Page 35 of Green
“I’ll have another cup of coffee first.”
“No way. I’ll drive you.”
“No.”
“Why not? Where’s he live?”
“Not that far.”
“Echo Park?
“Silver Lake.”
“I’m driving you.”
“No.”
His palms were flat against the countertop. He watched me finish my coffee for a minute and ran his hands along the smooth marble edge. I struggled to make my brain stop imagining those hands on my bare skin instead.
“Okay,” he finally continued. “But there’s something I want to talk to you about first.” He turned to face me, and calmly stated: “We haven’t discussed this in a while. Since before we got married, I guess. But I think that we should just maintain the status quo here, once I’ve got my citizenship.”
I clutched my coffee mug, tapping my fingers against it. “What do you mean by status quo?”
“I mean you don’t need to move out. We don’t need to file for divorce.” From the way he said it, I could tell that he was expecting me to jump up and down and hug him. If I weren’t so hungover. But I was. And I didn’t.
“Why?”
“I don’t want you to move out.”
“Why not?”
“Because I like living with you. You’re the one who made this house a home. You can keep saving money, paying down your student loan.”
“And you can keep protecting me from all the sub-par guys out there who try to get to know me.”
“It’s not my fault they’re so unworthy of you.”
“Why do we have to stay married for me to live here?”
“We can keep the joint accounts. We can keep filing joint tax returns. There are way more benefits to being married, you know that.”
“Fake married.”
“Legally married.”
I stared at him, my mind racing, my heart racing even faster. I could feel heat rising to my cheeks. Of all the emotions that were coming up for me in this moment, I chose to go with my new best friends—irrational anger and unjustified resentment. “I’m not going to ask you for half of your money, Theo.” As soon as I said it, I regretted it. The look on his face was killing me. His whole body was deflating.
“Jesus. I don’t care about that.”
“Well neither do I.”
We didn’t do a prenup when we got married. Neither of us had all that much money then. Well, I certainly didn’t, and he wasn’t loaded at that point. I’m sure that once he hired a business manager that guy tried to pressure him into doing a postnuptial agreement, but Theo never brought it up. Still, I didn’t want his money. And I didn’t want him to stay married to me just so either of us could benefit financially.
“You honestly think that’s why I’d want to stay married to you? The money?”
“I don’t know…No. But it had to be said.”
He blinked and considered this, then nodded once. “I suppose.” He is nothing if not rational, which is why we had never had an actual two-way fight. It was a little frustrating.
