Chapter 2

It was deep into the night when Susannah came home.

She stopped short when she saw me still sitting in the living room.

Then she changed out of her shoes in a hurry and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Don't wait up for me next time, honey."

As she turned away, I caught her hand.

"Susannah, yesterday was our anniversary."

Her steps paused. She answered softly, "Mm. I know."

A vast helplessness rose in my chest. With her, I always lost.

But still I stubbornly wanted an answer.

"Why won't you ever spend Valentine's Day with me?"

Only then did Susannah turn back, tugging her collar loose, as if nothing had happened.

"Leo, you know how busy work keeps me. Can't you show me a little more understanding?"

"Besides, I gave you a gift."

I looked at the screenshot on my phone, an electric bill for $207.50. That was the gift she meant.

I'd lost count of how many times I'd been given a gift like this.

A property fee statement for my birthday. A gas bill handed over on New Year's.

Somewhere along the way, all that was left between us were these cold statements.

I forced down the catch in my throat. "A household electric bill. That's what you call a gift?"

The power we used together, a household expense, was hers to pay anyway.

She'd only twisted her own share of the burden into something that turned my stomach.

She gave me a long look, unreadable.

"So what do you want? A bag? A watch? What?"

"Leo, when did you get so materialistic?"

I lifted my head in disbelief. So all I'd wanted was the smallest scrap of care, and that made me materialistic.

Five years dating, three years married, and I'd given nearly everything I had.

The poorest year, I hauled bricks on a construction site by day and worked a convenience store shift at night, getting through each day on a single bowl of instant ramen.

All to save enough for a house, so I could marry Susannah.

When she found out, she'd stroked my head, doting. "You want to marry me that badly?"

Later she worked her job by day and sold drinks at a nightclub at night, until we finally had enough to buy the place we lived in now.

"That you had to worry over money, that was on me for not doing better."

The woman who'd once burned with feeling, who'd thrown everything she had into me, now stood there scolding me as materialistic over a gift I had never once received.

I opened the video Ivor had sent and turned the screen toward her.

"Susannah, were the fireworks pretty?"

The impatience on her face vanished all at once.

"You... you already know!"

I looked at her face. The guilt in her eyes was real.

Before she could say anything, her phone rang.

She glanced at me, then turned and went out to the balcony to take the call.

It was only a few seconds. When she hurried back inside, the guilt was gone from her face.

"Whatever's between us, why drag Ivor into it?"

"Do you really hate to see me happy that much?"

Realizing she'd pushed too hard, she sighed and picked up her coat.

"It's late, and he's still waiting downstairs. I have to go check on him."

Before she closed the door, she gave me a long look.

"I'll explain all of this to you."

I stood by the balcony. The floor-to-ceiling windows were wide and bright.

So bright that a slight tilt of my head was all it took to see the man and woman tangled together downstairs.

The man threw off her hand, angry, but Susannah couldn't hold back any longer. She flung herself into his arms and kissed him hard on the mouth.

A laugh broke out of me.

I laughed and laughed until the tears ran down my cheeks.

Susannah, I don't want to wait for your explanation anymore.