WHEN WERE MARRIED - BOOK ONE - THE LONG FALL

FOUR LITTLE WORDS Part 9

The next time I heard a car in the driveway I heaved myself out of my chair and glanced at the clock on the Wall. 11 p.m. I walked out to the front of the house and looked out through the window into the driveway. A sporty Audi model, a two seater, had pulled up into the circular drive. The car idled for a moment. I could make out two figures inside.

Then the one with long hair leaned over and it might have been, probably was, a kiss, brief but a kiss, and the passenger side door opened. As I expected, my blonde wife slid her long legs out and then got up. She bent over to wave goodbye to the driver and in that instant I saw a youngish dark haired guy at the wheel. I wasn't sure, but I thought he was another Associate or maybe Assistant professor in the business department.

As Debbie walked to the house I was pretty sure she hadn't gone to work teaching in that outfit. The blouse was low cut and tight, drawing attention to the globes of her breasts, and the dress itself was cut at above the knee. Not quite a mini-skirt, but it would ride high enough when sitting in a car. Not a teacher's outfit. So she had come home and changed, assuming she had gone to work, and then gone out for a long evening.

Doing what, I wondered, and with whom. But I decided I was going to try to be civil.

I went back into the den and sat down in front of the television with a few sips of liquor in my glass and switched between Fox and MSNBC to watch the arguing talking heads. I heard the front door open and then her steps came through the house. The steps stopped as she approached the door to the den. I knew without looking back that she had stopped and seen me sitting there.

I wondered if she was going to say anything. As I'd halfway expected, she didn't say a word, just continued up the stairs obviously heading for our bedroom. After awhile I heard the shower going. Then nothing.

At midnight Kelly came in, gave me a glance in the den and wandered upstairs as well. I sat watching nothing in particular until 12:30 when I realized I had to go to bed. I had been putting it off as long as possible. I turned off the TV and went up the stairs. When I got to the bedroom, all the lights were off. Only the light from the outside hallway showed me a shape on Debbie's side of the bed.

She didn't say anything as I walked in. I had planned to say something, but then thought the hell with it. Let her start the conversation if there was anything she had to say. She was the one who had told me she didn't want to see or hear anything from me that morning.

I took a quick shower, dressed in the walk-in closet, again with pajamas and walked silently to my side of the bed. I slipped under the covers and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes. Beside me I heard Debbie breathing slowly and rhythmically. She was pretending to be asleep but I could tell she was awake. Her breathing was too slow and rhythmical. I wasn't going to look over at her to see if her eyes were open.

Finally I rolled on my side away from her and somehow I fell asleep. The next morning I was up early again, dressed and out of the house without saying a word to her. I grabbed a egg bacon biscuit at Hardy's on the way to work. I dived into my world of murder, deceit and mayhem and actually enjoyed the work, probably a little more than usual. I never heard from Debbie, cell phone, office phone, nothing. It was as if I didn't have a wife.

The only thing that brought her to my mind was when Cheryl stopped in my office for a moment and said, "How did things go, Bill?"

"They didn't."

"What did she say?"

"Not a word."

"How-?"

"When I came home she was out. She rolled in about 11 o'clock in a car belonging to good looking young professor that works with her at UNF. I think she kissed him goodnight. Then she walked in, took a shower and went to bed. Not a word."

"God, Bill, I'm sorry. But why didn't you-"

"Didn't feel like it, I guess, Cheryl. I'm starting to think there's not much doubt about what's going on here. And she's the one who needs to start clearing the air."

Cheryl just gave me a look then said, "I know it's going to be hard, Bill, but you guys have to talk. Hell, you're an attorney. You know things have to be talked out."

"I'll take it under advisement."

I knew I should have gone home, but I couldn't make myself do it. I was looking around for a bar and on the way home to my Mandarin home I saw one that had just opened up a few weeks before. "The Last Call." It was a fairly big bar near a small strip mall. On an impulse I stopped and went in.

The inside was modernistic, all dark wood and mirrors, chairs set at small tables, a long bar, greenery in the corner. There was a slightly raised area at one side with a piano so there would obviously be entertainment at some times. Fortunately there was nobody there right now because I wasn't in the mood for music.

A medium height Hispanic guy with a big head of black hair came to my seat at the bar, introduced himself as the owner and offered me a free drink on the house as part of a first week celebration. I told him to bring me a beer. I could afford maybe two, and then I was heading home. I couldn't, as a high ranking SA, afford a DUI arrest.

I nursed the first beer as long as I could watching the customers come in. The place had gotten fairly full in the two hours between 6 and 8 p.m. Then I ordered that second beer and nursed it until nearly 10.

My cell phone hadn't rung the first time. Debbie was used to my running late, but usually by 8 she had checked in with me to find out when I'd be home. I wondered if she hadn't called because she was out of the house with her young professor.

I couldn't put it off any longer and got back on the road and was home in 20 minutes. The lights were on in the kitchen and in the den. I used my key to enter the house and checked in the kitchen first. There was a pork chop and some rice and vegetables on a plate in the microwave. As before, I didn't have an appetite. I was tempted to dump it in the trash but I put it back in the fridge. Maybe the kids might eat it tomorrow.

As I walked by the den I glanced in and saw her sitting in the chair in front of a large glass coffee table. It looked like she had papers out grading them. She had a glass filled with what looked like white wine and she had a favorite album compilation of Cranberries and Human League songs on the stereo. She didn't look back at me as I walked by and I didn't say anything to her.

I went upstairs, took a shower, and hit the bed. I don't know why, but I was suddenly exhausted. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. When I woke up in the morning, I was alone in bed and it didn't look like she'd been in it all night long. I looked in the den as I prepared to leave the house and saw she had curled up on the couch. She was still wearing a blouse and skirt combination that looked like what she'd worn to work. It was wrinkled as hell.

As I stood there, she suddenly raised her head, shook it a little and opened her eyes staring into mine. I think we were both equally surprised. After a moment I walked out with my briefcase and got into my Escalade and drove to work.