Gerald decided that the best course of action was to ignore his friend, and maybe he would go away like an annoying bug.
“I am asking,” Morgan could be more annoying than anything in the world, “what did you do?”
Gerald sighed, exasperated, and looked up at his friend.
“I believe you’d have better things to do this night than annoy me, of course.”
“Actually, I don’t,” Morgan said and approached Gerald with a fake smile. “But even if I did, I would cancel all plans in order to know what exactly my best friend did to his beloved wife.”
“What makes you think that I did something wrong?”
Morgan looked at him with a deadpan stare. Granted, Gerald had never been the easiest of men to be around, but he should like to think that he behaved fairly decently on this occasion.
“If you’re trying to tell me that you are punishing Arabella for what she did at the wedding, be prepared for me to- ”
“This has nothing to do with Cecilia’s wedding,” Gerald said abruptly. “And Arabella knows I hold no grudges. In fact, I congratulated her on her decision to act so.”
Morgan seemed genuinely surprised.
“And here I was,” Morgan said, “thinking that you didn’t possess an ounce of common sense. I guess getting married to Arabella has truly changed you for the better.”
Gerald ground his jaw and looked away. Yes, he prided himself on behaving decently, and yet he couldn’t understand why he was feeling this bad.
It felt like a thorn lodged beneath his ribs. Small, persistent, and sinking deeper every time he tried to ignore it. He was under thegrave impression that no matter what he did, that thorn would finally get to his heart.
“So,” Morgan seemed determined that particular night, “is everything OK between you and Arabella?”
“Everything is amicable.”
“Amicable,” Morgan said with a mocking expression. “Because that is exactly how things between a husband and a wife should be. Amicable.”
“I do not know how things must be between a husband and a wife, but between partners, things should stay amicable.”
Morgan came closer and pulled the paper that Gerald had been pretending to read for the past ten minutes. Gerald looked up at his friend, and he expected some mischievous look, but this time his friend was really looking at him seriously.
Gerald got up and went straight to the whiskey decanter. When Arabella was there, he was not retreating to that nasty habit as often. For the past few days…
“Is it really that bad?” Morgan demanded.
“I just told you that things are-”
“…amicable. I heard you the first time. Allow me to have my doubts. Unless you give every partner the heated looks you gave your wife. And I sincerely hope you do not spend your nights in bed with every partner.”
“Morgan!”
“I will ask once more. What did you do?”
Gerald emptied the whiskey and filled his glass again. He had the gnawing feeling, but it wasn’t so much what he did that tortured him, rather what he didn’t.
“With Arabella, we had an understanding, Morgan. She was to appear by my side for three events, and then we would go our very civilized separate ways.”
Morgan studied his friend for quite some time. His face was unreadable as he simply stared at Gerald.
“You idiot!”
Gerald almost choked on his whiskey.
“I beg your pardon?”
