Page 91 of Marriage (Red, White &) Blues

“Don’t you dare start sounding reasonable, Blake Parker.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” We both started smiling even though the situation sucked.

“Itwouldbe nice to see Pen and Sierra again.”

“I’ll fly into Detroit on the weekends for the next couple of weeks and I’ll be your date for your mom and Carl’s wedding. This will work.”

It might work.

Blake reached over to rest his hand on my knee, giving it a squeeze. “Glory,” he said, reading my mind, “it’ll work.”

Gah!I pinned him with my bestreally?“Get out of my head!”

But now that we decided to go the ‘Kick Gloria Out of Vermont’course, Pen and Sierra were about to get a whopper of a tale. I should’ve never ignored their calls after the news broke. Somebody needed a friendship refresher course because my friendship skills sucked.

“I guess when we get home, I’ll start packing. I’ll need accommodations for the plane.”

“I’ll fly you first class.”

With second summer behind us, fall in Vermont brought cooler temperatures and plenty of rain. Exactly as it started to do on our drive home. I wondered if this wasn’t a metaphor for our marriage. “Just think about how different your life would be if you’d never asked me to go on that cruise.”

“I don’t want to. I’m glad we went on safari. I’m glad Moses was our guide. I’m glad we helped Mingati’s grandson and I’m ecstatic that Moses’s brother Michael was one of my grandfather’s estate attorneys.”

“But you have to admit, your life would be easier if we’d never caught that boat. You could’ve left me in Europe and been done.”

“If I wanted easy, I would’ve dated one of the plethora of women my mother tried to set me up with, gotten married a couple of years ago and probably had my first child by now. The trip to Europe never would have happened. I’d be completely miserable.”

“You aren’t miserable now?”

“Projecting, are we?”

“No. I’m just worried that without me around, that other life might start to look appealing.”

His jaw tightened the way it did when he was irritated, and he turned into the drive. “Let’s get you inside,” he said.

The rain soaked his hair and clothing as he pulled my manual chair from the trunk. Yes, we’re up to three chairs. Themotorized one wouldn’t fit in his car. I got a soggy bottom because I had no choice other than to sit in the puddle that collected on the seat. He rolled me inside and I took over maneuvering myself over to the stairs to the lift. Chair to lift. Lift to chair. “If I ever get the bright idea to move furniture again, you have my permission to shoot me.”

“Or we can hope that you’ve learned a valuable lesson here and won’t ever want to move furniture again.”

Blake helped me change out of my wet clothing before stripping down to get himself dry. I appreciated his effort, but at the same time, I felt like, why bother? I know, I know… we’d planned for this but I never imagined it would feel sofinal.

“You need anything?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nope. I’m good.” Good? Who was I trying to fool?

“Okay, then I’ll be in my office. Call if you need me.”

Part of my wanted to call to him right now just to see if he’d stay, but I let him go. Instead, I stared at my gorgeous new bedroom furniture. Maybe we could donate it to a family starting over. I hefted myself onto the sofa that looked out across the expansive back yard. I bet we could find something similar. This time bought from anon-betrayer because I loved the cushiness and the soft chenille fabric.

After getting caught up watching the rain soak the balcony for a while longer, I unlocked the phone in my hand and pressed Pen’s number.

“Was wondering when you’d call me back,” she said rather thanhellowhen she picked up.

“Sorry.” What else was there to say?

“I told Ant that if I didn’t hear from you by the end of the day, I was flying out there.”

“Well, as it turns out, you won’t have to.Surprise! I’ll be visiting for a few weeks.”

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