Suzie’s House 436: Late Night Talks

Sophie had floated her way into the ER today. To think that when she’d used her nurse training before, she’d only ever taken care of old folks in their own homes, and now she could handle the ER. Maybe nobody else noticed, but she was proud of herself.

Still, even if she hadn’t made any mistakes, the tension was very high. There had been three code blues on her shift alone. Everyone kept joking about full moons and bad luck to be working the ER on such a day.

She was dead tired as she unlocked the door. She grumbled about Emma leaving lights on for her, and kicked her shoes off as she made her way around the couch to the lamp. She had the route to her bedroom down so firmly now that she had no problem making it in the dark.

“What are you doing?” Ethan’s voice came from the recliner he’d always claimed as his own. He sounded completely astonished, as if nothing would change while he wandered the world.

Ethan. She had completely forgotten about him. Suddenly the burden of her life seemed to double.

“I am coming home from work. And exactly what are you doing?” She tossed his attitude right back at him.

He looked both astonished and uncomfortable. She’d never talked like that to him before he ran off. Never. Not once. She’d been too afraid to rebel in any way. Not when they both knew she’d stolen him from his high school sweetheart and might go back to her even if neither ever said anything. She’d been so afraid for so long that her world would fall apart when he left her. Then he did it anyway with no provocation. And guess what? Her life had become much, much better without him.

“This isn’t like you.” He said it in the same, heavy tones that had always brought her up short before. But they had no power over her now.

“What do you know about me? I’ve been faking it all this time. But no more.” She dropped her purse on the side table next to the couch then came around it.

“Even your love? Were you faking that?”

“You know… for the last ten years, I think maybe I was.” She dropped heavily into the couch and sighed. It felt so good to get off her feet.

Ethan sighed a completely different kind of sigh. “What have I done that was so wrong?

“I don’t know, but I’ll tell you this. I’m not going back to the way things were. I’m not going to quit working just because you don’t think women should. I’m not going to keep every little thing in the house picked up and pristine just because you like it that way. I’m not going to cook all your meals and hang on your every word. I don’t know if we can even stay married. Look. I’m too tired to talk about it now and I’ve got an early morning.” She hoisted herself back to her aching feet.

Sophie shuffled off to bed. Ethan turned the light off, and followed. He even turned the same direction in the hallway. She put a hand on his chest and stopped him.

“You aren’t welcome in my bed anymore. Not now, maybe not ever. You’re sleeping in James’s old room tonight.”

“But Gabriel’s already in there.”

“The bed’s a double. You’ll both fit just fine.”

That guy Ethan was with, Gabriel, spoke from the doorway to James’s room.

“Don’t worry, Ethan. I won’t do anything. I belong to Peter.”

If you enjoy Suzie’s House and would like to see more, please leave a comment. Suzie’s House is powered by its readers.