Marriage Matters

Six

Kristine sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic, trying to work up some sort of enthusiasm for her latest audio book. It would be at least forty minutes until she could pull into the parking spot next to her store. For the hundredth time, she wondered how to convince Kevin to move back into the city.

After college, living in town was something they both wanted. Their first apartment was a cute walk-up with an old-fashioned stove, a fire escape and ceilings almost too short for Kevin’s enormous frame. They’d moved to the suburbs when things like safe neighborhoods and good schools suddenly mattered, but they’d always planned to move back to the city.

It was only recently that Kevin changed his mind. There were a couple of factors, including the recession and what it had done to the value of their home, but Kristine also suspected that losing his job had made her husband emotionally attached to their house. In that year where he couldn’t find a job, Kevin put his frustration into remodeling. He redid the floors, reshingled the roof, rebuilt the deck . . . The assistance of his toolbox and the local hardware store helped him to feel like he had a purpose, even if it wasn’t at the office.

During this time, Kevin had talked about his upbringing more than he ever had before. Kristine listened to the painful stories: The summer his mother served SpaghettiOs for dinner for three months straight, the time the power got turned off in the winter because she didn’t have money to pay the bills, the day the teacher sent a note home with Kevin complaining that he and his brother smelled. Hearing these stories helped her to understand why it frightened her husband so much to lose his job.

“It’s going to be fine,” she’d say. “You’ll find something. We’ll be okay.”

Kevin had just gone back to retiling the bathroom or laying new linoleum, while waiting for the recruiter to get back to him with interviews.

When he finally found another job, the house looked better than it had in years. Kristine could understand his reluctance to leave, but on mornings like this, when traffic was heavy and her shoulders ached with tension by eight in the morning, her appreciation wavered. It would be nice to have the option of an easier commute, not to mention the perk of living closer to June and Chloe.

Kristine wouldn’t push it, though. If Kevin needed to stay in their house, she’d support him in that. Besides, after her behavior the night before, she didn’t have the right to ask for much of anything. She’d stayed out at that French restaurant with Ethan for three hours. Three hours!

“Kevin would kill me,” she said out loud, shutting off the audio book. “I would kill him.”

Clicking on the blinker, she waited for the lady in the black SUV to let her switch lanes. The woman ignored her, staring straight ahead. Kristine sighed. Drumming her hands on the steering wheel, she tried to determine just how bad her behavior had been the night before.

At first, everything had been perfectly innocent. They’d finished up dinner and were just about to pay their checks, when Ethan mentioned the Dogons tribe in Mali. “I did a study on the Dogons,” she said, surprised. “In college.” Ethan had actually spent time in Mali and could give her a real-life report.

From there, they just kept talking. They covered everything from decolonization to global health care to German cheese torts. When she finally noticed the time and panicked, he insisted on walking her the five blocks to her travel bookstore.

Kristine cringed thinking about the walk. The white flowers on the trees had practically glowed silver and she felt a profound sense of stillness. Of course, that stillness was shattered when Ethan reached over and linked his arm in hers.

Kristine was taken completely off guard. Didn’t he know she was married? She tried to come up with a clever exit strategy that wouldn’t embarrass them but couldn’t think of anything.

As they walked arm in arm, Ethan pointed out stained-glass transoms above different doors. They strolled past a house with windows etched with red, green and purple flowers, and he stopped. “Every time I walk on this street,” he said, “I feel like I’m walking through cathedrals.”

At the memory, Kristine gripped the steering wheel. It had been nice to see the world through the eyes of a photographer, but why hadn’t she pulled away? It would have been awkward, especially considering Ethan probably meant nothing by it, but the fact that she hadn’t done anything made her feel so . . . guilty.

Back home, she’d felt even worse because Kevin had left an anniversary card on her pillow. It was a silhouette of a sailboat against the setting sun and the caption read: Looking forward to our golden years. She could practically picture him buying it at some airport gift shop.

Setting the card on the bedside table, a piece of paper fluttered out. Was it a love letter? Eagerly, she’d snatched it up. IOU, it said. For whatever you want, within reason. Love, Kevin.

Kristine had been annoyed with herself for feeling disappointed. After all, it wasn’t like she’d gotten Kevin anything spectacular for their anniversary—just a silver pen engraved with the words Patient and mine—but at least that had meaning. Kevin used to think the words were, “Love is patient, love is mine” instead of “Love is patient, love is kind.” Silly stuff, but they’d laughed about it.

Either way, there was no point in being upset. Kevin was busy and they’d been together for so long. Did it really matter what he got her? Besides . . .

Glancing at her reflection in the rearview mirror, Kristine gave herself another guilty look. Her bright red hair was pulled up in a sloppy bun and her eyes looked tired, as though she’d stayed out much too late. She was hardly the perfect wife—she’d spent their anniversary drinking wine with another man. If Kevin knew about that, he probably wouldn’t give her anything but the silent treatment.

When the sign for the store finally loomed into sight, Kristine felt her spirits lift. The brightly colored wooden cutouts depicted a variety of skylines across the globe and were made up of different shapes and sizes. The Places You’ll Go zoomed across in fluffy white skywriting.

Walking in, Kristine was delighted to see the store was busy. A young couple flipped through a guide on Hawaii, a student explored the section on travel memoirs and an older couple browsed through books on Ireland. Annie, Kristine’s dear friend and associate, was ringing up a customer.

