Aha! That last line gave it to me. Pam Jernigan's terrific I is for Illusions.
Okay, try this one:
"You aren't married or anything are you? No secret wife in Borneo? No three children hidden away somewhere?"
"No," he laughed. Sometimes she had the most outrageous imagination. "Nothing like that. No, no secret family. I've wanted to tell you for a while, but there were reasons that I didn't feel like I could or should."
"You don't trust me?" her voice caught on the question.
"Lo...is. Think about it. If I didn't trust you, would I be trying to tell you now?"
"I guess not. But that doesn't mean that you didn't trust me earlier. So why didn't you tell me before?"
Clark sighed heavily. Somehow, this conversation had gotten all turned around. He tried desperately to regain control. "Let's talk about *why* I haven't told you after we talk about *what* I haven't told you, okay?"
"All right. So what have you been hiding?"
Dealing with the Nightfall asteroid hadn't been this hard. This conversation was becoming more difficult by the moment. "You know how I sometimes run off with a flimsy excuse?"
"Yes." She still didn't understand what he was getting at. "I've always sort of thought you were avoiding intimacy."
"I know. But it isn't that at all. Think about it, Lois. What always happens right after I run off?"
"No," she whispered. "No, that can't be it." She stared at her best friend.
"What happens, Lois?" he gently prodded. Clark battled the urge to take her hands as she pondered his question. He wanted to touch her, but he wasn't at all certain that he had the right any longer. Minutes felt like hours as he watched her work out the puzzle. Finally, comprehension dawned in her expression.
"Superman shows up somewhere."
Wendy
