AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“When did you tell me?”
“All the time!”
He dragged his tongue across his top row of teeth. “Well, I’m listening now. Talk to me. Tell me.”
“It’s not…it’s not just one thing.”
“Then tell me them all.” He flopped down onto the couch. “No matter how long it takes, tell me everything. All your gripes, your complaints.”
She took a seat next to him. “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously.”
“Could you see us staying together if we never have kids?”
A golf-ball-sized lump manifested at the base of his throat. “What is it about the kids?”
“I don’t want to be a mother.”
“But what changed? Before—”
“Before, I told you things I shouldn’t have, knowing I wasn’t sure about motherhood or raising a family. Honestly, baby, I told you I couldn’t wait to have your child because I knew it was what you’d want to hear.”
“Hypothetical question,” he began. “If I’d slept with someone on this last assignment—”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Joel, did you?”
“Can I finish?”
She motioned for him to continue.
“If that had happened, and I came back here and never told you about it, or better yet, I told you I’d never cheat on you and have never cheated on you. Would that be a lie?”
“Joel—”
“Is it a lie, Syd?”
She licked her lips. “Yes.”
“Regardless of whether that’s what you would want to hear, that your husband’s faithful, it would still be a lie. No matter how you spin it, if you knew, back when you said that to me, that you weren’t sure, you lied to me.”
She sucked in a breath. “But you were so—”
“Still a lie.”
“Can you not…don’t cut me off, please?”
He grated his molars together. “Sorry.”
“It’s not just the kids,” she went on. “You’ve changed. You’re tenser. Angrier. Then, when you come back from assignments, you’re not even the same man I know. Sometimes, if I’m being honest, I’m a little afraid of you.”
He resisted the urge to grab his stomach. Retired or not, this woman could land a wallop of a punch. If he survived this conversation bruise-free, it would be a miracle.
“I’d never hurt you. You have to know that.”
