Page 63 of The Wife
“I’ll come up with something way better.”
She usually did. “Stew is ready. Hang up your coat and for the love of God take your boots that have been sitting by the back door all damn day upstairs.”
“Yes, sir. Grouchy much? You would think a man who’s just been given his parole would be a lot more chipper.”
“I want to live to see my freedom, and if I trip over those boots one more time I may not.”
We were going through the motions. Saying the right things. Keeping it as normal as we could.
We were both lying. I knew it.
Fifteen
Ellie
Christmas
It snowed. Not the scary snow of the storm. Just enough to make it so we didn’t have to go anywhere. Didn’t have to see anyone. It was nice. Because it was our official last day as a married couple. We were scheduled to meet Howard tomorrow morning to sign the papers and file them with the court. Next week Jake was going to take me to college.
It was happening. So today was our day.
Jake was burning the bacon just the way I liked it. I was watching him while sipping on my coffee and chatting about school.
“What if I don’t make any friends?”
“You’ll make friends.”
“What if my roommate doesn’t like me?”
“Try not to leave your shoes by the door and maybe you’ll stand a chance.”
“Did you talk to Rich about living in the bunk house?”
Rich was the guy we hired as my stand-in. He was older than Jake, divorced and currently without residence. The good news was Jake would have plenty of time with him to show him the ropes. Then if he worked out he could stay on as the foreman when Jake went back to his ranch.
Because that was the other thing that happened. I gave Jake the money he needed and he put a down payment on the land. Talley land was officially in Talley hands once again.
I thought he’d be happier about it. Talk about his plans for the future more, but he didn’t. The truth was, since the divorce was decided we were both really going through the motions. Pretending this thing wasn’t happening even though it was.
One thing I was worried about school, I knew it was where Bobby had planned to attend. I was okay after the “incident” but it wasn’t like I ever wanted to see him again. Jake, having not been satisfied with the whole no jail thing, took it upon himself to track down Ted MacPherson in Jefferson. Last I heard Bobby was now living and working with his father, so hopefully that settled that.
“He seemed fine with it,” Jake said about Rich as he served me my burnt bacon.
I didn’t wait for the eggs and I started right in. As always it was delicious.
“What do you want to do after breakfast?” he asked.
“Presents! Presents! Presents!”
“You said, and I quote,let’s wait and do presents after dinner, that way we’ll have something to look forward to all day.”
“Yes, and I see now that was stupid.”
“We can do presents,” he relented.
I thought about it and I started to agree with my former self. Presents could wait until tonight. I had a really big one to give him. One I hoped he would accept. But that would be better done after some champagne.
“Let’s go for a ride,” I suggested. “It stopped snowing, and who knows when I’ll have a chance to ride Petunia again.”
