“I’m glad I live now versus back then.”
“Same. If you want more examples of how hard life was in the 1870s, we could discuss food — what folks ate back then was basic and limited compared to the choices we have now. And then there’s medicine —talk about a horror show.”
“No, I’m good. I’m getting why the research for the book became quite involved.”
He nodded. “Looking back, it’s the research that led to the first friction between me and my wife.”
“Because…?”
“She was used to me being with her. The first year of our marriage, we were together constantly. She’s very social and does a lot of fund-raising for charities, so we were always going to events, luncheons, dinners, galas, weekend getaways….”
Penny shook her head. “Honestly, that sounds like a lot.”
“It wasn’t for me, at least not at first. I wanted to understand her and her world. I was happy to jump in and experience it all.”
“How did she respond when your book research pulled you away?”
“She was good about it initially, but I could tell she wanted me to spend more time with her.”
“Did she understand the amount of work required to write that novel?”
He shook his head. “She didn’t. Neither did I, at least until I got into it.”
“So what happened next?”
“She started going to events without me. We didn’t talk as much or see each other as much. ‘Our day’ became ‘her day’ and ‘my day.’”
“You grew apart.”
“About six months into the research and writing, I signed up to attend an academic conference that looked like a great way to meet several historians whose books I’d been impressed by. I had questions for them and hoped they’d have answers. And then my wife told me that she and her boarding-school friends were planning a getaway for that same week. She wanted me to go with her.”
“Let me guess,” she said. “You didn’t go with her.”
He shook his head. “I went to the conference.”
“Which upset her.”
“One of the people at the getaway was her ex. He grew up with her and he’s always been in love with her. They dated in boarding school and broke up, dated in college and broke up, and dated in New York and broke up.”
“Why did they keep breaking up?”
“I should rephrase. She kept breaking up with him.”
“Why?”
“She wasn’t ready to commit.”
“Because…?”
“Because —this is my take —she wanted to experience more of life than she could experience with him.”
“What’s he like?”
“He’s a good-enough guy, I suppose. They’re part of the same crowd. He and I never hit it off, for obvious reasons.”
“Are they together now?”
He nodded. “They just announced their engagement.”
