Love in Mid Air by Kim Wright

Author:Kim Wright
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction, Family & Relationships, Marriage, Self-realization in women, Adultery, General, Domestic fiction
ISBN: 9781742372884
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2010-08-15T07:00:00+00:00

I’m proud of myself. I’ve let something go and Phil and I have reached a state of equilibrium.”

Lynn is throwing toys into a black Hefty bag. “What did you let go of?”

“I don’t know. But whatever I lost, evidently it wasn’t necessary. We do better when there’s less of me there.”

“Do you think it would work to run everything through the dishwasher?”

“Yeah. Most of them are plastic. I wonder how long it’s been since anyone sterilized this stuff.”

“My guess would be… never.” Lynn pulls the drawstring on one bag and gets out another. “And you’re okay with all this?”

“Jeff says that you can’t expect one man to give you everything you need.”

“Jeff said that?”

“Well, I mean everybody says that. It’s standard marriage counseling advice. You accept a man for what he is and then you find ways to fill in the gaps. Like you used to run.”

“And you saw how well that worked out.” Lynn pauses, takes the headband out of her hair and shakes it. I have brought her a Christmas gift and it lies unopened on the small table that’s here in the toddler room. There’s a pair of stretchy gloves inside—navy and gray herringbone, a pattern that struck me as sophisticated and subtle, right for Lynn. “You know,” she says, “when I was first voted onto the church council, Phil and I got there early one night… it was just us and he started talking about you. I can’t remember what story he was telling, but at the end he said, ‘Elyse is a pistol.’ And he sounded proud.”

I can’t picture Phil saying that, but okay. Lynn has cleaned off the shelves and is beginning to wipe them down with disinfectant. She’s frowning, or maybe it’s just the fumes.

“Do you know what Andy told me the day he left? He said part of me was missing.”

“Did he have any theory as to what part?”

“He said… this is so weird. He used the exact same words you just used, he said I’d let something go. And this… this is strange too. He said it bugged him that I didn’t fight with him anymore. He said it seemed like I wasn’t all there.”

I think of Gerry, how feisty I can be with him, how we bet last week on the Panthers-Patriots game, the way I wrap my legs around his waist and try to flip him in bed.

Lynn mistakes my silence for skepticism and rushes on. “I do have a point, I promise. When I stopped fighting and started running and doing all those things to distract myself, it was just like you said. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Everybody was worn out from all those years of arguing and we needed the break. There was peace in the valley.”

“Equilibrium.”

“And I thought just like you, that whatever I’d given up on was something he didn’t want anyway. But then he wakes up one day and out of a clear blue sky he tells me I’m not all there.

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