Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda

Author:Kaira Rouda
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises, Australia Pty Ltd
Published: 2017-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

8:15 p.m.

14

It takes more effort than I care to admit to ignore the boisterous group and refocus on my wife. Mia looks down at the table and pulls her hands from mine. She wipes a second tear away and studies me as if she’s never seen me before. “That trust is for the boys, not us. We will not be touching it,” she says.

“Of course. No problem,” I say. Why not just agree with her for the time being? I need to calm down, I must calm down. It’s time to order. We need to talk about food, and enjoy ourselves. I open my menu and read intently. “Are you hungry? I’m starving. They have fabulous veal parmesan, I hear. Oh, and for you, look at all of the entrée salads. So much to choose from.” That’s the gift of life. Choices. So many. You make a mistake, and you pivot. You move on. Like Lois, just a mistake, and now I’m with the woman I was meant to have children with. Everything else is just background noise.

The waiter glides up to our table, carefully avoiding making eye contact with me and instead, focuses his attention on Mia. He should. She’s beautiful, my wife.

“Ready to order?” the waiter asks.

“I’ll have the salmon salad, no salmon, please,” she says to the waiter.

“Yes, of course, madam. Some risotto perhaps? Vegetarian?” he says. If the waiter finds this order as ridiculous as I do, it doesn’t show on his face. This guy just doesn’t have a sense of humor, not at all.

“Please, and thank you,” Mia says.

“May I be of any other assistance?” he asks. What’s with this loaded question? I mean, he’s a waiter. Assistance?

“No, I’m fine. That’s all,” she assures him. Her eyes are shiny but there are no tears rolling down her cheeks.

Asshole. Who does he think he is? “I’ll have the veal, and a house salad to start,” I say, holding my menu in the air. He takes it, without looking at me, and walks away. I hope he understands he is losing all possibility of a tip.

I look around the elegant restaurant, white-linen-draped tables now filled with sparkly diners, women wearing their finest dresses and jewelry, men looking the way men look at all restaurants of this nature: the same from a distance. Up close, that’s when you can tell the thread count of the fabric, the cut of the jacket. Waves of polite conversation and bursts of laughter wash over us as we sit in silence in our corner.

How do you get backed into a corner in your relationship, you ask? I’m sure you’ve never been here before. Ha! Typically, it begins with small misunderstandings, insults not forgiven, if you will. And then the negative feelings build like a child’s block tower. One block placed a little too far over, and the whole thing comes tumbling down. For my part, I believe I’ve been fair and forgiving. I try not to hold on to things, I place my blocks quickly, to complete the metaphor.

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