Page 92 of Between Now and Forever
What gives?The only thing that I can come up with is the tension at Sunday dinner.Is it always like that and I just didn’t realize it?
Another tear falls.
“My marriage is falling apart, you guys,” she says, the words wobbling. “And I don’t know how to fix it.”
“Oh, honey,” Scottie says, kneeling next to her.
I stand and pull her head into my shoulder. The contact makes her heave a sob. The sound triggers tears for me too.
“What kind of a situation are we dealing with here?” Della asks. “I know a lot of people who can do a lot of things privately, if you catch my drift.”
Scottie and I make eye contact and fight a grin.
“No, nothing like that,” Cricket says, raising her head from my shoulder. She wipes her face with the back of her hand. Mascara streaks her skin. “Oh, damn it. I’m a mess.”
Scottie grabs a tissue and hands it to her.
We take our seats as Cricket straightens herself up.
“Peter is spending lots of time in the office,” she says, sniffling. “When he’s not, he’s golfing or barely being civil to me.”
“Is he stressed?” Scottie asks. “Is everything going okay at work?”
“I don’t know because we never get that far into a conversation without him being rude and me walking away.”
Della sighs. “Fine. I’ll ask it. Do you think he’s fucking someone else?”
“Della,”I say, my mouth hanging open.
“Well, we haven’t been intimate in ... a while,” Cricket says, fighting tears again. “I don’t think he’d have an affair, but I think that’s what most people believe when their spouse starts sleeping with their assistant.”
I take a drink of my lemonade and listen to Cricket and our friends banter back and forth. It’s easy to forget the trials of marriage when things are going fine or you’re out of one ... and your ex-husband is dead.
All the arguments that Chris and I had come back to me. His long hours at the office. My irritation at being touched after having been handled by a toddler all day. My gas tank being empty when we took my van somewhere as a family.
Despite all that—despite our conflicts and the nights we stayed up late arguing and the long days struggling to make it, praying for him to come home—it was worth it. Every bit of it was worth the energy. Even though it ended in divorce, I’m glad I fought for it every time until it was clear we weren’t meant to be.
“What do you want to do?” I ask, cutting back into the conversation.
“I don’t want a divorce, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Cricket says.
Della smiles. “Then this is where I come in.”
“Oh, God,” Cricket says under her breath.
“You can’t pay for this level of experience,” Della says, undeterred. “Do you want my help or not?”
“Be easy with her,” I say, laughing.
“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to hear you out,” Cricket says. “I am on the verge of desperation.”
“I’m going to ignore that.” Della lifts a brow. “Let me break this down into the simplest form. The way I see it, and I’m basically anexpert in this arena—Peter needs to have sex to have a connection. You, on the other hand, need to have a connection to have sex.”
Wow. That makes sense.
“I feel like I should take notes,” Scottie teases.
Cricket watches Della with rapt attention. “Go on.”
