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“I guess that’s a word for it,” I said slowly. “He just…um, he just wanted things done his way. Everything had to be clean all the time, and he wanted me to consult with him before doing something like making a meal plan for the week.”
Al nodded. “And what happened last night?”
I blushed. “What?”
“How was last night?” Al asked. “Did he come home at the usual time? How did he seem to you?”
I narrowed my eyes. “He was a little late,” I said. My blush deepened as our fight came rushing back into my mind. “And he was upset that I’d made pasta without asking him what he wanted for dinner.”
Al nodded. “Was this typical?”
“A little,” I said. “I don’t really know.”
“Did you two fight?”
I cringed. My heart skipped a beat and my stomach felt ice-cold, like something had pushed me into a bucket of freezing water.
“I guess,” I said slowly. “He was upset – he went out, so I cleaned the living room. I went to bed before he got home. And then he came home drunk, which isn’t really like him. He tried to have sex w
ith me, but…” I trailed off, blushing and biting my lip.
“But?” Al looked at me with clinical detachment. “Did something happen?”
“I wasn’t really in the mood,” I said softly. “I didn’t want to sleep with him, we still hadn’t talked about our fight.”
“And did that make him angry?”
I nodded, feeling more miserable than ever. It felt grotesque and awful that I was sitting in a police station discussing my personal life with my fiancé. I knew that Michael would have hated me talking about our lives like this…he was always private, he never wanted anyone to know the details – bad or good – of our relationship. He said it wasn’t anyone’s business but our own.
“It did,” I said after a long pause. “He went and slept in the other room. And then, this morning, he had left for work by the time I woke up.”
“I see,” Al said. “How was the rest of your relationship?”
“What do you mean, exactly?”
“Well, did you feel happy with Michael? Was he happy with you?”
“I thought we were happy,” I said slowly. “I mean, our relationship was kind of…well, different,” I said. I blushed again.
“How so?”
I shrugged.
“You can tell me, Beth,” Al said, like he was one of my best friends.
I sighed. “Like, it wasn’t very passionate,” I said.
“Did you ever think about leaving Michael?”
I looked down at my hands. The tasteful diamond on my left finger glittered cheaply in the fluorescent light of the room.
“No,” I said honestly. “Sometimes I wished that he would be more affectionate with me. But overall, I was grateful to him. He cared for me and provided for me. He wasn’t the kind of guy to come home with flowers and candy, but that didn’t really matter. I appreciated that he never put on airs to impress me.”
“And was Michael faithful to you?”
I cringed. “Most of the time,” I said slowly. “Why?”
“How did that make you feel?”
