“Nah.” I shake my head. “I’m going to head home and surprise my wife.” I smile as I grab my bag and go give them a handshake and then a side hug. “Keep in touch over the summer break.”
I walk out and say goodbye to a couple of people before I head out and get in my SUV. I call my father on my way out, like I do all the time, something that became a habit from when I was in Montreal, but now he lives thirty minutes from me. They came down to visit and two months later, by chance, I found a house that wasn’t too far from us, so I sent it to them as a joke, never expecting them to move out here. But they shocked the shit out of me by buying it. Two years later, my younger sister and her husband also came for a visit and decided to uproot and move west. “Hey,” my father answers after one ring, “how was today?”
“Not as hard as I thought it was going to be,” I answer him honestly, “but it sucks.”
“Makes you want it that much more the next time,” he states. “You guys will come back and get better. Fuck, two years ago, you guys were dead last and now you almost made it into the playoffs.”
“Yeah, totally,” I agree with him. “I’m just happy I get to have a couple of weeks off before school is out.”
“It’ll be good for you to give your body a break,” he says as I turn onto my street.
“Okay, I’m home,” I tell him. “I’ll call you later.”
I pull into the driveway, opting to park outside instead of in the garage. Jogging up the four steps, I smile as I open the door. I close it behind me and head to the kitchen, expecting Josephine to be there preparing dinner. I look right and left and find the house is eerily quiet. Her routine never changes, so I walk to the stairs when I suddenly hear noises. Stopping when I hear muttered voices, I wonder if she has a repairman here. I get to the top of the steps and I’m outside our half-closed bedroom door, when I hear Josephine say, “No one fucks better than you.”
The blood drains from my whole body. My feet are planted on the floor like they are in cement boots. “How are we going to do two months without this?” I feel like I’m floating out of my body, my head spinning around and around. My hand comes up and pushes open the door a bit. “Fuck, that’s right, baby, right there.” I blink for what feels an eternity, not sure I’m actually seeing what I’m seeing. I stand here wondering if this is a dream, or better yet a fucking nightmare.
There, in the middle of the king-size bed is my wife with her back to me, her blonde hair swinging side to side as she rides. My eyes go to the hands holding her hips, to the guy lying in the middle of my bed. A guy who has been in my house more times than I can remember. A guy who has told me he would look after everything when I was on the road. The same guy who is married to my sister. “Fuck, it’s so good.”
A snort comes out of me, and then a bark of laughter now rages out. I don’t know who looks over first, if it’s Josephine or Jeremy. I don’t think I’ve ever been this out of my mind before. “She said the same thing to me this morning.”
Josephine is the first to scramble away from him, grabbing his T-shirt from the bed. “Don’t cover up just yet, sweetheart. I did pay for those tits.” I look at Jeremy, who is flying off the side of the bed farthest from me. “Well, this is an interesting way of taking care of my wife for me.” He holds his jeans up in his hand.
“Knox,” he says, the color now drained from his face, “we can explain.”
I hold up my hand. “Not sure I need you to give me a play-by-play.” I look at them both.
My wife is in the middle of the bed with tears running down her face. “Knox,” she says my name in a whisper. “I…” she trails off.
“You what? Didn’t mean for this to happen, but you fucked him in my bed?” I roar out the last part. “Or are you going to pretend this is the first time?” I shake my head, my heart feeling like it’s being shattered in my chest. The pressure of it feeling like someone has gripped it from the middle of my chest and yanked it out. “You fucked up.” I look into her eyes. “You’ve ruined this family.”
“Knox.” She moves onto her knees as she comes to the side of the bed. “Please.”
I look at her then back at my brother-in-law. “You can have her.” I take one more look at her. “Goodbye.”
two
Four months later
Knox
“Vincent!” I shout up the steps. “Westley.” My voice goes a touch higher. “Nora,” I sing out the last name, “it’s time to get going.”
“Coming.” Nora is the only one who answers me as she walks out of her bedroom with her backpack, dragging it behind her, and my stomach tightens the way it usually does when it’s time for them to go back to Josephine. “Daddy, I can’t pick it up,” she whines at the top of the stairs and tries to lift it and grunts out, “can you help me?”
“What is in there?” I ask her, taking the steps two at a time and stopping at the top.
“I brought some of my books,” she replies. I pick up her backpack and then look back at her. “So I can practice at Mommy’s house.”
“Got it,” I say, not telling her that if her mother wants her to practice reading, she should go and get her own goddamn books. Instead, I smile at her and bend to kiss her soft light brown hair. “Your breakfast is on the counter,” I tell her and she nods, going to walk down the steps. “Did we brush our teeth?”
She snorts, “I forgot.” She laughs and runs back to her bedroom where she has the Jack and Jill bathroom with Westley. “Daddy,” she shouts, “Westley said I can’t brush my teeth, he’s in here!”
“Westley,” I throw over my shoulder, “share the sink.”
“Ugh, Dad, can I have my own bathroom?” he groans and I chuckle as I grab her bag and head downstairs.
“Vincent!” I shout. “Let’s go, buddy.”
