The Golden Couple(31)
Matthew had slept beside her in their bed, and though they hadn’t touched, she’d fallen asleep to the familiar sound of his breathing. On Sunday, Marissa, Matthew, and Bennett had gone to the zoo, watching the giant pandas chew bamboo and spending an hour in the Reptile House—Bennett’s favorite exhibit. Matthew hadn’t checked his phone even once, instead reading the little plaques that described the reptiles and discussing the facts with Bennett. As they’d exited the building, Matthew had opened the door for her and touched the small of her back as she walked through it.
Could Avery really be that good? Marissa had wondered. Two sessions and one date night in, and she and Matthew already seemed to be on the road to recovery.
Avery was worth every bit of her astronomical fee, which Marissa was paying for out of her own earnings. There was no better investment than the health of her marriage.
But last night, Matthew hadn’t come to bed until after Marissa was asleep. And in the sharp light of this Monday morning, Marissa feels off-kilter; it’s as if the magic of the weekend is already evaporating. She received a text from FedEx that the delivery of the hand-painted place settings she’d ordered from Portugal was delayed again, which meant the opinionated, difficult customer who planned to use them for a special dinner party would throw a fit. Then, as she was rushing out the door to get Bennett to school, he informed her that he’d failed his math test and she needed to sign the quiz. Plus one of her favorite bangles, the one with her and Matthew’s initials engraved on the inside, was missing. She’d looked every place she could think of, even between the cushions of the couches and beneath her bed. She’d checked under the seats of her car and shaken out the contents of her purse.
Now Marissa approaches the gym’s front desk. This is the exact time she used to frequent her Pilates class: Mondays and Wednesdays right after she dropped off Bennett and before she went to Coco. She watches as a woman with a towel draped over her neck heads toward the room where the Reformers are located.
Since her confession to Matthew, this is the first time Marissa has entered Pinnacle.
She stands behind a man at the front desk, who is asking for a new plastic tag for his key chain, awaiting her turn.
As the man turns away and Marissa steps forward to scan her own tag and gain access to the facility, she hears, “Hey, Marissa!” It’s the gym manager—a handsome, muscular man in his early thirties. “Haven’t seen you around recently.”
“It’s been crazy busy.” She doesn’t meet his eyes. The scanner doesn’t work. “Come on,” Marissa mutters.
“Sorry!” the front-desk clerk chirps. “The monitor’s been acting weird lately.”
The manager begins to walk over to help. Marissa takes a deep breath and tries again.
“There you go!” the clerk says.
Marissa smiles and rushes past her, tossing a wave to the manager as she hurries toward the women’s changing room. She pays an extra fee to keep a permanent locker there, with her sneakers and toiletries. She inputs the code and her locker door swings open.
She shakes out each sneaker and checks her toiletries bag.
She closes her eyes and breathes a sigh of relief: The bracelet is tucked inside.
She’s slipping it on her wrist when her phone rings. It’s Matthew.
She considers letting it go to voice mail, but it’s so unlike him to call during the workday that she wonders if something’s wrong.
“Hello there.”
“Hey, listen, I forgot what time we’re seeing Avery tonight.”
“It’s in the family calendar. Seven P.M.”
“Oh, yeah, now I remember.” Matthew hesitates. “How’s your day going?”
Is it possible Matthew called merely to hear her voice? It has been years since he’s done that.
She clears her throat. “Good…”
A few feet away, two women begin to talk about the spin class they just took. “That was insane,” the slim redhead says. “I don’t think I’m gonna be able to walk tomorrow.”
“Are you at Coco?” Matthew asks.
Does he recall that she goes to Pilates on Monday mornings? He admitted to driving by the gym and wanting to beat up every guy in it. Maybe this is a test.
“Uh, actually I’m at Pinnacle.” She closes her eyes and quickly adds, “I’m canceling my membership.”
She’ll miss her classes and the convenient location, but she needs to put Matthew’s mind at ease.
She waits a beat. “Matthew? Are you still there?”
“Ah … Okay.” Her body sags in relief because his tone is fractionally warmer. “See you at seven.”
* * *
Marissa opens the door to Coco and steps inside. No matter what else is going on in her life, this chic, intimate space feels like a sanctuary. Marissa was involved in every step of its creation, from consulting with the architect who drew up the plans to remodel the rooms—which formerly was an ophthalmologist’s office—to choosing the reclaimed wood to wrap around the trio of beams that bisect the store. The lighting, the layout, the dove-gray paint on the walls—it’s her vision, brought to life.
At first, she wasn’t completely sure she could pull it off. Back at her parents’ store, she discovered she had a knack for rearranging the display cases, but she had help—her best friend, Tina, had worked alongside her. Together, they’d come up with the idea of using little boxes to lift the trays of caprese and pasta salads, and bringing in springs of fresh herbs and pretty wildflowers to adorn the tuna steaks and deviled eggs. She and Tina had also bought inexpensive straw baskets to display tomatoes and zucchini and unshucked corn, and they’d convinced Marissa’s parents to replace the tired laminated floor with inexpensive material that looked like stone tiles. Tina, who loved fashion and had an eye for color, had picked the stone; it was a shade of rust that Marissa wasn’t sure would work. But Tina insisted it would, and it had. In another life, Marissa could still be working at Conner’s—helping her brother, Luke, gradually taking over the reins from her parents, perhaps even branching out into a second location. She could have married a local boy and remained near the water. She wouldn’t have Tina, but maybe she’d have started trying to get pregnant earlier and been able to have more children.