Page 11 of A Room By the Sea

“Hey, I bought some of that killer local caramel corn,” Audrey said, rummaging in her bag. “You want some?” In her experience, snacks tended to make things feel easier, especially if they were sweet snacks. “I know it’s kind of early in the day for a lot of sugar, but we can treat this like a special occasion, I think.” She pulled out the container of caramel corn and unscrewed the red lid.

Penelope laughed and made a good-natured grimace. “Talking about my problems is a special occasion? I guess so. Sure, I’ll take some caramel corn. You know I love caramel.”

“I did remember that.” Audrey grinned triumphantly. Her smile faded a moment later when she saw how Penelope’s hands were shaking a little bit as she picked a few pieces of caramel corn out of the jar.

Penelope chewed the popcorn and let out a satisfied exhale. “Mm, that just hits the spot.” She chuckled. “Thanks so much. I’ll have to remember to buy this the next time I go to the store.”

“Take this one,” Audrey said. “I bought plenty of other goodies for us.”

“Aw! Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Audrey nodded gravely. “On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“That you tell me what’s bothering you.”

Penelope threw back her head, laughing, and then she groaned. “Okay, okay, you win. I just… it’s not that I don’t want to tell you, it’s that I hate thinking about it. Avoiding talking about it is like avoiding thinking about it, you know?”

Audrey nodded. “I understand. But sometimes talking about things helps. Thinking about them too much usually doesn’t help.”

“Don’t I know it.” Penelope shook her head. “I feel like I’ve tied myself up in knots thinking about this. Like I’ve turned myself around and around in circles so many times I’ve just turned into a mess.”

Audrey cleared her throat gently. “And what is this thing that you’ve been unable to stop thinking about? Please? I’m weak with suspense here.”

Penelope laughed at Audrey’s joke. “Sorry.” She took a deep breath. “Okay. It’s—well, I know I told you things in my marriage weren’t great, but they’ve really gotten… extra not great.”

Audrey watched her friend’s face with concern. She wondered what exactly had been going wrong in Penelope’s marriage. Relationships were so complicated, there could be any number of things that were affecting Penelope’s marriage.

“My husband isn’t a bad guy, it’s not that, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Penelope popped another caramel corn kernel into her mouth and chewed it thoughtfully. “Well, he’s not a wonderful guy either. But he’s not mean to me. He just… it’s like he doesn’t care anymore. He hardly notices me or talks to me. He never seems to want to spend time with me. I feel like an accessory in his life, and a totally disposable one at that.”

“Oh, honey.” Audrey wrapped her arms around her friend. She’d felt similarly before her husband Clark ran off with someone else. He’d seemed to lose interest in their relationship, and she knew that kind of distance could be painful even without infidelity. “I’m sorry. Have you talked with him about it?”

Penelope shook her head. “I tried to way back in the day, but lately I’ve completely given up on him. When I told Harper about all this, she said, ‘Men are weasels and they should never be expected to better themselves.’”

Audrey’s jaw dropped. She felt taken aback by two things—first, that sweet Harper had said something so absolutely cynical and that Penelope had confided in Harper but not in her. “She actually said that?”

“Verbatim. I mean I was crying into a box of tissues at the time. I think sometimes women say things they don’t really mean when their friends are crying into a box of tissues, but she said it with a lot of emphasis. I think she really does think that.”

“Wow.” Audrey shook her head. “I know Harper’s heart got broken in the past, but that’s still—I mean, why does she think that about all men? I don’t know where that ultra-cynical view is coming from.”

Penelope shrugged. “I guess you’d have to ask her that. Although that may be the kind of question even she doesn’t have the answer to.”

Audrey nodded. “My other question is,” she said more slowly, “how come you didn’t come to me for advice? I mean, I used to be married. It’s something we could have talked about—it’s not like I don’t know what it’s like to be mistreated by a husband.”

Penelope sighed, looking deflated. “I should have, I’m sorry. I thought about it. And honestly, I didn’t really mean to tell Harper either, but she caught me crying one time and it all just kind of spilled out. And I didn’t want to distract you while you’re busy starting your business. I know you already have a lot on your mind.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m too busy to be there for you.” Audrey squeezed Penelope’s hand. “I know my track record with marriage isn’t the best—so I’m no expert in making things work out even when they’re tough, but I believe it’s possible. My husband cheated and lied, so we got divorced, but if things hadn’t gotten that bad I would have wanted to make them work between us. And even if I can’t give advice, I want to be here for you for anything you need. Do you want to try to make things work with Robert?”

Penelope grew misty-eyed. “I want to, but I don’t think it’s possible. It takes two to tango, obviously. I’ve tried to carve out quality time for us both, but he seems more disinterested than ever.”

Audrey bit her lip, her heart going out to her friend. “How has he been acting disinterested?”

“The other night when we were all having dinner together at Crossroads, I’d texted Robert to let me know when he was heading home, because I had a surprise for him. In the past, when we’d first gotten married, he would have loved something like that and gotten all excited. I kept checking my phone during dinner, wanting to see if he would reply to me. I could see that he’d read the message, but there was no response. It got to the point where I wanted to keep checking to see if he was typing, and I could see those little ellipses moving, you know? But he never started typing that I could see. I finally decided to text him again, and I did. He read it right away and then didn’t respond.” Penelope shook her head. “I finally decided to just go home and see if he was there, but he was still at the office when I got home.”

Audrey inhaled sympathetically. “I’m sorry. But at least it was work that was keeping him distracted—and I know he cares a lot about doing well at his job. Maybe it’s not so much that he isn’t interested in you, maybe it’s more that he’s so absorbed in his work he can’t think about anything else.”

Penelope wrinkled her nose. “He’s absorbed in his work all right, but a man can care about more than one thing at once. I mean, how hard would it have been for him to text me back? It would have taken two seconds. I literally sent a text that said, ‘Let me know if you saw this.’ And he read it and then didn’t respond.”