“—The time is—"
"No. Lincoln, hold on. I just need to know one thing before we even start because I don't wanna waste my time."
He stares at me standing, refusing to sit, probably because he wants me to know I have his full attention. His lips purse together, then he gnaws on his bottom lip.
"Are you cheating on me?"
I just let the question sit there because why not?
What makes me feel horrible is that my husband just stands there staring at me, not saying a word. My eyelids fly open even wider, tears in them.
-??-
Chapter 7
Why is he not saying anything?
"No," he says after some hesitation.
"Why did you hesitate?"
"Sorry. I didn't process what you were—"
“Link, why did you… okay. You need to bestraightwith me, becauserightnow… I’m not feeling so good about where we are."
"Gabby, my—I…" He's stuttering so much. He bows his head and looks somewhere else and then looks at me. "I'm under a lot of stress right—"
"No. That's not the point.Soam I."
"So are you?! You get to work from home! You don't have to do any commuting. Ahugeportion of my salary is what's keeping us living like this."
"I neveraskedfor all of that, Lincoln."
"You didn'thaveto! I promised your father I would take care of you. I paid offyourdebts. I paid offmydebts. I paid off yourfather'sdebts. I paid off thishousewith the skin of my teeth just last month."
"Wedid?"
"Yes. Mortgage is paid off. We own the home, and we're trying to get into real estate like you said. I'm looking into the investments. I'm doing all of this so we can be okay because shit is happening in the economy, and I wanna make sure that we're good. So I'm sorry. Yes. I'm stressed," Lincoln explains.
"Oh, I understand all of that, and I appreciate all of that, Link, but communication…" I say.
Taking a breath, I shiver. Lincoln stares.
"Look. To be honest with you, Gabby, there's gonna be times when I can't always touch base with you. It is what it is, and I'm sorry that I made you feel as though that was achievable. But with the kind of job that I'm doing, it's almost impossible," Lincoln continues.
"It's impossible for you to keep…"
My voice trembles as I trail off, putting the back of my hand up against my lips to control my breathing.
"Let me get this straight," I say, clasping my hands together.
"You're saying that the job, as it stands right now, is making it impossible for you to tell me that you're gonna be home late."
"I do tell you that, but sometimes it doesn't go through, and I'm gonna have to leave the building every time I wanna tell you that I'm gonna be home late."
"Baby, it's almost three—"
"I know you said that. It is what it is. I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to tell you."
