A Good Marriage(27)
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Amanda said. “Really.”
Maude hesitated for a moment. Finally, she exhaled heavily, her shoulders sinking. “No, no, it’s fine. You’re a close friend. Sebe and I occasionally have sex with other people. We always have,” she said. “I could use all sorts of euphemisms, but that’s what it is. And that’s all that it is. We have our own boundaries and our own rules and it works for us. I don’t know that it would work for everyone. In fact, I’m sure it wouldn’t. And, no, Sophia doesn’t know about it. Not because we think it’s wrong or bad, but because it’s gross to talk about your sex life with your fifteen-year-old, no matter how close you are.” Maude’s face had tensed again. “Or at least, I don’t think she knows … Anyway, I don’t want her to. I don’t want her thinking an open relationship is all she’s entitled to. If that’s what she wants, then fine. That’s a different story. It was a thing I had to talk Sebe into, not the other way around. Anyway, that’s why this is the last year for the party.”
“What?” Sarah gasped.
“It is,” Maude said firmly. “We decided a while ago. When So phia … we’ve decided, for sure.”
“Come on, Maude,” Sarah pleaded. “I need your parties. Living vicariously through them is all I have.”
“You seemed to have made do just fine on your own when necessary,” Maude said wryly.
“Touché,” Sarah said, turning to Amanda. “For the second time, Maude is referring to the time I ‘cheated’ on Kerry. She would obviously like me to tell you.”
Maude raised an eyebrow, pointedly. “What’s fair is fair.”
“Oh,” Amanda said, and she could feel herself looking too shocked. She couldn’t help it. She was just so caught off guard. Stunned, in fact. Sarah had cheated on Kerry?
“Don’t worry, Amanda, Kerry knows. We’re totally past it,” Sarah said. “And by ‘cheated,’ I mean I made out with Henry’s soccer coach once, for like two seconds, a few months ago.”
“Oh,” Amanda said again, dumbly. Because she was still shocked.
“The coach has this Irish accent, and he was always flirting with me, and I don’t know …” Sarah shrugged. “Anyway, Kerry was fairly reasonable about the whole thing.”
“I can’t believe you told him,” Maude said.
“Kerry and I don’t keep secrets. It’s not our style. For better and for worse,” Sarah said. “He was hurt, obviously, but he knows how much I love him. Eventually, he was like, ‘I accept your apology; let’s move on.’ And he did. I’d probably have been throwing it in his face for years. Kerry’s always been a bigger person than me.”
“He loves you,” Amanda said, without really meaning to.
“He does,” Sarah said. “The only time I can ever remember Kerry getting truly mad at me was when I tried to break up with him in college. He was so fucking pissed.” She smiled mischievously. “It was kind of hot.”
“Hot?” Maude laughed. “That is twisted, Sarah.”
“I don’t know … You want a nice guy, but not too nice, right?” Sarah said. “It was reassuring to find a lion buried in there.”
“He drops everything to do whatever you say,” Amanda added.
“They’re supposed to do what you say, Amanda,” Sarah said, exasperated. “They’re husbands. That’s the whole point.”
“Please,” Maude said. “Sebe doesn’t do a single thing around the house until I’ve completely lost it on him.”
“But Sebe is, you know, Sebe.” Sarah fanned herself. “I’d let him ignore me all he wanted. As long as he did it shirtless.”
“Oh, shut up.” Maude laughed and tossed a balled-up napkin playfully at Sarah.
“Hey, do you think you guys can handle this open-relationship thing because Sebe’s an OB? I mean, he is already looking at all those other vajayjays.”
“Sarah, that’s gross!” Maude laughed some more, her cheeks pink.
“I’m serious!” Sarah said. “That’s a serious question.”
“One which I will ignore, thank you,” Maude said, then turned to Amanda. “What about you, Amanda? What is Zach like? I can’t believe I haven’t met him yet.”
“I can,” Sarah snorted. “Amanda’s other half is a ghost.” But right away, she grimaced. “Oh, I’m sorry, Amanda. That was—I shouldn’t have said that. What the hell do I know? A good marriage is the one that survives. And none of us will know that until all is said and done.”
“Survival?” Maude asked, quietly. “Is that all we’re going for?”
“Low expectations.” Sarah winked. “They are the key to happily ever after.”
For the first time ever, Amanda didn’t feel like offering up some well-crafted version of her marriage. After all, her friends had trusted her with the truth about theirs. Amanda could admit at least something. “Zach does work a lot. Sarah is right. Sometimes we barely see each other.”
Maude smiled softly. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” she said reassuringly. “I do hope you’ll come to the party, though. And Zach, too, of course. Regardless of what Sarah says, it’s a lot of fun even if you never go upstairs.”