This is why I maintain that the "Sometime I miss..." was not the last night of the trip but 2nd or 3rd.
This is true to the story, Mark! I don't have it in front of me, but what comes closest to that campfire scene in the story, and is followed by the sentence about "the brilliant spark of their infrequent couplings" and "never enough time, never enough" is followed by "a day or two later ..."
The story is usually specific about details like that. For instance, earlier on that same trip, the weather that Ennis was expecting arrives precisely three days later. Anyone have any ideas why the time frame of that last part is vague, rather than either "the next day" or "two days later"?
Why does Ennis say, "If I don't have to sing?"
Good one, Elle! Maybe he means it in the sense of how someone who confesses to a crime to the police "sings" -- that is, admits the truth. Ennis is willing to go to the church picnic as long as he doesn't have to be truthful about himself. Eventually, as he gets more paranoid -- they'll figure him out whether he sings or not -- he can't even stand to be around that fire and brimstone crowd.
Why does Ennis give Alma that look in the grocery store, and, more perplexing, why does Alma so suddenly capitulate?