Page 66 of Indulgence
“Yeah, sure.”
Natalie looked upset with my apathy in that moment. “Look, I don’t like this any more than you do. I’m sorry. I thought I could be like you and give you everything you wanted, but I’m not. I wasn’t strong enough. But I won’t lose you because of it. I’ve been selfish. I’ve been stubborn. I’ve made mistakes. I’m not perfect. But Iamtrying here, Matt. I’m lost too.”
“So, come home.” I tried not to grit my teeth as I spoke.
She sighed as if coming home was the biggest inconvenience of her life. “I know I need to come home, but I need to get my head straightened out first. Before I can concentrate just on that, I need to get through this opening. I just need to tackle one stressor at a time.”
I understood what she meant, but the words still seemed like a slap in the face.Tackle one stressor at a time.Our marriage and home had become a stressor for my wife. Wonderful.
Just when I thought we were taking a step forward, it felt like with those words, we took three steps backward.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Matteo
The doorbell rang, and Icalled out, “It’s open.”
Adam was joining me for wings, beer, and baseball tonight.
It was a stark contrast to my typical Saturday night, which was running around with the kids or going to Immersion with Natalie or even dinner with her. Instead it was ordering wings, stopping at the liquor store, and watching the baseball game.
If we didn’t get our shit together, this could be all my future Saturdays starting next month. I didn’t get to have dinner with Natalie Friday or have the opportunity to talk in the car on the trip up to see the kids on Saturday. There was some kind of crisis in Portland.
The gallery failed inspection for some kind of electrical issues. Insults were hurled, egos were bruised, and crew were fired all for the inspector to fail the building rather than giving a conditional approval and coming back to check. Without an approval from the city’s board of planning, Metro couldn’t open on Tuesday.
Natalie had to find a company to come in and fix the issue immediately while trying to sooth the inspector and beg him to come back the next day. She was stressed to the max and couldn’t leave the place unattended.
Instead, she FaceTimed with the kids while I was up with them. It wasn’t the same as her being there in person, but I could tell she needed to see them even if just through a camera.
Adam’s larger-than-life presence filled the room as well as the scent of buffalo wings. “Man, you look like crap.”
I nodded my agreement. “I feel pretty stellar, too.”
He passed through the kitchen and then sat next to me on the couch. The wings were deposited in the middle of the coffee table, the tops of two beers were popped, and the first batter struck out.
“Natalie and I spoke on Wednesday.”
This was news to me. Natalie didn’t mention Adam during our chat. “Yeah?” I had a bunch of questions. “Were you with her when she saw the bedroom?”
He licked buffalo sauce off the tips of his fingers. “She thought something was broken and came in panicked. I tried to talk her out of it, but you know Natalie.”
Yes, I did. “Thanks for trying.”
He tipped his beer back and settled into the corner of the couch. “She looked surprised in a good way.”
I tried to change as much of the room as I could for that specific purpose. The further away it was from its previous setup, the better. “She said she really liked it.”
He took a drink of his beer and then hung his arm over the side. He was intently focused on me. “When are you going to bring your girl home?”
Not for a few days, at least. “She’s in Portland until Wednesday.”
“What’s she doing in Portland?” he asked, bringing a wing to his mouth.
“The gallery is opening a new location there.”
He took another swig of beer, washing down his chicken. “When?”
“Tuesday.”
