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Instead of sparring back at her like I normally would, that tightness in my chest returned, and my heart revved up to racing. I didn’t dare admit it out loud, but ever since my near-death experience almost drowning several days ago, my normal gusto for adrenaline-inducing experiences had suffered. Instead of the all-out excitement I’d had about leaping out of that plane, a new voice in the back of my head whispered, “But what if your chute doesn’t open? What if you die?”
I tried my hardest to muzzle the voice and get back to my love of grabbing life by the horns, but try as I might, it wouldn’t be silenced.
“You okay, Marge?” Sylvie asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
“Huh? Me?” I pointed to my chest and then cleared my throat. “No. I’m fine. Totally fine,” I lied.
“You do look a little weird,” Doris agreed.
“She’s missing a front tooth. Of course, she looks weird,” Alice added.
Sylvie never broke eye contact, tipping her head as she stared at me. But before she could prod me anymore with her laser-sharp observation skills that would put Sherlock Holmes to shame, the rumbling of an engine pulled all our attention. A Jeep bumped down the road, but this time it wasn’t four old widows sitting inside. This Jeep held four young, shirtless men taking in the scenery.
“Holy shit. It’s likeThunder from Down Underis driving through the park,” Alice said breathlessly as she stared at them like a dog salivating over a steak.
“Wow. Those are some hot guys,” Sylvie agreed. “Like, wow.”
“I’m married, so I need to stop looking at other handsome men.” Doris quickly diverted her eyes, then peeked back at the men, waving as they passed.
“My God. The universe is trying to tempt me into cheating on Alejandro. Just tossing hottie Aussies in my path left and right.”
“You wouldn’t, though.” Sylvie turned her attention from the men now heading away. “Cheat on him, would you?”
“No. Definitely not,” Alice sighed. “But my God, sometimes it’s hard to remember I’m not single and ready to mingle anymore. I spent years doing whatever and whoever I wanted. Now I have to keep reminding myself I’m a married woman.”
“Which is a miracle in itself.” Doris smiled.
“I didn’t spend much time single after Bruce died.” Sylvie paused and took a sip of her wine. “I haven’t been in anything other than a committed relationship since college. I can’t even imagine adjusting from that much freedom.”
Alice sighed and glanced back at the dust trail left by the Jeep, now out of sight. “Honestly? The thought of being with another man now makes my stomach turn, but seeing those young studs has me wanting to race back to Alejandro’s arms and jump his bones again, and again, and again.”
“I second that,” Sylvie said on a sigh. “I mean Tom’s bones, though. Not Alejandro.”
Alice gave her a sly grin. “I would hope not.”
“Nope. My man. I want to jump the bones of my man,” Sylvie added.
“It makes me miss Axel, too.” Doris frowned.
When I didn’t answer, all three eyes spun to stare at me, waiting for the words to echo their own. When they didn’t come out, Sylvie set down her wine glass.
“Okay. That’s it. Something is going on with you and Roxie. You need to tell us what’s up, Marge. Whatever it is, we can help.”
Biting my lip, I tried to find the words to say what I didn’t want to admit out loud ... the thing that made my heart nearly shatter from sadness.
“Marge? What’s going on?” Alice asked.
Doris reached forward and touched my hand. “You can tell us anything, dear.”
Finally, with a heavy sigh, the truth came out. “I think Roxie and I have lost our spark. We’re on our way to becoming a platonic relationship, just like me and Percy were. I’m cursed, it seems, to sexless marriages. You guys are all over there having hot sex and lusting after your partners, and I am trying to remember the last time Roxie and I got it on. We didn’t even have goodbye sex. I planned on it, but then we fell asleep in front of the TV our last night and never even made it to the bedroom. We’re roommates now. Just like me and Percy. And I don’t even know how it happened.”
“Oh, honey,” Sylvie soothed as she scooched closer to me. “Just because you’re not having hot sex all the time doesn’t mean your relationship is doomed to friendship. Relationships wax and wane all the time!”
“They do?” I asked sincerely. “Because I have nothing to compare it to. Percy was the only relationship I ever had besides Roxie. Considering neither of us was straight or attracted to the other, it made sense we lived as best friends. When we married, I didn’t expect that there would be explosive romance or passion. But Roxie? I thought since we were both attracted to each other,inlove, that we’d go on as hot and heavy as we started. Man. We used to set each other on fire, and now? Now it seems we’re just smoldering ash. Every day things seem to get closer and closer to the relationship I had with Percy. Pretty soon, I’m gonna find myself living with a roommate again and not a lover.” My shoulders slumped with the weight of my admission. “I don’t want a roommate again. This time around, I want something different. I want passion. Kissing. Touching. Romance. But I guess that’s not how things are for me. People don’t marry me for romance. They marry me to be a friend. A roommate.”
Sylvie let out a deep breath and then smiled. “You’re not cursed, silly! This happens to every couple everywhere! I don’t care how hot and heavy a couple is when they get together, the passion will eventually fizzle. No couple can sustain that new love kind of heat long term. It’s not possible. You can set the whole world on fire with the heat between you, but the longer you’re together, the more the flames die down. It’s normal. Natural. But it doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. It only means you have to work at it. Fan the flames. They won’t burn without someone tending to them. When they say marriage is work, this is part of the work.”
“Oh, yes,” Alice said. “The longer you’re together, the kinkier things need to be to keep things hot on the home front. In fact, last month, Alejandro and I—”
