At A Neighborhood Dinner, Beth Learned Her Marriage Had “Separate Fridays”—An Arrangement Her Husband Had Never Mentioned
PART 2
David made coffee even though it was nearly nine-thirty.
Beth sat at the kitchen table and watched him measure grounds with the seriousness of a man hoping a familiar task would buy him time.
“I like the group,” he said finally. “That’s all.”
“I’m not asking whether you’re allowed to like them.”
“I know.”
“Did you tell them I prefer not to come?”
He set the scoop down.
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
“Because you usually have your own plans.”
“On Fridays?”
“Not always.”
Beth folded her hands.
“Did anyone invite me?”
David looked at the coffeemaker.
“Sometimes people say, ‘Bring Beth.’ It’s casual.”
“And what do you say?”
“That you’re busy. Or that you like your own Friday routine.”
“I don’t have a Friday routine.”
“You have plenty of things.”
The sentence irritated her because it was both true and irrelevant.
Her phone buzzed on the table.
A message from Anita.
I’m sorry. I honestly believed this was something you two had agreed on. For what it’s worth, I invited both of you to Mark’s patio dinner in July and David said you’d rather have your Friday free.
Beth read it twice.
She turned the screen toward David.
His face changed.
“I forgot about that.”
“I was home that night.”
“I know.”
“You asked me at five what I wanted from the Thai place because you thought I wasn’t going anywhere.”
David pulled out the chair across from her.
“I didn’t want to make every social thing a couple thing.”
“Then you could have said you wanted to go alone.”
He stared at the table.
Beth felt the old machinery inside her start up. Ask why. Offer possibilities. Help him separate guilt from intention. Find the version that could be repaired before bedtime.
She stopped.
“What do you want me to understand?” she asked.
David looked up.
“I don’t know.”
“Okay.”
“That’s it?”
“For tonight.”
His expression showed almost comic surprise.
Beth stood.
“I’m going to bed.”
“Are you angry?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want me to sleep in the guest room?”
“No. I want you to decide where you sleep without making me manage the meaning of it.”
He flinched.
Beth went upstairs.
Anita’s message had answered the first question.
David had not merely attended dinners without her.
He had declined invitations that included her, then described her absence as something she preferred.
