Page 32 of The Wife
“Tell me more about your life, Jake. I know everything there is to know about your approach to cow insemination, but I’m assuming there has to be more to you than that.”
“I hope so,” I laughed.
“Well?”
“Well, what do you want to know?”
I shifted slightly in my chair. I didn’t want to talk about Ellie with Carol, and really Ellie and the ranch had been my life for the past year and a half.
“Have you ever been serious with someone?”
“Sure. I had a girlfriend, but we ended it.”
“Before you were married?”
“No. While I was married. Remember, it’s only an arrangement.”
Carol reached for her wine. She preferred red. She could order a glass here because she was obviously over twenty-one. Where Ellie could only drink at Pete’s.
I wondered if that’s where she went when she left at night. I should remind her about drinking and driving again. Really reinforce how important that was. Although Ellie wasn’t an idiot. She had to be more responsible than any girl her age for a lot of things.
“How did your girlfriend feel about you getting married to someone else while you were with her?”
I looked up at Carol instead of down at my plate. “She wasn’t crazy about it. But that’s because she was hoping we would get engaged. She understood eventually. I did what I had to do.”
“But it didn’t work out in the end.”
“No.”
You’re falling for her.
The accusation was pretty loud in my head, but I dismissed it. Carol had no right to any of that.
“What about you?” I asked in return. “What happened with your boyfriend?”Please tell me anything so I didn’t have to talk about myself.
“We wanted different things. He wanted to settle down and start making babies, and while I want that some day, I wasn’t ready at the time. He said he didn’t want to wait and I can’t really blame him.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks. I was sad. For a long time. Now I’m… ready to move on. You know?”
Yeah I knew. I could fuck her. If I wanted to, I could take her back to… well, I didn’t know where she was staying, as I picked her up in town because she had to do something at the bank before we could leave.
But I was pretty sure I could take her back to her place and do that.
“Do you want dessert?” I asked instead.
She smiled. “Oh yes, Jake. I definitely want dessert.”
* * *
Ipulledmy car over to the side of the street. The town was dark, empty. The only place that would still be open would be Pete’s, and even that shut down at midnight during the middle of the week.
Since Carol had her car, I took her back to the bank where she had left it in parking lot.
“This was fun, Jake,” she said.
“I’m glad.”
