So. Yeah.That’sa thing.
“Hi,” he of the green eyes says to me. He’s also fled our marital home and come to Raffi’s.
“Hi?” I reply, because what is anyone supposed to say in this awful situation?
The moment stretches and he scratches the back of his neck. “I was just gonna go. I know you two have plans.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“You, uh, have to pee?” He’s stepping aside from the door, beckoning me in.
I can hear Raff loudly singing a Madonna B side while water splats onto the shower floor. The bathroom is clearly occupied. “I’ll wait.”
“Okay.”
I still haven’t entered Raff’s apartment. “I put your mother’s birthday gift on your bed.”Which you’d know if you’d come home last night. Which you didn’t.
“Oh.” He doesn’t even ask what it is.
“I got a portrait framed for her. I picked it up yesterday.”
“From St. Michel?”
“Yeah.”
There’s a long pause. He’s looking at the floor, then glancing up at me. His eyes are green fire. “Did you check it?”
Since when does he care if I check St. Michel’s work? “I’m sure it’s fine.”
His gaze drops. “Right.”
I can’t help it. My eyes narrow and something hot and ugly licks to life in my insides. That wasnota thank-you. For organizing and executing his mother’s gift, in time for him to drive it up for her birthday tomorrow, no less.
“Youcan check it, if you want.”If you’re so worried about it, dickheadis what I definitely don’t say.
“Okay.”
I can’t help it. Ihaveto ask. “What are you going to tell her?”
“Who?”
“Your mom.”
“What am I going to tell her about what?”
What other topic could I possibly be addressing right now? “About us.”
“What about us.”
I’m going to either scream or burst into tears. Why is he making me say this out loud?
“That you’removing out.”
My blood is firework-fizzling with adrenaline, everything is fuzzy around the edges. Almost nothing could have hurt me more than this emergency exit strategy, this I’m-getting-out-of-here-without-even-a-word.
His nostrils flare and his lips purse. Looking into Vin’s eyes used to give me the same sense of safety that tucking blankets up to my chin does. I used to call him Vinny Green Eyes. But now, with his new beard obscuring the bottom half of his face, he looks like a different man. His eyes are suddenly so fierce upon me that it physically hurts to hold eye contact.
Luckily, he rips his eyeline away and slowly scrubs his hands over his face, beard and all.
