Page 20 of Between the Shady Groves
And then, like that wasn’t bad enough, she pulled the shade down so he couldn’t even look in the glass.
There were still two big windows on either side of the door, but he didn’t try to look in those either. He’d gotten her message, loud and clear.
He started walking up the street, his mind whirling, his heart heavy and hard, chewing absently on his bread.
He thought maybe she really had intended to leave him. She had intended to walk out. And why? What had he done? Was there anything he could do to fix it?
She kept mentioning his business, and time, like that was an issue, but he really didn’t know.
He got to the end of the street, finishing his bread when he saw the sign for a healing garden.
He’d never heard of such a thing, but he saw a bench inside and figured he could sit down for a while. Although, he was more likely to pace. Still, he opened the gate and went in, intending to sit at the first bench, but the garden was so peaceful, so beautiful, so compelling, that he kept walking. He went by a waterfall-type area where the sound of the soothing water almost made him stop at that bench, but somehow he continued on until he got to a shady grove of trees, on either side of the path, that shaded the path and felt so peaceful and welcoming that he walked to the bench and sat down, his forearms on his knees, holding his head in his hands.
What had he done? And what was he going to do to make it right? Was there anything he could do to make it right?
Eleven
Lauren hadn’t been joking about having a headache. She put a hand to her temple and tried to think about whether or not there were any pain relievers in her purse.
Finally deciding she might as well look, she almost sighed with relief when she found a bottle of something that would work, shook two into her palm, and grabbed a glass of water to swallow them down with.
It was going to take a few minutes before the pain went away, and so she turned, walked through the back of the building, and went out and sat down on the steps.
A dog that she’d seen earlier, scrappy brown with white paws and a white collar, slunk out through the peach trees as she came out.
She should have come out slower. She’d seen it a couple of times before and knew it hung around. She’d left a couple of scraps out the night before, not that she had a whole lot to eat herself, but they’d been gone in the morning.
Still, she didn’t want to think about the dog right now. She was just so mad at her husband. How could he be so smart and yet so dumb at the same time? Acting like he didn’t know why she’d left. Like he wanted to make things right, but he wanted her to go home and for everything to just stay the same. He didn’t want to have to actually putany effort into their relationship. He wanted that to just go smoothly so he could put all of his effort into his stupid business. And that crock about it being for both of them. And then he’d given her a guilt trip about how he’d paid for a nurse so she could leave her mom and go see the babies.
She rolled her eyes, which made her head hurt worse, so she leaned back over, putting her hands around her stomach and rocking forward.
He was infuriating. He absolutely refused to see what was right in front of his face and kept asking dumb questions. Plus, all of a sudden he wanted to talk? That was suspicious. He hadn’t wanted to talk for the last ten years, just content to have her there, cleaning his house, cooking his meals, occasionally helping him in the business, whatever he needed, she was there. And yet, he never lifted a finger to do anything for her.
Okay. She was being unfair, and she was ranting. He had done things for her. Just not the things she really needed.
“There you are. The door was locked, and I thought that maybe you’d gone somewhere, but your car’s sitting out front, so I came around back to see if you were here.”
“Sorry, Skyler.” She didn’t explain about her headache or her husband or how infuriated she’d been with him. That was way too long a story. And she’d just met Skyler the day before when Skyler had stopped in and invited her to Bible study.
“Is it okay if I sit down?” She paused. “If you want to be left alone, that’s fine too.”
“No. You can sit down. I’m just so…angry.”
“Oh. You don’t look angry. When I get angry, my face gets all red, and people know that they better steer far clear of me. Of course, it doesn’t happen often, but when it does, unfortunately, it’s quite a spectacle.”
Skyler’s cheerful words made Lauren laugh. “I can just imagine. Actually, I can’t. You’re so cheerful. I would guess you would never get angry.”
“Sometimes my husband is infuriating.”
“Funny you should mention it. That’s what I’m angry about. Myhusband, who has ignored me for literally a decade, showed up today and wanted to talk. Really? Talk. Now?”
“So I take it that…he followed you here?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t unload on you. You don’t need all my garbage.”
“Actually, my life has been pretty smooth sailing lately. If you’d like to give me your garbage, I think I have room for it right now.”
She chuckled a little at the way Skyler said it.
