She glanced over at him, to see if he was kidding. He wasn’t. “Yeah,” she said. “I mean, it’s Tom’s money, but yeah.”
Russ was nodding. He looked far away. When he used to get drunk in college, he’d get silly. Affectionate. Not like this. “That makes sense, I guess.”
“Here I thought you were a gold digger,” Cherry said.
“Huh,” he said, still far away. “Yeah.”
“I keep expecting you to know more about all this. I thought you’d have googled it by now.”
“I figured you’d tell me what you wanted me to know...” Russ said.
If Cherry weren’t driving, she would have kissed him for that.
He pushed both hands into his hair. “... but you never tell me anything.”
“What?” She looked over at him. “What do you expect me to say? I mean—it’s not really my story.Thursdayisn’t mine.”
Russ laughed. His voice got high: “Itis, Cherry. It follows you around. Actually—it arrives before you do.”
“Well, I can’t help that.”
“I’m not saying you can. But you could have prepared me for it.”
“Prepared you how? Was I supposed to make you read a Wikipedia page at the Goldenrod concert?”
“We’ve been together for months now! I’m serious about you!”
“I still don’t know what I was supposed to say, Russ. Was I supposed towarnyou?”
“I don’t know, maybe.” He clenched a hand in his hair. “Doesn’t it bother you? All of it?”
“Yes, it bothers me. I’m getting a divorce.”
“You’re not getting a divorce,” he muttered.
“What?”
“Youtoldme you were getting a divorce. But you’re not. Have you even talked to a lawyer?”
“I’ve talked to a lawyer—I have a lawyer.”
“Then why aren’t you getting a divorce, Cherry?”
“Why are you picking a fight with me?”
“I’m not,” he said. “I’m talking to you.”
“You’re angry.”
“I’m unhappy, not angry.”
“What did I do wrong tonight, Russ? You invited me to a party and I went. I can’t help that people look at me and see... acharacter!”
“You could help it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, do you have to look so much like her?”
