The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness by Maddie Dawson

Author:Maddie Dawson [Dawson, Maddie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781503939103
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2016-10-25T02:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

LINDY

Back when they were building the house, she and Jeff had made love in every single room—to christen each of them, he’d said. They’d come to the house after work and lie on the plywood floors, careful to avoid splinters and nails. Chloe, in fact, had gotten started in the kitchen on a hot August night when they’d picnicked there, with a bottle of wine and some cheese. Jeff always said that’s what made Chloe so fun and feisty: she was formed from alcohol and fermented dairy products on a bed of nails.

These days it seemed impossible to think of having that much spontaneous sex. He didn’t even look at her that way anymore. Unless it was totally inconvenient—like when they were leaving the house in the morning he’d sometimes leer at her and raise his eyebrows suggestively. Which proved that he probably didn’t even want sex. He just wanted to be on the record as somebody who remembered that it existed.

She got it, of course. All the other moms said it was the same at their houses; nobody was getting any. That was just the way life was in these child-raising, working years. And when you threw in a racquetball habit at least three nights a week—well, it was hopeless.

But that night, damn it, she decided to plan for sex. During dinner she smiled at him and said she was looking forward to a little downtime. Wink, wink. He smiled and winked back, which meant he’d read her signals.

She gave the children an early bath, and the whole time she was scrubbing their fingernails and behind their ears all she could think was that cuddling up with Jeff would save her.

As soon as she had everybody in bed—had sung the songs and read the stories and fetched two glasses of water and refilled Davey’s bottle because he wasn’t ready to give it up yet, and who was she to fight him when she had no fight left in her—she changed into her black lace underwear under her sky-blue kimono, even putting on the hated thong. She strategically dabbed perfume and combed out her hair and made her way downstairs. Jeff, bless him, had loaded the dishwasher and was washing the pans.

She felt an immediate sweep of gratitude, so sharp it almost made tears come to her eyes. She touched his back. “God, I need a glass of wine,” she said.

“Tired?” he said.

“Oh, you wouldn’t believe it. Nina came into the salon today, and I did her hair, which turned out great, if I do say so myself. And you won’t believe this, but not only has she found our mother but she’s actually talked to her—and then I came home and got in a big fight with Mom. The second one this week. The whole day has been terrible. Until this minute.” She curved herself into the crook of his arm, at the precise moment he moved it away, which surely was a coincidence.

“Here, I’ll pour you one,” he said and smiled at her.

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