Page 29 of Opening It Up
“My divorce has been finalized,” he said, twirling his monocle. “I shall devote myself solely to doing good deeds, and I will no longer be a ladies’ man. In fact, I’m in such a celebratory mood, why don’t I take the boys tonight? I’ll watch them all evening. I’ll even make dessert. You two go out and enjoy yourselves!”
My heart leaped at the idea of a whole evening with Lily-Mae. Just the two of us.
“I can’t see you permanently giving up the ladies,” my wife said to her father. “Don’t throw out your wedding tuxedos just yet.”
Julius scoffed. “My career as a ladies’ man is over, I tell you! Definitely over! For sure! For the next several weeks, at least. Now hold on, I know exactly the recipe to make. Let me get the family cookbook,” he added, leaping into the bedroom.
Oh my god, that family cookbook was a monstrosity.
“Should we get out some ice cream?” I laughed. “Because knowing your dad it could be anything as random as brussels sprouts covered in cinnamon.”
“Ah, the kids will enjoy it, no matter what,” Lily-Mae laughed. “Remember when he made that meat Jell-O and they somehow ate every bit of it?”
And for a second things were back to how they used to be, our eyes meeting with shared joy and understanding each other perfectly.
“Teagan! Rowan! Come here! Grandpa’s making dessert!”
“YES!” they both chorused, and there was a clatter as they tromped in from the LEGO room.
“Where would you like to go tonight?” I asked eagerly as the boys and Julius started rummaging around in the fridge.
Taking my wife’s hand, I drew her into the dining room. “Want to have a quickie before we go anywhere?” I whispered in her ear. “You’re looking amazing.”
“Oh, sorry,” Lily-Mae said. “I can’t go out with you tonight. I have a date.”
“A date?” I asked. “But you just had a date at lunch yesterday! And the day before!”
“Yes,” she said, “it’s all on the calendar.”
She went and pointed out where it saidBrayden.
Brayden? Where did I know that name from?
“Who is Brayden?” I asked.
“I don’t know. He does marketing. Looks like a professional athlete.”
I felt sweat break out on my neck. Was it that guy I had seen kissing her fingers the other day? Fuck.
“Remember, you said we were supposed to put all our dates on the calendar?
I looked grimly over. Practically every single one of my wife’s nights was already spoken for, not to mention all the lunch dates etched on there with her neat and tidy handwriting.
Unfortunately, I had been avoiding looking at the calendar lately.
“I haven’t been updating it,” I said lamely.
But the issue wasn’t me updating it. Finding someone I actually wanted to go on a date with was going very badly. Nobody looked appealing. And with how much I worried about what my wife was doing, I barely had any time to find a date myself.
The problem here was my wife’s schedule always seemed to be packed.
I felt jealous that I didn’t even know where she was going, what she was doing.
“You’re not being transparent with me,” I said pettishly. “I don’t even know who this Brayden is. An athlete? There’s no athletes in the office building.”
“Brayden, age 24. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. 6’2. 220 pounds. Product Marketing Manager. Do you want me to tell you his penis size too?”
And I knew then that something was very fucked up between my wife and I but I didn’t know how to fix it.
