Page 99
Jamie peels the foil off her yogurt. “Well… you guys haven’t lived together in… ever, right? Maybe this is just how he is normally. Socks on the floor. Brain off after work.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so. Something is bothering him. I just don’t know what.”
It really could be any number of things. Simon has a job that occasionally drops problems into his lap that he can’t talk about. He has family shit he still handles with that tight jaw he thinks I don’t notice. We’re still surrounded by boxes. He could be stressed about a hundred different things.
Except I know him.
This feels like he’s hiding something, and every insecure part of me has already decided that something is me.
“We haven’t had sex since before Theo’s party.”
Jamie doesn’t even look up. “It’s only Wednesday. Four days without sex isn’t exactly a relationship crisis.”
“For normal people, maybe.”
She laughs. “Oh my God.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Maybe he just hasn’t been in the mood.”
“But I know that’s not the case.” My voice comes out sharper than I mean it to, and I immediately lower it again, glancing at the open door. The hallway is mostly empty with all the kids at lunch. “We were going at it like rabbits before. Now he barely wants to even kiss me. But I see that he’s turned on. He just… doesn’t want me anymore.”
Jamie’s expression softens as she sets the yogurt down. “He wants you.”
“You don’t know that. Maybe he changed his mind.”
“Blaire.”
“People change their minds.”
“Sure. People can change their minds. But they don’t usually spend years pining after the mother of their child, move her into their house, start talking to her family about proposing, and then wake up and decide, actually, never mind.”
I look down at my sandwich. The bread is already soggy. I pick at the crust anyway so I don’t have to look at her.
“I tried last night,” I admit.
“To talk to him?”
“That too.”
Jamie gives me a look. “And?”
“He stopped me.” I whisper it, fiddling with the crusts until they pill into little balls. “He said he was too tired.”
“Maybe he was tired.”
“He wasn’t.” Heat crawls up my neck even as I tell her the rest anyway. “It’s not that he doesn’t want sex. His body is clearly interested. He’s just resisting it.”
Jamie is quiet for a second. “Okay,” she says slowly. “That is a little weird.”
“Thank you.”
“I didn’t say he’s regretting your relationship.”
“What else am I supposed to think?”
“That something is bothering him?”
