The Housewife(50)

I hear footsteps behind me. I stand up so fast I give myself whiplash. I hold the doorjamb to steady myself.

“Those stupid shoes…” I mumble, slipping my finger in the back of my right pump.

“Mrs. Davies?”

God. You know Roy’s home for her to call me Mrs. Davies.

“Oh, Marie! I didn’t hear you there. My shoe… I think my feet must have swelled up in the heat!”

She’s wearing her dusty-pink coat and carrying her little purse. “I was wondering if…”

“Yes?” I’m straining to hear what Roy is saying while still focusing on Marie. I can just make out words like mistake and sweetheart. Marie blinks at me. Can she hear this too? I give her my sunniest smile, like I’m the happiest person ever, and move away from the door as if to go upstairs. “Sorry, did you want something?”

“No… Yes. I don’t want to disturb Dr. Davies… ”

“No. Please don’t. He’s in a conversation with…” I push a strand of hair away from my face. “With a patient. Role play, I believe.”

“I understand. So I was wondering, maybe I could ask you…”

“Yes, yes. What is it?”

“Could I please have the night off tonight?”

“Yes, of course, you can have the night off anytime you like.”

“Oh.” She clutches her little purse, surprised. Why? Did she think I was going to say no?

“But I was going to prepare dinner…”

“No problem, Marie. I’ll do it.”

“So you don’t mind?”

“I don’t mind.” By now I’m speaking through gritted teeth. Please go.

Roy is speaking again.

I’m so sorry about everything. You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice.

“I’ll be back tomorrow late morning,” Marie says. “I’ll do the washing up from dinner then.”

“Yes, yes, that’s fine. I’ll do the washing up. You enjoy your night off.”

Sweetheart…you’re worrying me. Tell me what’s going on?

“Well then. If you’re sure…”

“Positive.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Davies.”

I pretend to go up the stairs while she makes her way out the front door. The moment she’s gone, I run back to take up my position, my ear pressed against the keyhole.

“I’m so sorry about everything,” Roy says. “You’ve got no idea how much I’ve missed you. I think about you day and night. Yes. Yes, sweetheart, let’s meet. I’ll come over now.”

Silence. My ear is pressed so hard against the door that I’ll have an imprint of that lock on my earlobe.

“Okay. Please calm down, sweetheart. All right. I’ll come later. Yes. Around ten or eleven, after Jodie is asleep. You have no idea how happy I am to hear your voice. I’ve missed you so much. Don’t worry, whatever it is, we’ll figure it out. Oh God. Vee. I made a terrible mistake, but I’ll make it right, I promise…”

I feel like I’ve been punched in the solar plexus. So Vee, a.k.a. Veronica, is back on the scene. Why?

My head is spinning. Maybe the harpies have had their hand in it. Maybe they called Vee, dear Vee, and told her horrible lies about me. Like I’m jealous of Deborah, like my puff pastry wasn’t buttery enough, like I forage for food in garbage cans.

If Vee is back and he wants to meet her tonight…that means he’s going to break up with me.

I go straight to the downstairs guest bathroom, grab handfuls of little soaps—those are shaped like stars and moons and smell of lemongrass—and bring them to my nose.

There… Isn’t that better? Doesn’t that smell divine? Look how pretty they are with their perfect shapes and colors.

But it doesn’t work. I picture my linen cupboard and still it’s not enough. I think of my roses, especially the pink ones that look like they were plucked from a Good Housekeeping photo shoot, and all I can see is Deb’s ravaged, tired face.

I put the soaps back in the gorgeous holder—navy and gold—then go upstairs to my bedroom. I sit on the bed, my fingers against my temples.

I have to calm down. I have to think. This can’t be happening. I’m not done yet. And I can’t pull off the pregnancy trick again, obviously.

Maybe I can talk to Veronica. I could press upon her that we are a happily married couple and she needs to find her own man, and anyway, isn’t she with David? Isn’t that what the harpies said?

Yes. Maybe she and David have hit a snag in their relationship, and she’s thinking of Roy again, but she can’t. She can’t be going around breaking up marriages. It’s just not right. I need to talk to her. I need her address. I need to see her face-to-face and deal with the situation. And to get her address, I need access to Roy’s phone.

Except we’re not that couple who has each other’s phone codes.

But I wonder… I close my eyes, then hold up my own phone in front of my face. When I open them, the phone is unlocked.

I try again, just to be sure, then I try another two or three times and every time, the phone unlocks without me having my eyes open.

Perfect.





Roy stays in his office a while longer, although now with the door open. I bring him his usual Scotch on the rocks with a spritz of soda, just the way he likes it. He’s working on his laptop. He smiles at me, not like he’s happy to see me, but like he’s happy, full stop. Like I could be Marie, and he’d still smile like that .