Bad Wife by Sarah Michelle Lynch

Author:Sarah Michelle Lynch [Lynch, Sarah Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

We sit down to eat around the dinner table. It’s been a while since we used the table, actually; we’ve lately been eating on our laps in the sitting room in front of the TV, probably so we don’t have to talk to one another.

“This is really good,” Theo tells Susan, tucking into chilli con carne. “Thank you.”

“Thank you,” Lily agrees.

“It’s really nothing,” my wife says, “just threw some things in a slow cooker, one of the easiest meals actually.”

She’s paired the chilli with some homemade potato wedges and cream cheese. She didn’t have to make anything, not after we ate roast chicken for lunch, but she wanted something freshly made and homely for when Lily and Theo got here.

Theo gets stuck in, his appetite not affected… or maybe the booze has made him hungry. Lily doesn’t seem to be worried so much about Theo anymore, though. Her eyes keep straying to Susan, who doesn’t seem to have cottoned on yet about Lily’s pregnancy.

“So, are you going to set a date, then?” I figure idle chit-chat is necessary at this point.

Theo and Lily look at one another in the way lovers do, sharing thoughts with just one look. Theo’s mouth tips up in a grin and Lily opens her mouth to speak.

“It’s just not for us,” she chuckles, “I mean, I think your wedding was absolutely beautiful. It was.”

Susan’s eyes sparkle when she looks at me and says, “It was.”

“Yes,” I agree.

“But I personally don’t like attention… and neither does Theo.”

A laugh so high-pitch rips from Susan and she lights up. It makes me feel happy.

“Oh, come on. Look at you two. You’re both bloody gorgeous. And Theo, bloody hell. Even my husband wants your body. Trust me, he told me all about it in graphic detail. I wish I’d bloody come to see the play now.”

Theo finishes his food before any of us have really got started on our own, sinking a glass of water at the end of his meal. Susan offers him more but he declines.

Lily is still laughing about Theo’s body and how much I allegedly want it when Theo stares into Susan’s eyes and tells her, “I don’t. I don’t like attention. I know it sounds bizarre. I’m an actor for fuck’s sake. I know how it seems. But a part of the whole thing is that I’m not myself when I’m up there. I’m someone else entirely. That’s why I like it. I’m free of it all, you know? I get to do the best job ever… I get to pretend. I get to take a break from myself whenever I’m working. It’s honestly the best therapy.”

Susan’s face softens and she searches his eyes, thinking deeply about his words. “I’ve heard role play stuff is getting to be a big thing nowadays, so people can get out of their own head.”

“Ah, you mean ad-lib? Improv?”

“Exactly, yes,” says Susan, who is still in her baggy clothes, no make-up, hair loose… looking the most beautiful I’ve ever seen her.

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