She glanced at the screen. “You took a risk there,” she said. “Turning that on without knowing my political leanings. Could’ve been a deal breaker.”
“And it’s not?”
“Nope. We’re still good to go.”
“You had me worried for a second. Diane and I didn’t discuss politics.”
“Opposing views?”
“She didn’t have a view. Never voted in her life, at least not when I knew her. She said she didn’t see the point. What about your ex?”
“Jay’s view was the only one that counted. I didn’t say much so he assumed I agreed with him. It was the path of least resistance. We had more important things to argue about.”
When she didn’t elaborate, he decided to prompt. “Such as?”
“Oh, we’re going there this morning.” She added half and half to her coffee, took a sip and nodded, satisfied. “You think I’m stalling?”
“It occurred to me. You can tell me to mind my own business.”
“I know I can, and you’d be decent about it, but I’m prepared to share a few things. I was simply prioritizing the list.” Ramsey pushed the cereal box to the side so it no longer distracted her. “Most of it was about money. He managed it all, the bills, the bank, our debt, our credit, even groceries and incidentals. I got an allowance for personal spending and I had to show him receipts. Fifty dollars every week. If I didn’t spend it or couldn’t prove I spent it, he subtracted the difference from the next allowance.” Ramsey turned her head, regarded Sullivan candidly. “You look as if you want to say something.”
“Want to,” he said. “Don’t know if I should.”
Ramsey shrugged. “Up to you.” She waited, cocked an eyebrow.
Sullivan set his lips together and thought it over. “All right. It seems uncharacteristic that you would tolerate that.”
“You didn’t know me then,” she said frankly. “Looking back, I hardly recognize myself. I was finishing my degree. He’s eight years older than me so he was already working, good job, excellent money, and I was creating debt. It just made sense to let him handle our finances. He never complained and I never cared enough to ask how we were doing. I don’t know if you can understand or appreciate how it’s possible to suddenly find yourself treading water when you never knew you were in the deep end of the pool.”
“I might have some understanding,” said Sullivan. “And a little appreciation. My marriage was like that toward the end.”
“Right.” She sipped her coffee and then held the mug between her palms. “At the point I recognized I was exhausted of reporting to Jay and began asking questions about our accounts, I got the don’t-worry-your-pretty-little-head-about-it speech. We were off to the races at that point. We argued about the job he never wanted me to have in the first place. Argued about me stepping out with girlfriends from school. It disintegrated from there until he was pointing out that I didn’t make the corners of the bed with a sharp enough crease. Dust bunnies under the couch. Dishwasher not loaded to his liking.”
Ramsey gave him a sidelong look. “See? No time for politics, not a discussion anyway. When he pontificated, I dissociated.”
“How did he take it when you asked for a divorce?”
“Pretty much how you’d imagine he would.” She shook her head. “That’s enough of that.” She picked up the box of Crunch and gave it a shake over her bowl. “You want more? You still have milk.”
Sullivan put out a hand. “I’m good.” He switched gears. “What do you have planned for today?”
“House cleaning. Reading. Laundry. Feed the fish. Grocery shopping. All the highlights. What about you?”
“Afternoon shift so I’m going to go down to the rec center and swim this morning.” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “You know, you could cut out one of your highlights and join me.”
“Not a chance. Maybe when I know you better, I’ll embarrass myself swimming in front of you.”
“You can’t be that bad.”
“I’m a fish out of waterinthe water.”
He chuckled. “All right. We’ll save it.”
Ramsey tapped him lightly on the back of his hand with the bowl of her spoon. “I said maybe. Maybe when I know you better.”
When Ramsey removed the spoon, Sullivan sucked a droplet of milk off his knuckle while he regarded her with a vaguely retaliatory stare.
“Hey,” she said, holding up the spoon as if to ward him off. “It was just a tap. Just a drop of milk.”
