AllFreeNovel
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Holly doesn’t regret their sex. In fact, she initiated it. Physically, they have always been in sync. Ten years into their marriage, she still loves the way he kisses her. And in spite of their generational age gap—he’s the only lover she’s ever had who is more than three years older than her, let alone twenty—she has never felt as comfortable with anyone else in bed.
But good sex alone has never been enough. Their relationship was much easier when she was his resident, his protégée. Back then, he was fiercely protective and supportive of her. That ended when she began to make a name for herself at the university level. Whether overshadowed by her success or frustrated by his perception that her career took precedence over their relationship, Aaron hasn’t always been able to hide his professional jealousy, which sometimes manifests as pettiness or dismissiveness of her work with psychedelics. And for her part, Holly recognizes she has been too blinded by her own ambition to always be sympathetic to his.
Lying beside her husband now, his shoulders rising and falling with each light snore, she feels just as ambivalent as she had before climbing into bed with him. Only last week she had been looking for the right moment to raise the idea of formalizing their separation. She had even tentatively accepted a date with the cute Swiss architect who lives two floors below her in her condo building.
Holly eases out of bed, careful not to wake Aaron. She collects her clothes from the chair, changes, and then tiptoes out of the room. As she heads down the stairs, the scent of brewed coffee wafts up to her, and she wonders if Aaron got up before her and brewed a pot before going back to bed. Tempted as she is to grab a cup on the way out, she decides against it.
Holly is only a few feet from the front door when the last voice in the world she wants to hear calls out to her. “G’morning. Bet you could use a coffee, huh?”
Suppressing a sigh, she turns to see Aaron’s son Graham standing in the kitchen doorway and holding up a carafe, tilting it from side to side. “Oh, hi, Graham. I didn’t realize you were staying here.”
“I have my own place. But Dad lets me come and go as I please. Y’know,” he says with an ugly laugh, “kinda like you.”
Holly only smiles, refusing to rise to the bait.
Graham’s face and neck look fuller than the last time she saw him, and his shirt can’t hold back the bulge of his belly. He resembles his fraternal twin, Nate, even less than before. Nate is sweet, active, fit, and studious. Graham is none of those things. Lazy and directionless, his sense of entitlement knows no bounds. But the last thing Holly needs is to get into another altercation with Graham. “Your dad told me you started a new job,” she says.
“Yup. A start-up specializing in cutting-edge consumer surveillance products. Very Mission: Impossible-ish, y’know? Six-figure salary right out of the gate. This one is a can’t-lose proposition.”
Holly has serious doubts, but says, “That’s wonderful. Congrats.”
He shrugs. “Oh, and by the way, I was sorry to hear about your patient.”
A chill runs up the back of Holly’s neck. “My patient?”
“The one who OD’d. Must be tough losing someone that way.”
“Your dad told you about her?”
“Nah,” Graham says. “I was in the car when you called him. On speaker phone.”
Why the fuck wouldn’t Aaron have mentioned that? “I can’t really discuss it, Graham. I’m sure you understand.”
“Probably wasn’t your fault, right? And I bet if I was in your position, I wouldn’t want to talk about it, either.” He exhales noisily. “Something like that must really shake your belief in yourself, huh? Or do you just get used to it after a while?”
“I meant that it’s privileged information,” Holly says, biting down on her back teeth. “Patient-doctor confidentiality.”
“Even if she’s dead?”
“Even then.”
“That blows.” Graham shrugs. “I was super-curious to hear what she was accusing you of. Sounded major.”
“I think you might be taking what you overheard out of context.”
“Maybe.” Graham laughs again. “Or maybe I’m just touching a nerve? You seem kinda jumpy, Holly. Real stressed.”
Holly’s jaw aches from grinding. “Good to see you, Graham,” she says as she takes a step toward the door. “But I have to get to work.”
He raises the carafe again. “No coffee to go?”
“I’m good. Thanks.”
“Holly?” Aaron calls from upstairs. “Who are you talking to?”
She could scream. “Just down here with Graham,” she says.
Graham chuckles again as he deposits the pot on the nearest counter. “Would love to chat more, but duty calls. The new gig and all.” He brushes past her on his way out the door. “Tell Dad I’ll drop by later when you’re gone. I’m assuming you will be gone again? That’s usually how this works with you two, isn’t it?”
