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“That! You have to stop doubting me.”
“I don’t doubt you, Kenneth. You’re a remarkably intelligent man. I believe in you. I don’t believe in politics. It’s not about the people or what they want; it’s about the select few, the elite who have the power to do what they want and keep the people brainwashed into believing we have a choice when we know all along that we fucking don’t.”
“We’re not about to do this,” he says.
I shift in his lap.
“Right,” I agree.
“I think it’s time to think about handing over the reins of your company.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’ll be on the road with me sometimes when I begin to campaign. There’s a lot of travel required and eventually, you won’t be there to oversee your company's daily operations. I’m just saying you should consider hiring someone to manage it. You’ll have the final decision on everything, but....”
“But?” I prompt, wanting to hear more of this bullshit he’s spouting so I can curse him out when he’s done.
“Tattoos. It’s a bunch of grimy customers with questionable character not to mention the ones you work with. All that smoking, drinking, and cursing...that’s not the image I want to be associated with my wife. You’re supposed to be a lady; a true Southern woman who cultivates an image of charm, intelligence, and supporting her man.”
“And what I do doesn’t do that, Kenneth?”
“It...c’mon, Piper. We both know the image you’re portraying now isn’t compatible with the one I’m cultivating. It may, in fact, work against me.”
“It’s who I am, Kenneth! I’m an artist, and you’re trying to take away what makes me who I am. What I live and breathe for.”
He sighs heavily and pulls his hand over his fresh cut. “It’s not a profession. It’s a phase.”
“You’re pissing me the fuck off, Kenneth,” I warn in a low grumble.
“See that right there. You didn’t use to curse like that. It’s the influence of the people you surround yourself with. If you truly want to go somewhere, you’ve got to get off the porch. Change your image, remove the grunge wear you normally wear, and cover up the tattoos. I don’t like that look associated with you.”
“Yet, you met me this way!”
“I thought it was a phase, and you’d grow out of it.”
“You want I should wear dresses, heels, and pearls?”
He nods. “That might be a start.”
“I don’t believe this. You’re right. There’s so much to discuss.”
“I think we’ll take our time exploring those things and discussing them, Piper. We’ll cross each bridge when we get to it.”
“No, we need to figure it out now and make sure we’re on the same page because once we’re married, we’re stuck in that and there’s no going back. Not for me anyway.”
“Stuck, Piper?” Kenneth asks, stiffening underneath me.
I get up from his lap, and he doesn’t stop me this time. “Yes. Stuck.”
“Wow! I mean, fuck. Stuck? Is that how you feel about me?” he asks, massaging his temples.
“No, Kenneth! I...look, this is what I’m saying. We need to make sure that marriage is right for both of us and that we’re right for each other.”
“If you haven’t figured it out in all these years, then we have bigger problems on the table,” he says. “And I don’t know if what we thought we had really existed.”
I look at him. “Yeah, I don’t either.” Shaking my head, I walk to the door.
“Where are you going?”
