Page 33 of Unbreakable
“I said I can do it myself, Dylan,” she bit out. “Do you have a problem with the way I do things?”
I put my hands up. “Baby, I’m just trying to help.” I shook my head, frustration building in me. “You know how much you make things harder on yourself? You could have help, but you won’t let anyone else take the wheel. We could hire help. I’m not even fucking captain anymore, J. You should have less to do than you did in L.A.”
I knew it was stupid the second it slipped from my mouth.
She bobbed her head, grinding her teeth. “You’re right. There are no responsibilities as your wife unless you’re the captain.”
“I just meant you probably have less here than you did in California. We’re not there anymore, so it should be easier.”
“I’m fucking aware of that!” she snapped. Her eyes slammed shut, her jaw tensing. “I should be able to do it, Dylan. I just can’t.”
I softened my tone, tipping my head to look at her. “Jeanine, I’m okay if you need to hire help.”
Her mouth popped back open, as did her eyes. “But there’s no excuse. You know what sucked the most about your mom criticizing me? She was right. I’m weak! You take me out of my perfect little terrarium of a life and I wither up in the sun.”
“Baby, I’m trying to fix it,” I pleaded, running my hands through my hair and clawing my fingers down my face. “Can you just take what I’m giving you?”
Her face fell. “What you’regivingme?” Her breathing picked up, and heat pulsed off her body. “What exactly do you think you’re giving me, Dylan?”
Jeanine never got like this. I was taken aback. Was she losing too much blood? “Will you just let me see your hand?”
“No. Answer my question.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m giving you a chance to lighten the load, J.”
“It’s not lightening the load. Your mother helping would make things worse. You know why? Because all she ever does is pick and pick and tell me how good I have it and how much better my life would be if I just raised my kids the way she raised you.”
I shrugged. “She means well. I think some time together could be good for you.”
Jeanine shook her head and stomped into the first-floor powder room. When I followed she had her right hand over her head as she tried to use her left to get the first aid kit from under the sink.
“Baby, let me help.” I bent and pulled the kit out while she jerked back. She was really furious. “Will you—just say whatever it is.”
“You don’t want to know,” she mumbled.
“I’m pretty fucking sure I do,” I shot back.
“I should have known better,” she said.
“What is that supposed to mean, Jeanine?”
She snapped to look at me directly. “You want to know? Fine. Your mom raised you to be helpless. To let her do everything for you so you could thrive. Have you ever cleaned a bathroom a day in your life, Dylan? Would it kill you to completely clean the kitchen when you say you’re cleaning the kitchen? Do you know how clean the house is when you’re gone? You’re like a grown baby sometimes. And then I’m always the bad guy with the kids while you get to be the hero fun guy. You’ve always had someone else make it soyoucould shine, Dylan. First, it was your mom, and now it’s me. You’ve always had someone else build a life for you.”
It felt like a slap to the face. Hearing her defend my mom was shocking enough, but it made me realize that, with those two main women in my life, I was always trying to make them happy. I weighed every choice I made against whether my mom would be proud and Jeannie would be happy.
“What the fuck, Jeanine. You . . . you chose me over your career. I’ve given you everything. All I do is try to make you happy.”
Her whole body went rigid, closing her eyes again and sucking in a shaky breath. “You’re right. You’ve given me a big house to take care of, and mandatory friends who don’t actually help with anything much lesslikeme, and a life of isolation with very little end in sight.”
I shook my head. “Jeanine, I can’t make Ohio become California. You need to find a way to be happy here. We have to make this work.”
“Or what?” she said. “I have to make it work or what? What’s the alternative to this move not working out?”
My breath stuttered. “Jeannie, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Her eyes flooded and her lower lip trembled.
I didn’t mean to, but I raised my voice. “You mean that after all I’ve done for you, after continually trying to do anything and everything to make you happy, you’re just going to bail on me when shit gets hard? You’d leave me over this? You want a fucking divorce because ofthis?”
