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“You’re laughing at me,” she informed him. “I’m respecting your personhood. Your … your separateness.”
“And you’re doing a brilliant job of it,” he said.
At least when she pulled into the drive again three hours later, she didn’t dump the bags and leave him to deal with them in order to respect his personhood.
“I could do it myself,” she said, when he’d brought in the last armful of a truly astonishing assortment of bags, “and let you finish your unpacking, but this way, you’ll be able to see what I got and decide where everything goes. I just bought things to make your most popular meals, the fast ones. I wasn’t sure, though, if you’d want to go to my parents’ tonight. It’ll be easier, but maybe you want—well, family time.”
He said, “What, exchange your mum’s cooking for mine? No, thanks. I still have use of my faculties.”
“I’m trying to be sensitive,” she said, filling his freezer with elk meat fromherfreezer.
“Well, it’s lost on me,” he said. “Why would I not want a break from all this? Though we’re pretty far along. Chucked as much as possible before we came, that’s why. We’re a bit bare-bones, but I have faith that Janey will clutter things up before too long. Girls have a gift. She says she needs more pillows on her bed. I pointed out that she’s got pillows, but—”
“Because it looks better,” Quinn said. “I’m barely a woman, and evenIknow that. It’s décor.”
“Oh,” he said. “Décor. And what do you mean, you’re barely a woman? Reckon you’d better plan to come back here after that dinner, because it seems you need reminding.”
She poured spaghetti noodles into one of the clear plastic containers she’d bought, because the packet they came in was apparently insufficient, and said, “We haven’t had a chance to talk about that. Obviously, I realize it’ll be different. I figured, Friday and Satur—”
“No.”
“Beckett. Don’t you think that Janey—”
“You know,” he said, “I think we’ll let Janey deal with her feelings. She can tell me about them. She can even roll her eyes. But we’ve got our own house. That seemed to feature at the top of her list. I’m not giving you up as well.”
Which was why she was here now, sleeping beside him. She’d sat up to leave as soon as they’d finished, and he’d pulled her back down and said, “Stay.”
“Beckett,” she said. “The kids—”
“Set your alarm and go home in the morning,” he said, then leaned over and kissed her belly. She always sucked in her breath when he did that, so he tended to do it heaps.
“So I sleep with you now that I’mnotliving with you?” she asked.
“You said we needed new rules. That one sounds good to me.”
She sighed. But she also lay back down again and backed into him, which meant that he got to put his arm around her the way he liked.
Was it odd, sleeping with her in the bed he’d bought with Abby? Yeah, a bit, but what was he meant to do, burn the mattress? It had cost nine thousand dollars. It was made of wool and was meant to be better. He hadn’t wanted to spend the money the first time, and he wasn’t going to spend it again for form’s sake. He could love his wife and love somebody new. He knew he could, because he was doing it.
That was his second-to-last confused thought before he fell asleep. Hislastthought was that it was easier to fall asleep with Quinn beside him, and the bed was warmer, too.
He was dreaming about a bee. It kept buzzing around his head, and he kept trying to brush it away. There it was again.
Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz.
He opened his eyes. The bee didn’t stop. Quinn was sitting up beside him, saying, “What is it?” and patting the nightstand as if she’d find her phone there. Which she wouldn’t, because he’d pulled her onto the bed without much of a nighttime routine, and then they’d fallen asleep. It would be in her … purse …
He drifted off again.
Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz.
“Beckett,” Quinn said. “It’s yours.”
“Oh.” He sat up, then grabbed the phone and stared at it.
An Australian number. Not a mobile. A landline.
His youngest sister, Beth? Calling from hospital, maybe?
