Page 62 of The Husband Hour
“Sure. Just make sure to put the plastic wrap back on tight. We want to keep them fresh.”
“We baked,” Ethan told Howard with a grin.
Howard shot Beth a look. “Sounds good, buddy,” he said.
When Ethan was out of the room, Howard said, “You’ve got him baking?”
“It was a nice activity for us to do together.”
“I mean, it’s bad enough the kid doesn’t have a father…”
“Oh, Howard, don’t be ridiculous. Why don’t you do something with him instead of criticizing me?”
“I will,” Howard said, turning back to his suitcase. “I’ll take him to the beach. Just as soon as I unpack and make a few phone calls.”
“Great,” she said, feeling oddly like she’d lost the round. With a deep exhale, she said, “Howard, let’s just slow this thing down. Give some time here a chance.”
He shook his head wistfully, as if she were missing something obvious.
“Time won’t help, Beth. I feel stuck. And I’m trying to find my way out of it. I can’t spend one more goddamn day mired in negativity. Problems with the girls, problems with the business. It’s been going on so long, it’s a habit. Life doesn’t have to be like this.”
“Of course it does! That’s why it’s called life.”
“No, that’s our life. Yours and mine together. You know, Lauren’s husband died four years ago—but yours didn’t.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Howard looked around the room like a trapped animal. “Beth, we need to either reset, or separate. But I’m not spending one more year like I’ve spent the past few.”
She knew she should have felt scared or upset that her husband was talking about leaving, but all she felt was a wave of anger. Then a thought exploded, a thought that maybe had been glimmering, a tiny spark, for weeks now.
“Did you lose our house on purpose?”
“Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know. To give yourself an excuse to leave.”
Howard put down the sports jacket he was holding and moved closer to Beth. He took one of her hands and squeezed it.
“I don’t want an excuse to leave. I want an excuse to stay.”
“Your children need you here this summer. Your grandson—”
“Let me rephrase that: I want an excuse to stay in this marriage.”
Beth pulled her hand away. She felt like she’d been slapped. What was he referring to? Their sex life? Okay, things had dwindled the past year or so. But they weren’t teenagers anymore. And the money problems didn’t help. Nor did their tension over the girls. Howard had never agreed with Beth about letting Lauren isolate herself at the shore, and he had also taken Stephanie’s wayward personal life very hard. But none of this was Beth’s fault!
“Well, maybe I don’t have one for you.”
Howard nodded. “Then I’m going back to Florida next week to stay with Bill and Lorraine.”
Was this how it ended? Thirty years, dismissed with a few words and a half-packed suitcase?
“That’s fine with me, Howard.”
But it wasn’t fine. None of this was fine. Lauren widowed; Stephanie a single mother. Her own marriage disintegrating at middle age. And yet she had no idea how to fix any of it.
The sign, aqua blue with white lettering, read YOU CAN SHAKE THE SAND FROM YOUR SHOES BUT IT NEVER LEAVES YOUR HEART. Matt staged it against a white wall, propped on a table that he kept under the sightline of the camera lens. Then he took another shot of the sign hanging on the wall.
