Then I surprised both of us.
“Okay,” I said. “But I have one condition.”
Sean stared at me with his mouth half open.
“You’re agreeing that easily?”
“My condition is simple,” I said. “I get to date whoever I want, too. Whenever I want.”
“But I have one condition.”
He blinked.
Then he laughed, not loudly, just one short, amused breath.
“Sure.”
I studied his face.
“You’re fine with that?”
“Of course, Taylor. Do what you need to do.”
“You’re fine with that?”
He turned and walked away.
I stayed on the floor with Saturn in my lap.
His laugh bothered me.
Sean wasn’t agreeing because he believed in equal freedom. He didn’t think I’d use mine.
For a moment, I wondered whether he was right.
His laugh bothered me.
I glued Saturn’s ring back on.
At least one thing in the house was still repairable.
***
Sean wasted no time.
Two days later, he stood in our bedroom holding up a blue shirt and a black sweater.
“Which one?”
Sean wasted no time.
“For what?”
“My date. Come on, Tay. You always had better taste.”
He wanted his wife to help him dress for another woman.
“You wanted freedom, Sean. Pick a shirt.”
He wore blue.
“You always had better taste.”
He came home after midnight smelling like floral perfume.
I was still awake on the couch, reading the same paragraph for the sixth time.
“You’re still awake.”
“Looks that way, doesn’t it?”
He stiffened as though he expected a fight.
“Did you have a good time?”
“You’re still awake.”
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
I closed the book and stood.
“That’s it?”
“Why? You got what you asked for.”
He had no answer.
“That’s it?”
I went upstairs.
***
The next evening, I grabbed my purse.
Sean looked up from his phone.
“Where are you going?”
“Dinner.”
“With who?”
“Lucy.”
“Where are you going?”
His younger sister lived nearby and could make me laugh even when I didn’t want to.
Sean’s shoulders relaxed immediately.
“Did you think I was going on a date?”
“No.”
His answer came too fast.
That’s when I understood the arrangement Sean really wanted.
“Did you think I was going on a date?”
He could be free.
I was supposed to stay predictable.
***
So I stopped being predictable.
I went back to a pottery class I’d quit years earlier because Saturdays always seemed too busy.
I drank coffee alone without checking the time.
