Page 163 of Unhinged

“Mm-hmm.” Simone fluffs her damp hair and grabs her blow dryer. “I still have to do my makeup, but I’ll finish before you get back.”

“Seriously? It usually takes you a while.”

She scoffs, “Thanks!”

“No, I mean you take too long to get ready when you shouldn’t. You don’t need all that makeup. You’re already beautiful. Less is more, but none is better.”

Simone glances at me in the mirror, pursing her smiling lips. She really is prettier to me without it. “That’s such bullshit. You just want me to hurry.”

“It’s the truth.” I leave the doorway to go to her, wrapping my arms around her stomach from behind. We look at each other in the mirror, and I say, “Without it, there’s no pretense. Just the real you. Your eyes sparkle more, and your lips are softer.”

“Shizz. You’re serious.”

“Yes, doodlebug.” She grins at our reflection.

“Even with me looking like a drowned rat, we look hot together. Right?” She’s asking me that without pants or makeup?

I hum against her hair. “Yeah, that’s why I need to go.” I kiss her damp hair and leave before it gets to be too much for me.

As I go downstairs, Simone yells, “I love you, hubby!”

I laugh, not expecting to after what happened earlier. I yell back, “I love you, wifey!” Opening the kitchen door to the garage, I hear her shriek with giggles. Damn, I love that.

When I get to my mother’s, she turns from the microwave as I blow through the kitchen. “What are you doing here? I thought you and Simone were eating at your dad’s?”

“We are. I need something. You’re not going? They invited you.”

“No, not this time.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“Greg, wait a minute.” I stop with a sigh. I knew this would happen.

I turn and cross my arms, ready for some kind of argument or crisis. Mom says, “I’m sorry about Cynthia. I wish you had told me sooner. You didn’t need to give me an ultimatum. I’ll always choose you.”

“But not Simone? Because that’s why I wanted that hag gone. Not for me. Simone is my everything, Mom. She loves me, despite my baggage. We’d die for each other.”

My mother grips the counter next to her. “Greg… I don’t want to hear you say that.”

“You didn’t have a love like that?”

“Obviously not if your dad and I divorced.”

“Well, I do. And I’ll protect my marriage and my wife, no matter what it takes.”

“That’s admirable, but you can’t lose yourself, either. You and Simone need to maintain your own identities too.”

I turn to leave, rolling my eyes. “Sorry. No time for psychobabble.”

“Have you even discussed your future with Simone?”

I sigh louder and again face her. “We’ve talked.”

“Where will you live?”

“We’re kind of stuck until she graduates. It’s not really worth getting an apartment here if she doesn’t want to stay.”

She walks closer to me. “What about your plans? You’re a paralegal, sweetheart, but working in your aunt’s bar for peanuts. You can’t feed a family with that.”

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