Page 22 of The Wife

I tried to think back. Then I remembered. A vet from Colorado was coming. He would have known she was a woman. He couldn’t have known how pretty she was.

“Well, what do you think?” I asked her.

“It’s really amazing. Especially knowing what you guys suffered last spring.”

“Yep, Jake has a really high birth rate on his insemination program. He knows how to work the ladies, if you know what I mean.”

Wow, another really bad joke.

“Well,” Carol coughed. “I don’t want to take up any more of your day. Thanks for letting me come check it out, Jake.”

“You said you wanted to ride out and see the property,” Jake reminded her.

She tilted her head and smiled at him. “Another time?”

“Sure.”

I wanted to vomit.

“Really nice meeting you, Ellie.”

I hope you fall into a ditch on your way home and die, bitch.

I, of course, did not say that. That was awful of me really. I wasn’t that person.

“You too, Carol. Definitely come back and Jake can show you the land and the full operation.”

“Great. See you both around.”

She left, her butt swinging from left to right as she did. I didn’t have it in me to look to see if Jake was watching her go. Instead I said, “I’ve got a bunch of supplies in the truck I’m going to need help with.”

“Yep.”

We took care of emptying the truck and went about the rest of our day.

* * *

Later that nightI was sitting on the couch thinking about what I wanted to watch for TV when Jake came in and sat in the chair closer to the TV. It had been his turn to clean up from dinner.

“What are we watching?”

“There’s this new show on Netflix that’s supposed to be awesome.”

He nodded his chin as if that was fine by him. I started the show, and as the opening credits came on I couldn’t not say what I had been choking down my throat all afternoon.

“So Carol seemed nice.”

“Hmm.”

See, that was how it started. A hum. A small sound that acknowledged what I said was true without actually agreeing with me.

“Pretty, too. Definitely your type.”

“I don’t have a type,” he grumbled.

“You so have a type, Jake.”

“Whatever.”