Page 2 of Opening It Up (Humbled Superstars #2)

Lily-Mae

“ A nother cup of coffee?” I asked the assembled neighborhood moms at the PTA meeting.

We were all sitting around trying to brainstorm ways to beautify the cafeteria, which was really an excuse for us to socialize and for them to hang around in case my famous husband came home early.

“I think we need to take a break,” Abby sighed. “The cafeteria’s not getting any prettier. Want to listen to the latest Self-Actualizing Your Way to Marital Delights episode instead? I want to see what Harley says today!”

“Er—if you want to,” I said awkwardly.

“Of course we do!” they squealed.

“You’re so lucky to have Harley! Finally, an actually emotionally intelligent man,” Becky added.

“Right, of course.”

“Plus, that voice!” someone else cried as they all fought to be the first one to pull up the podcast episode on their phones.

Sometimes I thought Harley had become less emotionally intelligent since starting his podcast, but I didn’t say so.

I was very proud of my husband, and all he had accomplished as a marriage and family therapist.

But ever since his podcast had really taken off, something had felt wrong, and I couldn’t put my finger on what.

It just felt like Harley was pulling away from me lately. At 38 and 44, and after 17 years together and 2 kids, were things getting stale?

I pushed aside the fear.

Harley had done really well for us. With the profits from his famous podcast, we’d been able to buy a beautiful butter-yellow Victorian, with enough space for our two boys Rowan (9) and Teagan (5), my divorced father to stay in the basement apartment, a big playset, rose garden, everything I could ever want.

So why did it feel like Harley wanted more ?

Recently it felt like he was staying at work longer, acting less present at home. He was still a great father to the boys, but with me he seemed a little. . .bored.

My stomach roiled with nausea.

I’d never seriously considered the possibility that my husband might be dissatisfied with our happy, messy life.

What could it possibly be? We discussed all our important decisions together. What could be the problem? Was he secretly upset because my father had been living in our basement for a while after a messy fourth divorce?

No, the two of them got along great and Dad always loved watching the boys.

But there was something, and it made my skin prickle with uncertainty not knowing what it was.

I pulled out of my abstraction to focus on Harley’s voice coming from Abby’s phone speaker.

“I know what was scheduled for today’s podcast, but I’ve thrown the script out the window,” Harley said, in his deep, resonant voice.

My toes curled up just at the sound of it.

A bit embarrassing, really, how into my husband I was. The other wives in the PTA always had complaints about theirs—not enough time with the kids, half-ass sex, two pump chumps, husbands who disappeared to play golf and didn’t come back foe 3-5 business days.

Not me. I had the perfect husband. Kind, sensitive, caring, amazing with the boys, good cook, intelligent, sexy as hell.

“Today I’m wanting to announce something a little bit new and unexpected,” Harley laughed. “But it’s something I feel very strongly about, and it can save a lot of marriages that are on their last legs. If only people were open-minded enough to consider it.”

My face suddenly flamed as my stomach dropped to my toes.

Marriages on their last legs? What did Harley know about that ?

Was that supposed to be. . . our marriage?

My heart pounded with anxiety.

What was going on?

“What I’m about to say might be shocking to some people,” my husband continued, his deep rumbly tones reverberating through the room.

Usually his podcast was gentle and funny.

Tips about how to clearly communicate with your spouse.

Ideas for spicing up date night. Interviews with some of the world’s biggest celebrities, who all said how useful they found Harley’s advice.

One tech billionaire even said Dr. Donaghy had saved her marriage.

But this didn’t sound like his usual content.

I saw some of the other moms start to dart curious glances at me, wondering what in the world this was about.

“It’s important when things. . . begin to feel stale, that both parties do some introspection.”

I glanced down at myself.

Was I stale? Was that the problem with our marriage? I was suddenly stale and boring?

Today I had been too busy getting Rowan and Teagan to school and then cleaning up for the PTA meeting to change into anything besides leggings and a T-shirt, and there was a big green stain on my T-shirt where I’d made slime with the boys that summer and it hadn’t washed out.

My thick strawberry blonde hair was wound tight in its usual bun.

I clearly looked like someone who did not give a fuck about her appearance.

Well, I was a mom. No one was supposed to be looking at me besides my husband anyways.

Over the speaker, Harley cleared his throat.

“I wanted to announce that my wife and I have decided to open our marriage up.”

What?

There were audible gasps in the room.

“I was feeling very stifled and even a bit bored by my marriage. Perhaps that’s the natural outcome of being with someone else for so long.”

The natural outcome?

My cheeks burned so brightly but my eyes were dry as a bone.

“I didn’t know you had an open marriage,” Becky whispered at me.

Neither did I.

I didn’t even know what to say, just nodded numbly as Harley went on waxing eloquently about all the ways opening up your marriage could save it.

According to him, it was a boredom buster.

It would help couples express their boundaries.

It will give us new topics to discuss.

It would help us explore our sexuality.

My legs trembled and I had to clutch the side of the counter to stay up.

Harley wanted to explore his sexuality ? With other people?

He had never even hinted that he wanted anything like that.

And now I was hearing that it was the only way to save our marriage.