Kristine loved Annie. At forty, the woman still dressed like a child of the eighties and sported an ever-changing array of Kool-Aid streaks in her hair. Considering Kristine was too timid to get her long red hair cut into an interesting style or paint her nails a funky color, she admired Annie’s adventurous spirit.

“Hey, stranger.” Annie rushed over. As always, she smelled like Electric Youth perfume, which she’d once ordered from eBay as a joke. “I’m happy you’re back. And . . .” Her hazel eyes danced behind thick black-framed glasses. “I have something to tell you that will just smack you across the face.”

Kristine laughed. “That sounds awful.”

“Oh, it’ll smack you in a good way,” Annie promised. After nodding at Sara, one of their college helpers, she said, “Have some coffee with me.”

Intrigued, Kristine followed Annie to the sunken area of the store with the purple velvet couch and coffee display. Slipping off her sandals, Kristine tucked her legs underneath her. The soft velvet of the couch was cozy as a blanket and she yawned.

“Wild night?” Annie joked, pouring them both a cup of coffee.

“You know me.” Kristine kept her voice light. “As wild as they come.”

“Give yourself more credit.” Annie passed over a full mug. “You could be wild if you wanted to.” After adding sugar to her coffee, she eyed the display table. “Should we have some cake?”

“Yes,” Kristine said automatically. “Without a doubt.”

Each day, The Places You’ll Go set out complimentary coffee cake from the bakery next door. They spent a good part of each day debating whether or not to eat it or skip it. Considering the selection today was a crumbly pastry covered in powdered sugar, Kristine was not going to let today be a skip-day.

“Decadent and messy.” Kristine laughed as crumbs spilled down her turquoise button-up shirt. “Okay, so tell me.” Brushing the crumbs into her hand, she made a neat little pile on a napkin. “What’s this big news?”

“Well . . .” Annie raised a pierced eyebrow. “One of our fabulous employees entered The Places You’ll Go in the Valiant Travel essay competition. And . . .” She paused dramatically. “We won.”

Kristine gasped. “You’re kidding!”

Valiant Travel was a well-known online travel site. People from all over the world visited to voice compliments or complaints about hotels, airlines and tour companies. Kristine always encouraged her customers to post their travel clips. It was rewarding, somehow, to watch people she knew climb pyramids or cross a desert while carrying guidebooks from her store.

“That’ll be some good publicity,” Kristine said excitedly.

“Not just publicity.” Annie spoke into her coffee cup like it was a microphone. “The winning essay has won the owner of the store and the essay writer a weeklong, all-expenses-paid trip to . . .”

“A trip?” Kristine’s heart started to pound. “Oh, my gosh. Really? Where?”

“Rome.” Annie bounced up and down. “Kristine, you finally get to go to Rome!”

Kristine set her coffee cup on the table in surprise. Rome? She had wanted to go to Rome for years! But just like most of the fabulous foreign cities she ached to travel to, she had been saving it for the future, when she and Kevin could go together.

“You’ll have to speak at some luncheon or something that Valiant is throwing.” Annie gripped her hands. “But the rest of the time is yours. We just got the message this morning. You’ll have to listen to it. I’m so excited for you.”

“Wow,” Kristine said softly. She imagined what it would be like to see the Colosseum, to explore the ancient ruins. To drink Italian wine with . . . “Oh, wait. Who wrote the essay?”

Annie raised a pierced eyebrow. “Ethan.”

“Ethan?” Kristine was horrified. “No, no, no.”

Flushing, Kristine remembered the moment when he’d linked his arm in hers. Traveling to the other side of the world with him was not a good idea.

“What do you mean, no?” Annie squealed. “It’s yes! Just think, you can make him stand next to the statue of David and tell us all which one is better looking.”

“David’s in Florence. And I always pictured him as a blond.”

“Either way,” Annie said, taking a big bite of cake.

Kristine shook her head. “I can’t do it.”

“Do what? Rome?” Annie stared at her like she was the most disappointing human being on the planet. “You’re kidding.”

Kristine slid the elastic band off her ponytail and wound her hair up into a tight bun. “Annie, love it or hate it, I’m married. I can’t travel the world with someone who’s not my husband.”

“So, tell Kevin to come along.” Annie licked powdered sugar off her fingers. “Problem solved.”

Kevin spent too much time already traveling in and out of O’Hare. He wouldn’t want to go back to the airport on his time off. Kristine opened her mouth to explain, but Annie held up her hand.

“I don’t want to hear it. You need to get out there and see the world. With or without him.”

“Yes, but—”

“No buts,” Annie insisted. “Kristine, you have to stop waiting for Kevin to live your life. He can make a choice. Come with you or kiss you good-bye at the airport. It’s that easy.” She said this with the confidence of someone who’d never been forced to compromise. Considering Annie had never been married, she’d never really had to.

“You’re right.” Kristine sighed. “Kevin should go to Rome with me. But I’d have to have a pretty convincing . . .” Suddenly, she stopped. “You know what?” The silhouette of a boat flitted through her mind. “I do have a convincing argument. Kevin gave me an IOU.”

Annie looked puzzled. “An IOU?”

“For our anniversary.”

Annie squinted through her glasses. “Seriously?”

“I’m sure he thought it was a great gift.”

“It was a great gift.” Laughing, Annie got to her feet. “That IOU just bought him a trip to Rome.”