Juliet’s eyes turn down in the corner. “This is different. You’re both suffering.”
“Isn’t a marriage something worthy of being fought for?”
Juliet lowers her voice and looks over her shoulder at the door. “You’re not fighting. You’re floundering. You’re making excuses.”
“I am fighting,” I retort, folding my arms across my chest. “I had sex with him.”
She lowers her chin. “He’s your husband. Why wouldn’t you have sex with him?”
I look to the right. She’s right. “It took a long time to cross over into intimacy because I was so afraid of everything that could happen.”
She sighs. “You’ve been through so much. I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you. I’m just now realizing how dark that hole you’ve been climbing out of was. You will get through this. I don’t have any advice for you. It sounds like you know exactly what you need to do.” Do I? “And you’ve been happier lately, so that’s a step in the right direction.”
Coal meows, reminding us that he’s waiting for attention. Guilt strikes. I cover my eyes. “Because of Leo.”
“I just asked you if something was going on with that man,” Juliet hisses.
I shake my head. “Nothing is going on. He has a girlfriend or something. We really are just friends.”
Juliet glares. “Like you were friends when we were seniors in high school and we’d sneak out to the beach to see him all the time? Like then? Like when you were obsessed with him and wrote a poem about the color of his eyes in your math notebook? Or just friends like when you were certain he was going to kiss you that night at the beach and then you cried all night when he didn’t?” Juliet falls back on the bed. “Like that?”
I clear my throat. “I don’t even remember those things.” I lie.
“The only difference is now you’re a bit more grown up but just as vulnerable because of the situation.” We both stay silent. “Invite the man over for dinner. I need to talk to him. Get a feel for this whole thing. I know you well enough to help you.”
Help. Lord, do I need it. She’s right. “I won’t keep anything else from you. This is the worst of it. I promise.”
“You’re over there calling Leo Callaway your friend. You’re still keeping shit from me. But I’ll let you because your damn husband is in the room next door.”
I hang my head. “It’s so confusing. Complicated.”
She groans. “I’ll give you that. You always seem to get mixed up with this man. Did you ever stop to wonder why?”
“Like, how? Like meant to be? Written in the stars?”
She shakes her head. “That’s too obvious. More nefarious. Maybe he’s obsessed with you. Maybe he knows exactly what he’s doing. Having you at his work. Driving a wedge into your marriage. Finally getting you all to himself.”
“No. No way. Why does your brain work like that?”
She makes another guttural noise. “I keep the television on in the background when I’m studying late at night. It’s always those crime shows. Or the one where the wife kills her husband when she finds him cheating.” Juliet sits up, her eyes are wide. “Is Adam cheating on you?”
“You’re insane. He isn’t.” Even as I say it, I wonder if he is. I wouldn’t know. Not anymore, anyway. “I wouldn’t blame him, but there’s no way. No way.”
“What if he was?” she whispers. “That would make everything so much easier.”
I cock my head. “I forgot how crazy you were. I thought college would fix that. What are you suggesting?”
“Nothing. Nothing. Call Leo. Invite him over for dinner tonight.” Juliet walks into the bathroom and closes the door almost all the way. I hear the toilet flush in the hallway bathroom. Adam. I open the door as he returns to his office, closing the door without a backwards glance.
I knock on the door softly. He calls for me to come in. “Hey, um, Juliet suggested we invite Callaway over for dinner. Do you have any thoughts?” My bare feet chill against the hardwood in here. It always seems about ten degrees colder than the rest of the house.
Adam spins in the desk chair to face me. “Do I have any thoughts? Which ones do you want, Ken?”
Oh, God. I don’t want a fight. Or a talk. The latter a worse fate than the former. “Would you mind if Leo comes over for dinner? I’m asking you first before I invite him. Of course.”
“Of course,” Adam parrots.
“Of course you mind? Or of course he can come over for dinner? I’m going to roast a chicken.”
