Chapter 6 - When Did Mine Stop Counting
"Do you know what I did last night?" I asked.
His hand closed around the token. "Sadie..."
"I cooked dinner."
"I know."
"No. You know there was dinner. I set the table. Lit candles. Waited." I stood up. "I reheated the sauce at nine, Nathan. Blew out one candle at ten."
"Sadie, I'm sorry."
"By eleven I was putting it all away."
He moved toward me. I raised a hand to stop him.
"You spend all day teaching women that their time matters." My voice cracked. "When exactly did mine stop counting?"
He had no answer. Good. I needed him to sit with that for a second.
Finally, quietly, he said, "It never did."
"Then why did I have to make an appointment to see my own husband?"
Something in his face broke. He sat down heavily.
"When I started this place, people made jokes," he said.
"What kind?"
"That I dressed women for a living. That no man should care this much about middle-aged women finding jobs." He rubbed both hands over his face. "So I stopped explaining it to anyone."
"And then?"
"Then not explaining just got easier."
There it was. Confidentiality had curdled into secrecy. Secrecy had become habit. And habit had built a wall straight through the middle of our marriage.
May you like
"I thought keeping work out of the house was protecting us, Sadie."
"You weren't keeping work out." I looked at him. "You were keeping me out."
