Lately, no one seemed to surprise me more than my wife. “Absolutely not. Support her without question.”
“Okay.”
“Does she need anything like tuition money?”
His voice dipped, uncertain. “She was checking out laptops at the mall, but so far she hasn’t bought anything.”
“Thanks.”
That evening,I decided to leave work early. I took a detour on the way home and stopped at a high end computer store to buy Mila the best laptop I could find.
When I walked in the door, I expected to find her sitting alone in her room, watching a show.
I wasn’t expecting to hear laughter and music. Anton was in the front sitting room, eating a bowl of stew. He nodded at me when I walked by.
I stopped in the doorway of the kitchen to observe. Mila sat cross legged on the island while she worked on her old laptop. A tall, athletic guy with blond hair stood at the stove, stirring something. Music played from a small speaker on top of the fridge. Both of them were laughing.
It struck me that they looked like a couple. They were around the same age, and they obviously had a bond that I had never had with my wife. She seemed casual, open and happy.
Something dark and ugly washed over me.
When she caught sight of me, her eyes widened, and she scrambled off the island. The guy turned off the music and they both looked at me with varying degrees of guilt.
Which only pissed me off more. I felt like a stranger in my own home.
My tone was dry. “Well, don’t let me interrupt.”
Neither of them spoke, but then Mila found her voice. “What are you doing here?”
I didn’t know what I had expected, but it wasn’t this. “I live here.”
Jordan cleared his throat. “I’m Jordan.”
He was giving me a nervous smile, like a young man meeting his date’s father for the first time.
I stared at him with a blank expression, trying to override the jealousy that was catching me off guard. As a compromise, I turned around without speaking and moved to my office.
I was aware that she followed me, but I didn’t stop.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I walked into my office and set the computer bag on my desk.
“You could have been nicer, you know. Jordan has been really nervous to meet you.” She sounded a little salty, and that was like fuel to the fire inside me.
Something was unleashed, and it felt good to set it loose. “Excuse me?”
“Jordan, the chef you hired, was making dinner for me, and we were having fun. And you came home unexpectedly for the first time in ages, and you scared everyone.”
“You don’t seem particularly scared.”
Unlike most people in my world, Mila wasn’t afraid of me. She didn’t have a problem challenging me or pushing me, and right now was no different. She stood in the middle of my office, with her hand on one hip and the most adorable annoyed look on her face.
That was the exact energy that drove me crazy.
