First time they fight over nothing. Pitcher of sangria, empty ice cube tray. It\u2019s hot, late-June, a sweat bead on her forehead. First time he says, \u201cI\u2019m not doing it, simple as that,\u201d and she says, \u201cWell fuck you then,\u201d wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
First time they try sex on the deck. He leans to kiss her, she doesn\u2019t want to be kissed. First time he can\u2019t climax; she bangs her shin climbing out of the zero-gravity chair.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
First time she holds it over his head afterward. \u201cI bet your dick wouldn\u2019t go soft for Cheryl.\u201d He knocks over the garbage, flipflops out the door. (But when he comes back it\u2019s still not cleaned up.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Premiere episode of Wife comes home to find husband drunk on the couch, crying over a photo album. Swim trunks, no shirt, fan blowing full blast into his face.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Preliminary attempts at reconciliation. He makes her iced coffee. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I\u2019m sorry, let\u2019s make this work\u201d\u2014a note on the counter in his shaky hand.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Debut performance of \u201cStop talking about it or I\u2019ll smash another fucking plate.\u201d First utterance of \u201cIt\u2019s too hot, I\u2019m sleeping downstairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Introduction of Frozen Dinner Fridays, when she goes out with friends, and he stays home with a pitcher of bourbon iced tea. She comes home not drunk at all. But happy, elated in fact. Though calm. So inwardly peaceful to have spent time the fuck away from him.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Launch of Saturday Night Free for All\u2019s. Husband typically goes to his friend\u2019s garage, if anywhere, where they drink beer, tinker with a \u201874 Challenger; he cries on his way home, singing along with radio love songs. Wife comes home smelling of alcohol and pizza sauce and someone else\u2019s cologne.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
First mention of \u201cTerrance,\u201d as in, \u201cI\u2019m going out with my work friend, Terrance.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
First week, and then weeks, with the husband living in the house alone while the wife \u201cfigures it out.\u201d The maple trees in the yard show their first touches of red.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
First mention of an attorney. The husband sits on the deck with a Sam Adams Octoberfest, watches the leaves pile up in the yard, doesn\u2019t look for the rake.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Entrance in the house of \u201cMs. Miller, my attorney,\u201d and \u201cSheriff McMann,\u201d and fucking work friend Terrance, who track in dead leaves while they help the wife move the last of her things and give the husband the sad eye when he tries to tell her goodbye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First time they try sex on the deck. He leans to kiss her, she doesn\u2019t want to be kissed. First time he can\u2019t climax; she bangs her shin climbing out of the zero-gravity chair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","writer-timothy-boudreau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18451"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19221,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18451\/revisions\/19221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}