I Don't Forgive You by Aggie Blum Thompson

Author:Aggie Blum Thompson [Thompson, Aggie Blum]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

27

On Friday morning, I wake with a pounding headache to the whir of the blender. Mark is in the kitchen, making his breakfast smoothie. The morning light slices my eyes like a blade. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. I look around, disoriented for a moment, until I realize I am on the living room couch. On the floor beside me lie an empty bottle of sauvignon blanc and my laptop. Bits of the night come back to me.

“Drink this.” He hands me a tall glass with a thick green liquid in it.

“It looks gross.” I sit up and take it from him. The first sip tastes like freshly mowed grass. Disgusting, but it’s a peace offering, so I finish it.

“It’s good for you.”

I do as he says, chug it, and drag myself upstairs for a shower. Afterward, I stare at my dark-rimmed eyes and sallow skin in the mirror. The wine and disrupted sleep are catching up with me. I apply my makeup more thickly than usual, hoping to approximate the glow of a healthy woman. Back in the kitchen, Cole sits cross-legged on the floor in front of the TV, eating cereal, violating our established no-screens-before-breakfast rule. A large, animated pig with an English accent twirls on the screen.

“Where are the photos, Daddy?” Cole asks during a commercial. “Did you remember to pick them up?”

“I did, actually,” Mark says. “They’re in an envelope in my bag.”

Cole rushes to Mark’s cubby in the mudroom. He comes back holding a large manila envelope, struggling with the clasp. He hands it to me to open.

“Please?” I say and take the envelope from him.

“Please,” he repeats.

The return address is not for Kane & Burrows, the law firm where Mark works, but LFW Research. “What’s LFW Research?” I ask, looking up at Mark.

With a sudden jerk, Mark snatches the envelope from my hands and turns to Cole. “You can’t just go through my bag, grabbing things.”

“You told me to.” Cole’s lower lip quivers, and his eyes widen.

“I said envelope, not manila envelope.” Mark goes to his bag and returns with a small white envelope.

“Yikes,” I say to Mark. “You all right?”

“Sorry, buddy,” Mark says. “Didn’t mean to snap at you.”

Cole gingerly takes the envelope, looking at Mark to see if it is really safe.

“Go ahead,” Mark urges in a chummy tone. “Open it up.”

Cole pulls out the photos of Caitlin and Charles, Bob and Joan. The Rosses are all accounted for.

“Can you help me glue them on?” he asks.

“I’d love to, buddy, but I have to leave for work,” Mark says. “I can help you this evening.”

Cole turns to me. “Can you help, Mommy?”

“Sure,” I say. “After school. Now it’s time to get dressed.”

“Today’s a half day.”

“That right?” I suppress a grimace. I had completely forgotten. It seemed as though there hadn’t been a full week of school this whole fall. “Cole, please go upstairs and get dressed.”

Cole scowls and stomps upstairs with the photos.

“I guess I’ll see if Susan can pick him up.

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