Page 41 of The Housekeeper

“I was?”

“Something about a bunch of women. Alison…Bonnie…somebody else.”

“Oh,” I said, my surroundings coming into clear focus as I came fully awake. “Oh, no. Sorry. It’s just this thing I do when I can’t sleep,” I started to explain.

“You were definitely asleep,” he interrupted, turning onto his side, away from me. His posture told me that he was no longer listening.

“Harrison?”

“What?”

“How long are you going to stay mad at me?” I’d canceled all my appointments to spend the weekend with him and the kids, and he’d spent all that time holed up with his computer. Not only that, but he was still giving me the silent treatment. I was starting to wonder if a knock-down, drag-out fight might be a preferable alternative.

Was that the reason for my disturbing dream?

And had I been dreaming…or remembering?

Had my father actually struck my mother?

“I’m not mad,” Harrison said, flipping onto his back.

My heart felt a surge of hope. “No?”

“Just disappointed,” he said.

The surge instantly died.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” he added. “It’s like this every summer.”

“What is?”

“You.”

“Me?” I propped myself up on my elbow, stared through the darkness at his face, as if watching his lips move would help clarify what he was saying.

“I don’t know what it is. Whether you feel left out or threatened…”

“Threatened? By what? What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about how every summer, when it comes time to teach my course, you get…”

“I get what?”

“You change.”

“I change…how? I don’t understand.”

“I know you don’t,” he said. “That’s part of the problem.”

“What is it that you think I do differently?” I pressed, genuinely curious.

“It’s not so much what you do…”

“Then what?”

“You’re just…different. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. It’s like we’re suddenly in competition. You get extra busy at work, you’re never around. When youarehere, you’re distracted…”

“Summer’s my busiest time. You know that.”

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