When I listed the riverfront marital home on the resale site—the one I'd put three hundred thousand down on—the agent asked how I could bear to slash the price and cut my losses in such a hurry.
I gave a thin smile.
"Because of a cashmere throw."
Last night I worked late, my stomach acting up. I was doubled over in the living room, cold sweat all down my back, and I went to push open the master bedroom door to lie down for a while.
My wife caught the handle first, frowning.
"Don't go in. That silk bedding and the cashmere throw are Ronald's favorites. Last time you lay there, you left a smell, his insomnia flared up, and he was awake all night."
She pulled the door shut and lowered her voice.
"Just bear with it. Make do on the couch. Ronald just got out of the hospital, severe depression. We should be more accommodating."
The way she stood guard over that bedroom cut into me.
And it hit me that this home—the one I'd spent half a year chasing down at the building-supply market, watching every detail of the renovation—was cold enough to make a man shiver.
I didn't press her the way I usually would. I just turned without a word and walked to the couch in the living room.
She glanced at me, figured I was sulking again, shook her head in resignation, and went back to the study.
Looking at the confirmation on my phone screen—mortgage payoff appointment booked—I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
This walled-in life as the Gilbert family's son-in-law, I was done with it.
...
When I woke, my stomach was still cramping.
The living room light was on, half a glass of cold water sitting on the coffee table.
Moira Gilbert hadn't gotten me my medicine.
I pushed myself up off the couch, the backs of my hands slick with cold sweat.
Light leaked through the gap under the master bedroom door, and white noise drifted out.
Rain sounds. The track Ronald always played before sleep.
I steadied myself against the wall and made my way over.
A little sign hung on the door handle.
Sleeping. Do Not Disturb.
The sign was new.
I'd never bought it.
I pushed the door.
Locked from the inside.
Moira's voice came from the study.
"Dirk Fox, leave the door alone."
I turned to look at her.
She was in her pajamas, holding a cup of hot water.
She didn't hand it to me.
She set the cup on the little cabinet outside the master bedroom door.
"Ronald wants warm water if he wakes up in the night."
I asked, "Where's my stomach medicine?"
She paused.
"I'll buy you some tomorrow."
I opened the medicine box by the entryway.
My stomach medicine had expired three months ago.
But the sleep aids for the one he could never get over were sorted out, cell by cell, each label marked with the date and dosage.
Moira came over and pressed her hand down on the box.
"Don't touch his medicine."
I closed the box.
"When did he move his medicine in here?"
"He just got out of the hospital. The doctor said he needs a stable environment."
"This is our marital home."
Her brow knit tight.
"Do you have to be so petty about every little thing? He's just staying a few nights."
I walked to the second bedroom.
The door opened on a pile of wedding favors.
Ronald's camera tripod stood against the wall, his yoga mat on the floor.
"He's borrowing the second bedroom too?"
Moira avoided my eyes.
"Taking pictures helps steady his mood."
I unlocked my phone.
The resale site's estimate popped up, well below what I'd paid.
I sat back down on the couch and opened my banking app.
Remaining balance, early-payoff terms, the penalty fee—every line laid out clearly.
Moira stood beside me.
"What are you stirring up now?"
I didn't look up.
"Checking the accounts."
She sighed.
"Dirk, be the bigger man. Ronald's sick, you're healthy, don't fight him over a bed."
My finger stopped.
Fight him over a bed.
I'd spent half a year chasing down the building-supply market, riding the carpenters, the plumbers and electricians, the furnishings.
That bed I'd settled on only after trying seven different stores.
