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“I remember this place,” Jim said as he walked around the room picking up little tchotchkes off the nightstand. I was happy he hadn’t forgotten the crazy, lustful weekend we’d spent here. He fell back on the bed. “This is the bed you fell off our first night and got that huge bruise on your hip. And you weren’t even drunk.”

“No, that was just my graceful self. You should’ve dumped me right then and there,” I said.

“Are you kidding? You were laughing so hard. It was adorable.”

“I was so embarrassed and worried I’d pee.”

“It made me love you more.”

“You’ve never told me that.” I bent down and gave him a slow, sensual kiss. “I was thinking it might be nice to take a shower,” I said leaning my elbow against the wall and putting my hand on my hip in what I thought was a seductive pose.

“Okay,” he said, rising off the bed. “Go ahead. I’ll watch television.” He picked up the remote.

Watching television wasn’t the kind of funIwanted to have. I trudged off to the bathroom to take my shower alone. My husband would rather watch Judge Judy than shower with me.

When I was fully pruned, I came out in my new lingerie and robe. The television was off, and Jim was sitting outside our room on the enclosed patio. It looked out at a beautiful field, and there wasn’t a soul in sight. As I walked toward the french doors that led to the patio, my phone was vibrating in my purse. I should’ve ignored it, but I didn’t.

Michael texted:Going to the gym tomorrow at 9:00. Want to join me?

Can’t this weekend. Gia has a lot going on.

No problem. See u next week.

I put the phone facedown on the desk. I was trying to concentrate on my marriage, and that text wasn’t helping. I opened the patio doors and saw Jim had the bottle of champagne on ice, and a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries he must’ve ordered while I was in the bathroom. I instantly forgave him for not showering with me.

“Wow, you look beautiful.” Wait until he saw what I had on under my robe. He handed me a glass of champagne. “Here’s to twenty more years. Happy anniversary,” he said.

“Happy anniversary,” I said as we clinked glasses. He picked up a strawberry and fed it to me, and thoughts of anyone except the man in front of me drifted away. He licked the chocolate off my fingers, causing my breath to quicken. Everything was right with the world.

He took our glasses and put them on the table. He began kissing my neck. He moved his lips from my neck up to my ear and then to my lips. We kissed slowly and tentatively at first, then more intensely. We had been kissing for so many years that it had become automatic, but this felt different. Almost new. I lost myself in that kiss. So lost that I didn’t even notice when he untied my robe and slipped it from my shoulders. He picked me up and carried me inside to the bed. I always thought being picked up and carried in a moment of passion would be romantic, but when it was happening, I was worried about two things. One, he might realize I was heavier than I looked, and two, the lights were on, so he was going to see all of me. When he placed me down on the bed and began to peel away the chemise, those reservations evaporated. For the next half hour, we made love like we hadn’t for a long time.

Afterward, he was on his back, and I snuggled next to him. “This is exactly what we needed,” I said.

“Yep. And food. We need food. I’m starving,” he said. “I’m going to take a quick shower, and then we can get dinner.” When he stood up, my phone buzzed from the desk. “Sounds like you got a text,” he said.

“I’ll look at it later.” My heart was racing because I was worried it was from Michael.

“You should check it,” he insisted as he crossed toward my phone. “It could be Gia.”

I jumped up and got to my phone before he did. That didn’t look suspicious. Relief swept over me when I saw it was my mother looking for my cast-iron pot. She must’ve moved it in her great kitchen reorganization.

The rest of the weekend, we drank a little too much, made fun of other guests, and took long walks. I also beat him at a mean game of croquet. By the time we were pulling into our driveway, we were connecting on a level we hadn’t been for a long time. Before we got out of the car, Jim leaned over and gave me a long, slow kiss. “I had a nice time this weekend,” he said.

“Me too.” I hadn’t thought about Michael in the past few days, and I finally felt like we were a united front facing the world together. Jim took my hand, and we walked toward the house. Maybe everything would be all right with us, and it was, right until we crossed the threshold. As Gia ran up, Jim dropped my hand. She was talking nonstop, and Mom was bombarding me with questions about how our weekend was.

Jim looked at me, and I was about to smile at him as if to say, “Can you believe this?” when he said, “I’m going to go catch up on phone calls. Let me know when dinner’s ready.” He walked into his office, taking my good feelings with him.

CHAPTER 15

Iwas standing on our deck, a mug of hazelnut coffee going cold in my hands. The blades of grass in the backyard were growing taller and needed a good mowing. Jim hadn’t been able to do it in a while because we’d been getting more rain than usual. As I stood there, a cool droplet fell on my shoulder, and I knew it was time to go back inside.

I filled my mug with fresh coffee and added my usual: one Stevia and one Sweet’n Low and one tablespoon of half and half. The doorbell rang. I opened the door with one hand, holding the mug in the other. Ellen charged through the door, and in one fluid movement she slipped her feet out of her shoes, dropped her purse on the floor, took my cup of coffee out of my hand, and melted into the couch. She took a swig, not bothering to see if it was hot. “Perfect, just the way I like it,” she said.

“Don’t you have to go to work?” I asked.

“When you’re an editor, you don’t have to make excuses. They think I’m at a doctor’s appointment.” I got myself another cup of coffee and sat across from her. “I want to hear about your trip,” she said.

“It was really nice, but as soon as we walked through the door, Jim went back to hiding in his home office. The weekend didn’t solve anything,” I said, putting my mug on the coffee table.