as many tries as it took. It would help. “It’s not just the debt, though. I’ve missed…” Tom held an empty hand up. “Us.”

“I know.” She shrugged. “I know. But now it can be different. We can make a point of it. Only now we won’t have to worry about anything. No bills, no panic that it’s a waste. Besides.” She leaned forward. “Imagine holding a child in your arms. Our child, yours and mine. Can you imagine how beautiful she’ll be?”

“She?” He smiled. “I thought we’d worked this out. You’re having a boy.”

“No chance. You’ll be a complete sucker for a little girl, and I like seeing you squirm. Now,” she said, and leaned back. “Pay the nice lady. I want to go home and try on my new dress.”

“I’m just going to end up taking it off you again.”

Anna cocked an eyebrow. “Why do you think I’m putting it on?”