The Things We Wish Were True by Whalen Marybeth Mayhew

Author:Whalen, Marybeth Mayhew
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503936072
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2016-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

LANCE

In the year before Debra left, she’d gotten into new foods, her devotion to all things healthy pursued with the kind of zeal usually attributed to cult followers. She’d eaten carrots dipped in hummus, and smoothies made with strange ingredients, and apples dipped in almond butter instead of peanut butter. “What’s wrong with peanuts?” Lance had asked, but she hadn’t answered, already buzzing to the next thing.

She’d never stayed still, as if the healthy foods were giving her excess energy she had to keep moving to burn off. She’d eschewed anything made with flour or sugar, waxing eloquent on how fruits had all the natural sugar she’d ever need. She’d made and devoured huge salads, nibbled on nuts and seeds, avoided beef in favor of chicken or seafood. She’d rarely spoken to him unless it was to sermonize over the health benefits of the foods she was eating and, therefore, foisting on the entire family. There had never been anything good to eat in the house. He’d grumbled and complained, even as the weight fell off her and she’d started to resemble the girl he’d married again. Trouble was, she’d acted nothing like that girl.

She’d taken up running. She ran all the time, even when it rained. “Shouldn’t you join a gym or something?” he’d asked, concerned, as she’d taken off into the rain one cold day when he was sure she’d catch her death. “You could run on a treadmill. Wouldn’t that be . . . safer?”

Debra hadn’t answered. She’d just run away.

She even ran in her sleep, a phenomenon he’d witnessed one night as she’d lain splayed in their bed, sleep sacking her midsentence. Her mouth had still been open, her unspoken words escaping into the air. He’d watched her, wishing he had the courage to rouse her and tell her all he was thinking. I feel like I’m losing you. I fear that we’re drifting apart. And yet you seem so happy, so purposeful, for the first time since the kids were born, and I’m scared to death to mess with that. He’d watched her sleep and thought of all the things he couldn’t say to his wife. Watching her, he’d noticed twitching under the sheets, and it had taken him a moment to realize she was running even in her dreams. Her feet had moved as though she were rhythmically plodding along the asphalt. Even in her sleep, he could see in hindsight, she’d been running away.

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