3: 3
3
Back in the private dining room.
They hadn't noticed I'd returned yet, still chatting away among themselves.
"Valerie's really something. She brings her little favorite out for a good time, and she drags the one from home along too. How's anyone supposed to relax like that?"
"Stop it, isn't that what makes it exciting? You didn't see the look on Valerie's face just now when she said in front of everyone that she'd rather be Patrick's mistress. Gave me goosebumps."
I leaned back against my chair, lit a cigarette, and listened quietly.
When Valerie came back, her eyes were red. "Honey, when did you get back?"
Everyone turned to look at me.
The whole room dropped to freezing.
They all looked like they'd seen a ghost, and none of them dared to spill it all to Valerie, so they just played mute.
Valerie sat back down beside me. A server wheeled in the cake.
Today wasn't just about Patrick coming home. It was my wife's birthday too.
Everyone sang the birthday song, all of it awkward.
My wife looked at me, smiling sweetly, then noticed the report in front of me and picked it up.
"What's this? Is it a birthday present for me?"
I said nothing and drank.
I just felt the person beside me go stiff.
She stayed quiet, watching me, and awkwardly slid the report back.
"Nothing you want to explain?"
My wife's face went ugly. Under the table she gripped my arm. "It's such a small thing, do you have to humiliate me right at this moment? Let's talk it through slowly once we're home."
Even now, she still thought this was a small thing.
I lifted my head and saw my wife had already scooted her chair over, one inch short of settling right into my good brother's lap.
I was so angry I laughed. "Who's humiliating whom, exactly? If you want to marry him, I can make it happen for you."
"You've got it wrong, that's not what I meant."
And with that, my wife scooted her chair back, her voice softening a good deal.
"Honey, how could you think that of me? Patrick just got back, I only went over to keep him company for a chat. You're reading too much into it, I'm just—"
"Enough! Stop the act! Doesn't it disgust you?"
The sudden shout made everyone turn.
My wife's face went white. She bit her lip and looked at me with hate.
It was the first time I'd ever seen that look from her.
Loathing. A deep, bitter hatred.
It made me laugh. I grabbed her arm and hauled her toward Patrick.
And threw her whole body into his arms.
"Albert, what is wrong with you!"
Valerie sprang up cursing at me, hand raised to slap me.
I stepped back twice and looked at her like a stranger.
"Albert, you've really grown a spine! Losing your mind in the middle of the night!"
Patrick stood too, trying to smooth it over. "What's going on here?"
I didn't look at him. From start to finish my eyes stayed on Valerie. "Three years of pretending. You must be exhausted."
"Shut up! Quit slinging mud at me! It's my birthday today, and instead of a husband who comforts me, you actually come here picking a fight? Albert, you have no heart! Is this how you treat me?"
Watching her react like that, even I found it unbelievable. "How I treat you? To get a child, do you know what your parents put me through? Calling me a cheapskate! Three bowls of some foul folk-remedy brew every single day, did I ever say one word? And in the end? You were the one taking birth control pills every time, never missing once! That's what ruined—"
"Slap!"
Valerie's hand landed across my face, her voice rising with it.
"Enough! No kid all this time, and it isn't your fault? Three years of medicine and still useless, Albert, are you good for anything at all? Patrick's home today, I'm happy, I don't want to fight with you. Eat if you can stomach it, and if you can't, get out."
With that, Valerie pulled Patrick back to the table.
The others pretended nothing was wrong, but their eyes kept circling back to us.
Valerie picked out food for Patrick. "Patrick, have a taste."
He didn't eat. She looked crushed. "Are my chopsticks too dirty for you? I knew you were coming home, so these past two weeks I haven't let Albert touch me. They're clean, just take a bite."
And she pushed her chopsticks a little closer to him.
"My brother's still sitting right here. What are you doing?"
I clenched my fist, laughing in anger.
Then it turned in my head, and it didn't seem to matter anymore, so I asked her plainly.
"When are you free? Let's go get divorced."
