Page 6 of Opening It Up

---

So apparently it hadn’t been a nightmare.

He really did want an open marriage.

Otherwise, he acted normally when he came home, kissed me on the forehead again, then took off his tie and played with the boys outside until it was time to cook dinner.

I could barely eat, though.

My dad Julius bounced upstairs to help Harley out. He was a diminutive 64-year-old man with a carefully waxed moustache and a buoyant personality. He trimmed his own hats and was a bit of a dandy, and a mess, and I loved him.

“What’s on the menu for today, Doctor?” he asked gleefully.

Ever since moving in with us, he’d been more than enthusiastic to help out around the home, and he and Harley’s free, easy banter made my heart tighten with dread and confusion.

This was my life and I loved it.

And Harley wanted to blow it all up?

The words kept running through my head.

Bored

Stale

Trapped

Lackluster

It sounded like Harley was done with this marriage. Like he was only hanging around for the kids.

It sounded like an open marriage was the only option to keep him. And that was almost unfathomable to me.

I was unpinning my thick blonde hair from its bun when he came into our bedroom.

“How was your day with the boys?”

I wanted to scream.

“You said you wanted to talk to me about something?” I gritted out.

“Yes.”

Harley hesitated, his eyes on me.

Get it over with

“Lily-Mae, we have a good marriage, don’t we?”

Oh no

“Of course,” I said, because it was less embarrassing than saying of course I was head-over-heels, madly, deeply, wildly in love with my brilliant, charismatic, outgoing husband.

“I’ve been thinking of ways we could take our marriage to the next level. Something unexpected, unconventional, something to get us out of the rut we’re in.”

We’re in a rut?I wanted to scream, but my throat felt dry and scratchy.

“It’s something that will take maturity and open communication between us, of course, but I know we have that kind of relationship, Lily-Mae.”

Did we?

---