Keeping Time: A Novel by Mcglynn Stacey

Author:Mcglynn, Stacey [Mcglynn, Stacey]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780307464422
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2010-10-05T07:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-THREE

HOURS LATER. THE HOUSE, QUIET. The boys, in bed. Daisy, too.

Elisabeth, bleary-eyed and half dead, was like a zombie as she went through her nightly ablutions after her four-hour stint at her home office desk, sifting through a year’s worth of W2s, 1099s, interest and dividend statements, monthly bank statements, mortgage statements, crumbled business receipts, checks to charities, and barely legible scrap paper containing information about business investments. Robotically brushing her teeth. Surprised to find two hands cupping her butt.?” Elisabeth, askingerplCr

Richard had crept up from behind. In the bathroom without knocking—at almost one in the morning, on a work night, and after spending his day yawning, zoning out, and sleeping through his sons’ recitals. His day, his week, his month, his half year. His life since January. His job constantly pushed him harder with unrelenting stress and ever-increasing hours.

Elisabeth, tingling at his presence. Trying not to picture her five-time baby-bearing torso seeking refuge under her frumpy cotton nightgown, her ever-expanding waistline that was no longer the twist in the Tootsie Roll wrapper but was now the Tootsie Roll, or her sad breasts losing their fight with gravity. Perimenopause. Would he be able to tell? Skipped periods, two in a row after months of more frequent, heavier-than-usual activity.

Her skin nonetheless blinking awake, in full agreement that a twenty-minute suspension from drudgery was welcome indeed. Feeling her stance softening. Her breath, shifting. Her head, falling back in his direction, forgetting that the Crest toothpaste was foaming in her mouth and her toothbrush poised midair.

Remembering. Clumsily finishing her teeth, Richard’s hands caressing the contours of her back, hips, butt, waking cells one at a time. Delighting her that her exhaustion was quickly seeping away like water into soil. Turning to him, holding each other with kisses, mapping the course to the bed. Murmurings transporting them there. Anticipation sweeping through their soft landing. Palms, fingers, lips, mouths, packed with pent-up agendas, now unleashed, following unspoken orders, relishing the journey, prizing the finish.

But Elisabeth’s quest unexpectedly ended. Too early and certainly not to be prized. Her hopes, ruthlessly dashed, her expectations quashed, her satisfaction left unclaimed.

Because of what he said. And when he said it.

When all was in place, all set for the big finish. Everything, just right, words, whispered: “Tender like a woman’s behind.”

She could hear the smile in his voice. The words, ousting her from the place she had been, ripping her away so thoroughly that there was no way back.

Elisabeth, hobbling to the finish.

Richard, sprinting mightily.

Elisabeth, rolling away, hollow.

Richard, sleeping, spent.

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