Evening Stars by Susan Mallery

Author:Susan Mallery [Mallery, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2014-02-25T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

“CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?” Averil asked, stretched out on her bed, her cell phone to her ear. “An Emilion Stoicasescu. Stuff like that doesn’t happen to our family. I wish you were here to see it. The camera picture I sent you doesn’t do it justice. The painting is so strange. How can something like that be famous? I guess I don’t understand art.”

She paused and waited for a response. There was only silence.

“Kevin? Are you still there?”

“I’m here.”

He didn’t sound excited or happy. Or even interested.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Don’t you think this is at least kind of cool?”

“I don’t care about the painting, Averil. Why can’t you see that? It doesn’t matter. There are more important things to talk about.”

She sat up and tightened her grip on the phone. “What do mean?”

“Us. Our relationship. How long are you staying up there? Why did you go in the first place? Are you spending any time thinking about us or our lives together? Are you so caught up in your family and the damn painting that you’ve forgotten you’re married and that you left me?”

Her breath caught. “I didn’t leave you,” she told him. “How could you say that? We agreed I needed time away to think.”

“No, we didn’t. You said you needed the time and were leaving. I didn’t stop you.”

“That’s not what happened,” she said, even as she knew he was telling the truth.

“Do you miss me at all?” he asked, his voice quiet.

“Of course. All the time.”

“It’s hard to tell if that’s true or not. You never talk about coming home. I don’t even know what you’re waiting for. Is progress being made?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted, feeling her eyes start to burn. Without wanting to, she heard her mother’s voice. The gentle, but insistent whine that she “didn’t want to have to decide. I can’t make up my mind.”

It was genetic, she thought sadly. Not that Kevin would think much of that excuse.

“Things are complicated,” she began, then stopped. What was complicated? The decision as to whether or not she wanted to be with her husband? “I love you, Kevin. I want us to be happy.”

“I believe that. What I don’t know is if you think that happiness is going to come from being together. I keep thinking I’m going to lose you, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it from happening. Am I supposed to show up and fight for you or give you space? What do you want from me? How can I make things better?”

Tears filled her eyes. “I don’t know. It’s not about you. I’m the one who messed up. I’m sorry. I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong. Can you give me a little more time?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Are you telling me to come back?”

“You know I’d never do that,” he told her. “That’s why you’re asking. You get to say that you wanted to make sure I was okay with what you were doing. Then no matter what, it’s not your fault.

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