The Better Liar(63)

Where are you?


We’re having omelets for dinner


You said you would be home by now



I picked up my phone again.


Are you still on your walk?



I drank the rest of my wine as StoryBots ended, and then I picked Eli up and carried him to his room. In his crib, he chewed on his gummy key ring, looking up at me. I shut off the light and went into the bedroom and lay on the bed. After a minute, I heard Eli start to cry. I didn’t move. I imagined him dropping his key ring through the rungs of his crib, leaning over and crying when he couldn’t see it; he did it all the time.

    Footsteps on the stairs. Eli’s door clicked open and shut, and his cries grew louder as he was carried down the stairs, then tapered off again. After what seemed like ages, the bedroom door opened and Dave came in alone, yawning. I didn’t turn my head, but I could feel him standing at the foot of the bed, watching me.

“What?” I said.

The mattress dipped as he climbed onto the bed. He knee-walked toward me and seized one of my feet. “Remember how you used to wear a toe ring?”

I was surprised into laughing and it turned out more like a cough. “It was trendy!”

“Not when you were doing it.” He stroked the toe in question, causing me to yank my leg into the air and shriek. “It was 2014. Everyone else was done with that by 2007 except, like, Renaissance-fair chicks.”

“That’s not true,” I said, although I suspected that it was. “I’m just sentimental. I like to hang on to my jewelry.”

He moved up to curl himself around me. “You had a little tan line on your toe,” he whispered into my ear. I laughed harder, and tears sprang to my eyes. “Whoa,” he said, brushing his thumb over my eyelashes. “You okay?”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

“I won’t make fun of your toe ring anymore. I can see I’ve really hurt you.”

I pinched his earlobe and he smiled.

“You got Eli to sleep?” I asked after a minute.

“Mhmm,” Dave said, stretching. “What was all that stuff on his face? I thought he was a goblin when I looked in the crib.”

“Your mom painted him like a tiger,” I said. “Cadence sent a video. You didn’t see it?”

“Oh, that,” he said. “I didn’t open it. I was driving.”

I glanced at him, wishing I could press the shape of him into my memory exactly, so I could return to it when I couldn’t look at him anymore. His curly hair, slightly uneven teeth, the places on his skin the sun had textured. Sometimes I wanted to crawl inside him, touch him from the inside out. Sometimes I felt like that was what he did to me.

    “Are we watching TV? We’re now two weeks behind on Naked and Afraid, just so you know.”

I shifted to get under the blanket with him. “I hate that show.”

Dave shook his head confidently. “You only think you hate it until you watch it, and then you’re telling me how you could survive in the wilderness because you read My Side of the Mountain and you know how to identify mushrooms.”

“I don’t want to watch TV.” I rolled over and rubbed my cheek against his shoulder. “I want to kiss you.”

Dave raised his eyebrows. “What kind of kiss?”

“A full-on high-school make-out session,” I said. “I want to put a hickey on your neck.”

He laughed. “Everyone at work will make fun of me for being fourteen.”

My heart seized. “Too bad.” I climbed into his lap and put my arms around his neck. “I’m your wife, and that’s what I want.”

He tilted his chin up, and I leaned down to press my lips to his. He tasted like rum, and something else, slightly tangy.

“We need to be doing this in a movie theater,” he mumbled against my mouth. “For realism. Go get your toe ring and chew some bubble gum.”

I wrinkled my nose. “What do you do with the gum? Do you pass it back and forth?”

Dave snorted. “What a goody-goody. You were studying while I was gaining all this knowledge. No, you stick it on your finger so you can chew it after you’re done.”

“That’s disgusting,” I breathed.

“It’s conserving resources.” He pulled me back in. We kissed until I forgot about the bubble gum and reached for him, stroking his face.

“I love you,” I said without meaning to.

    Something about my expression must have been off. He tilted his head. “I love you too, baby,” he said. “What’s wrong?”

I opened my mouth and said nothing, as I always did, as I’d been doing for months and months. I took a deep breath. “Sorry. I’m just tired. Robin’s not home yet. I don’t know where she went.” I untangled myself from Dave and reached for my phone. Where are you? I texted again.

Sunset grille & bar makin lots of friendsss, she texted back instantly.

“Is that her?” Dave peered over my shoulder.

“She always does this,” I said. “I have to—I have to go get her. I’ll be back soon.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I pushed my hair off my face and got out of bed. “I’m fine. She just needs a ride. She’s all the way across town. Stay here with the monitor, okay?” She was going to fuck everything up.