Page 56 of Fall of a Kingdom

“Barrett, stop trying to make excuses for me. You don’t dress down ever in public, and you kept your hair long.”

I clamped my mouth shut.

“Say it,” she commanded.

“Say what?”

“Say whatever it is that’s on your mind.”

“I’m not the person to give marriage advice, ever,” I pointed out. “I’m not the ideal partner.”

“You’re not traditional. You don’t just stand in Flynn’s shadows and let him call all the shots. That doesn’t mean you’re not ideal.”

“Are we really doing this? Not being honest with each other?” I asked in amusement.

She sighed. “I’m asking you to be honest. Even if it hurts my feelings.”

“You put the kids first,” I said. “And you put Duncan second.”

“What does that have to do with how I dress, or my hair cut?”

“You’ve done what’s easy and convenient, not what’s best for your marriage.”

“So, I need to glam it up?”

“I don’t think it would hurt.”

She nodded. “You’re right. I’ve been putting the mom thing first, instead of the wife thing. I need to change that pronto.”

“It’s just something to be aware of,” I said. “And now that you are, you can do something about it.”

“Thanks. Thanks for being honest.”

“Happy to help,” I said. “But honesty is a dangerous game…”

After a moment of quiet, she asked, “What now?”

I looked at her. “What do you mean what now?”

“I mean, what’s next? You got your baby. What’s the next thing you can’t live without?”

“I have everything I want.”

“Hmmm,” she replied.

“Hmmm? What does that mean?”

“You’ll want something else. I don’t know what it’ll be, but you’ll want it anyway. I don’t even mean that as a strike against you. It’s the human condition.”

“The human condition: I breathe therefore I want?”

“Yeah, sounds about right.” She took another sip of her drink.

“I sometimes think life is nothing more than a series of transitions. Everything is calm and happy for a while, but that just means there’s another storm brewing.”

“Take your doomsday-ness and shelve it,” Ash joked.

“Not doomsday,” I protested. “But when has anything gone according to plan?”