Page 34 of Across the Universe

"A husband and children to care for?" Adeline wrinkled her nose. "Now why would a woman want to give up her own happiness for--"

"Jo?" Bill closes the door from the garage to the kitchen, startling Jo so that she nearly jumps out of her chair at the table.

"Oh," Jo says, putting a hand to her chest to quell the wild beating of her heart. "You scared me."

Bill looks around, puzzled. "Where are the children?"

Jo stands, stretching her arms overhead. "Frankie asked if she and Ed could take them out for burgers."

This makes Bill laugh as though she's playing a trick on him. He looks like he's waiting for the punchline of a joke.

"No, I'm serious," Jo says. "She said Ed needed practice at making conversation with children. You know, because..."

"Oh, right!" Bill says, remembering. "The baby."

Jo had come home from the park two days before, eager to tell Bill all about the pregnancy, but he'd been distracted. Still, a kernel of her excitement must have lodged in his brain somewhere, as he seems to recall the entire conversation now.

"They'll be parents by Christmas, right?" Bill asks. Jo nods. "Well, they'll have a couple of years anyway before they need to be prepared for full-blown conversations."

"Bill," Jo says, swatting the air playfully. "They're just excited. And the kids seemed thrilled about having dinner with adults who are far more interesting than their own parents."

Bill sets his briefcase on the table near the door. "So where does that leave us?"

"As far as dinner?" Jo glances at the sheet of paper in her Remington. She'd been so engrossed in Adeline and Henry's story that she'd forgotten all about the fact that she herself was not a woman who was free of domestic duties. On a whim, she shrugs. "I thought we could go out--just the two of us. We rarely do."

Bill nods as he glances around at the cold stove and at the dishes that have long since dried on the rack. He never judges what or how Jo handles the affairs of the house, and she knows he's not looking at the kitchen disapprovingly. Still, she's eager to move him out of the house and to sit down at a table across from her husband without three kids vying for their attention.

"How about Raymond's Steak and Seafood? On the water?" Bill puts his hands on his hips as he leans toward Jo for a peck on the lips. She stands on her toes and reaches for his collar gently, pulling him closer and kissing him with meaning.

"That sounds amazing. Let me put on my shoes and some lipstick. Be right back." As Jo leaves the kitchen, she sees Bill bend forward at the waist, reading the lines of her story that are visible on the page that's in the typewriter. "Don't read that! I'm not done!" Jo calls from down the hallway, feeling giddy at the prospect of sitting in the passenger seat of the Corvette as she and Bill coast towards the restaurant on the beach.

Frankie had asked for the kids to join her and Ed, promising to keep them out until eight so Jo and Bill could have an evening together. While Jo had protested repeatedly that it wasn't necessary for Frankie to do that, Frankie had still insisted. And now, as she leans over the sink, washing her hands in the master bathroom, looking at her face in the mirror, Jo is actually glad for the reprieve from the crushing repetition of cooking, cleaning, and going right into the motions of homework and bedtime for the kids.

"You ready, Jojo?" Bill shouts from the kitchen.

"Almost!" she yells back, flipping on the light in the closet and sliding her feet into a pair of navy blue flats that go with her navy-and-white striped sundress. A swipe of red lipstick completes the look, and she rushes back to the kitchen, following her husband to the garage and climbing into the car. The top is already down as they back out of the driveway.

"I have some big news," Bill says as they hand their menus to the waiter, having ordered the shared surf and turf platter and two glasses of wine. He leans closer to the white votive candle in its hurricane lamp, fixing his gaze on Jo's intently. "But this is still very classified, and technically, we aren't supposed to be discussing it yet."

Jo is intrigued. She leans back as the waiter sets a glass of wine in front of her and waits until he's done the same for Bill. "Okay, I'm all ears," she says, feeling a nervous anticipation bubbling inside of her belly.

Bill breathes out through pursed lips and nods like he's digesting something. "Jo," he says. "I've been chosen for a mission in August."

Jo sucks in a loud breath and makes a surprised sound. Her hand flies to her mouth and she laughs. "Sorry," she says in a whisper, putting her other hand over her mouth as well for good measure. “I wasn’t expecting that."

Bill leans forward again, talking in a low voice. "You know how seriously I take the confidentiality of my job, but you and I have taken a vow, and we're partners," he says gravely. "I need you to know what I have on the horizon, and I need your support."

"You have it," Jo says without a moment's hesitation. "The kids and I are so proud of you, and you always have my support." Jo pauses here to sip her wine, and her eyes dance and shine with pride.

"Thank you, sweetheart. That means the world to me. You know the past year has been really hard, and a lot has happened at work. So getting chosen for this is a real vote of confidence. It wasn't something I even thought was possible, given the circumstances."

Jo sips her wine again. "They must be impressed with your commitment to therapy," she says carefully, trying to decide whether dipping a toe into this area of Bill's life and their marriage is the wisest choice over a rare dinner out. "Maybe the doctor gave a good report to NASA."

Bill sets his glass down on the table with aclink. "I asked her what she was allowed to tell them, and she said she can give a general impression, but not the private details of my life or my thoughts. Whether or not she's given them her professional opinion yet is something I don't know."

Jo is itching to dive deeper. She so badly wants Bill to open up to her about his visits with Dr. Sheinbaum; if not the intimate details of their discussions, then at least some reassurance that what he's discovering isn't that he no longer loves her, or their life. She wakes up at night sometimes feeling afraid, and the only thing she can attribute it to is the notion that some stranger is hearing things about her marriage that Bill is afraid to say to her.

"Do you think..." Jo starts. She fiddles with the stem of her wine glass, turning it around and around on the table as she pretends to be occupied by the swirling liquid in the glass. "Is it possible that the things you're discussing with Dr. Sheinbaum will have any real, lasting impact on us, Bill?"

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