Page 68 of Nothing But It All
“You’ve never made me dinner,” she says. “Ever.”
“Not true. I made you a roasted chicken once. Remember?”
She bursts out laughing. “That’s a stretch. You tried to roast a chicken and burned that thing to a crisp. The fire department was almost called.”
“Not my fault. Someone came in the kitchen looking gorgeous, and I forgot about the chicken.”
“Blame it on me.”
“I took the blame for our marriage dysfunction. The least you can do is take the blame for the burned chicken,” I say.
She leans back against the pillows, feathering a finger against her bottom lip.
“Is that a sign?” I ask.
“What?”
“You’re drawing attention to your mouth.”
She drops her hand and laughs. “I was just thinking.”
“What about?”
Her face sobers. “What happens when we go home?”
“What do you mean?”
“You say you want to change things ...”
“Iwillchange things.”
“But the daily pressures aren’t here. There aren’t work schedules and kid schedules and life stress. We’re going to be right back into our normal lives, and ...”
“And you’re afraid to take a step backward from the progress you think you’ve made toward leaving me?” I ask.
She nods again, more cautiously this time.Yes, I’ve been listening.
Billie’s pep talk shouts through my head. I hear it in her voice, cheering me on.You’re a car guy, Jack, so I’ll put it in your terms. Service that woman.
“Well, I was thinking we need a maintenance plan,” I say, hiding a grin.
“Like for a car?”
“Yeah, kind of.”
She looks thoroughly confused. “Um ...”
“We can create a checklist of things we need to check regularly. Like, cooking dinner together. And a date night every week.”
Her eyes light up.
“Our life has been a lot about me,” I say. “And you just said that your focus had become a lot about you. But this part of our life—the kids are going to be leaving for college. It’s just going to be us at home. So, let’s lean in to that. Let’s make it unapologetically aboutus.”
“Do you mean that?”
I move toward her, my body humming with relief.
Her cheeks are flushed as I reach her. She stands, testing her weight on her ankle before committing to it.
