Page 121 of My Wife
“Compared to being around a bunch of sweaty athletes, I should hope so.”
“No, it’s you. I used to think this house smelled like home …” He doesn’t finish the sentence and I can’t help but wonder if he means I smell like home.
“Your family has a special place here.” I hesitate, then add, “I think I’m falling for them.”
He tips us back on the bed and then adjusts so he’s spooning me.
“I think it’s love,” I add, hoping to get a laugh when I realize that might also sound like I mean that I’ve fallen for him. That I’m in love with him.
He doesn’t reply.
Then I jolt, rolling over so I’m facing him. “Will they be upset that we’re in here together? Not that anything funny is going on.” He didn’t even acknowledge that I said I’d fallen in love with his family. “It would not fly with Grandma Dolly.”
He looks at me blankly. Thoughtfully? I can’t tell unless he’s one of those people who sleep with their eyes open. I had a foster brother once who did and it freaked me out until I realized I could tell if he was just staring or sleeping by the sound of his breath.
Liam’s is steady, but not the deep kind that comes before a snore.
Unlike him, I use my words, I say, “They think I’m KJ’s mom.”
“You may as well be.”
“Explain.”
He fiddles with a piece of my hair.
Swizzles. Incoming. My cheeks get warm and my entire body goes limp. Yeah. I could definitely be falling for him. Good thing I’m lying down. But I have to remind myself that this isn’t real. Nor are my feelings for him. Probably. Maybe a little. Like cake crumb-sized.
“Are you going to correct them or are we going tolieto your family?” I hiss.
He yawns and lifts then lowers his massive shoulder, blocking my view of the clock.
“I cannot live with lying to these people. They’re too good. Too nice. I am not a liar, Liam Ellis.”
“But what if it were the truth?” He rolls onto his back and takes my hand again.
The swizzles double.
I huff and am about to launch into all the reasons that’s not the case when I realize he promptly fell asleep. I yawn, feeling drowsy myself, then whisper, “They’re too good for me.”
32
JESS
In the morning,I wake up alone. Liam must’ve snuck back down to the TV room, yet his comments remain with me in his bedroom and transform into questions I cannot answer.
I may as well be KJ’s mom?
What if it were the truth?
Yeah, there must be something in the air or water here or both, making him delusional—me too for entertaining, even for a minute, that these people would accept me.
I scoot to the bathroom to get ready. From downstairs comes a lot of activity along with the aroma of coffee. Ingrid’s voice filters to me about the promise of blueberry pancakes and seeing KJ again.
He and Grandma Dolly stayed with Grannie Bell and Aunt Goldie on Peppertree Lane, which is where we’re going for breakfast.
Even though I just woke up and that sounds wonderful, it’s like I already need a moment to catch my breath.
While I brush my teeth, someone knocks on the door. This place is huge, and there are more bathrooms, but maybe it’s a kid with an emergency. In the homes where I stayed as a child, it was inevitable that someone would interrupt to use the toilet.
