Page 133 of Stage Dive: Short Stories & Novellas
As much as I wanted to reach out and touch him, it didn’t feel safe.Not that I thought he’d physically hurt me.But there was a wall between us now.One I didn’t know how to begin to take down.
“Ev,” he said, voice tortured.“Please don’t cry.”
“I need you to fix it, David.Because you’re mine and I love you and you’re the only one who can fix it, all right?”
After a moment, he nodded.“All right.”
“Good.Okay.I’m gonna go check on our son.”And I got the hell out of there.
When I came back out, he was gone.Again.
Lizzy arrived an hour later holding a cake.“Am I the first to arrive?”
“Huh?”I kept on burping the baby on my shoulder.“What’s going on?”
“You didn’t think we’d actually respect your privacy and leave you alone during this difficult time, did you?”She bustled on into the kitchen.“You know us better than that.”
“Jimmy told Lena,” I said, making the connection.
“He sure did.And then she told all of us.”
My shoulders sagged.“I’m not sure I’m very good company right now.”
She held out her hands.“Give me the baby.”
I handed him over.
“Hey there, little one,” said Lizzy.“Aren’t you just the cutest?”
I followed behind her as she strode on out to the living room and made herself at home.With my small child in tow.She stood over by the windows, rocking back and forth.And he gurgled happily.What a traitor.He’d screamed at me for the past half an hour for reasons known only to himself.Maybe in reaction to my bad mood.Parenthood was no joke.
“Did I ever tell you about the time I kicked Ben out of the house?”she asked, still making kissy faces at my son.
I settled into the corner of the sofa with an emotional support cushion in my lap.“No.”
“Oh, yeah.It was about…a year ago.Give or take.”
My eyebrows shot up.
She laughed quietly.“Did you think you were the only one experiencing the occasional relationship hiccup?”
“But you’re basically a qualified therapist.”
“Nearly,” she agreed.“And I still kick that man out on his ass when he is being an ass.”
I just blinked.
“It’s one of the reasons I made sure our place had a pool house, actually.”She smiled wistfully.“So Ben wouldn’t have far to go.”
“What did he do?”I asked.“Or shouldn’t I ask?”
She shrugged.“He gets fixated on the music and needs a reminder about priorities occasionally.Work is great.But family and a healthy relationship is important.So yeah… I tend to kick him out about once a year just to make sure everything’s going smoothly.Give us a chance to air grievances and clear up misunderstandings.We whisper yell at each other so Gibby doesn’t hear.Then Ben spends a night in the pool house.Or about half a night.He usually creeps in around two or three in the morning to grovel and have make-up sex.”
My eyebrows felt about halfway up my forehead.“Wow.”
“Everyone’s relationship works differently.”
There came another knock at the door, and I rushed to open it.Anne and Lena stood there loaded down with takeout and bottles of wine.
