I start eating right away, taking a couple breadsticks and really get into it.
Brix says, “So, I’m picking them up from the airport tomorrow around ten.”
“What about food?”
“I’m having everything catered.”
“So, they’re not expecting me to cook?”
“No. People like us pay people to cook.”
“Since when? I cooked last year, and the year before that.”
“You didn’t cook last year. We went to your parents’ house last year, remember?”
“Well, the year before that, I cooked.”
“It really doesn’t matter, Cyn. Having the food catered this year is the best thing we can do in this scenario. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“If you say so. I can hear your mom now talking about how I should’ve cooked heronly sona homemade meal.”
“You won’t have to worry about that.”
“And she bet’ not be up in here critiquing everything like she’s the host ofLove It or List It.”
“You don’t have to worry about that, either.”
Yeah, right. Since I moved out, the house feels dark. There are no flowers, candles, no color – this man couldn’t make a house a home if the blueprint was laid out for him, but he can cut people open and stitch them back up.
I dip a breadstick into cheese and sauce, take a bite and enjoy the flavors for a moment, knowing good and well these thighs don’t need no more carbs, especially savored ones, then say, “Let’s get right down to business. What exactly do you need from me?”
“I need you to be my wife.”
“Iamyour wife.”
“Yes—” he says, then chews. “In name only. You don’t feel anything for me anymore.”
“How do you know what I feel?”
“Okay, well, let me ask—do you feel anything for me?”
My eyes narrow. The truth he seeks is hidden behind a frown and anger-induced sarcasm.
“Exactly,” he continues as if he were right to begin with. “I know it’ll be difficult for you to pretend, but please act like you love me. My mother will be able to tell right away if something’s amiss.”
My mother will be able to tell right away if something’s amiss,I repeat mockingly in my mind. Them plastic wigs she wears area miss. Her son is a millionaire, and she’s out here looking like the corner beauty supply store failed her. You know what? Let me stop. I like my mother-in-law. I don’t like the authority she wields over my husband. She has more clout than I do, and I said vows with the man.
I hold his gaze, wondering what’s truly going on behind those dark brown eyes of his. Brix has never faltered in the looks department – and his eyes – they are so telling. He still loves me. I can see it every time he beams deep into my soul. Goosebumps flutter across my skin when I think about how we used to be. Now we feel like strangers in this house we had made a home, but now it’s back to ahouseagain. We’re sitting at opposite ends of a six-chair dinette with the world between us, prompting us to keep the distance we established all this year.
“Cyn, did you hear me?”
“Yeah. I got it. I’ll put on my best performance like Viola Davis did inFences,with snot bubbles and all. You know she won an Oscar for that. Boy, she let Troy have it with his cheating fool behind. What you ain’t gon do is cheat on me, then turn around and bring a baby home for me to take care of. I wish I would!”
“Cyn?”
“Huh?”
“Focus.”
