Chapter Eight Sleeping Arrangements
Quinn
After a final wave goodbye, Quinn shut the door behind Tenn and went down the hall to the bedroom, opening the door without knocking to see Joel standing in front of the dresser mirror, trying to see his back. “Are you okay?” She wrinkled her nose. “Why does it smell so musky in here? How much porn did you watch?”
Joel made his way over to the bed slowly. “I fell down the stairs at Harry’s earlier; I was looking for bruises.”
“Oh. Would you like me to rub some icy hot on it?” Quinn walked over and opened the window again. “Marathon jerk-off sessions mean the window stays open. It fucks reeks in here.”
“Sorry.” He actually seemed a little remorseful. “I would appreciate it if you would rub icy hot on my back.” Quinn nodded and went into the bathroom. She was a little surprised at her lack of emotion regarding Joel’s cheating and his audacity at doing it in her home, but figured it had to do with the last four months and the total lack of affection and acknowledgement she had gotten from him, returning a few minutes later with muscle relaxers and the icy hot.
“Here.” She held out two pills. Joel sank onto the bed and swallowed the pills. “Lie down.” Swallowing the revulsion, she squirted some of the icy hot into her hands. “Where does it hurt?”
“All over.” Joel groaned as he lay on his stomach. “I went down hard, Babe.”
“Poor thing.” Quinn started at his shoulders and worked her way down, adding more icy hot as needed. “What were you doing at Harry’s?”
“He moved the Poker game to this afternoon so I could join.” Quinn couldn’t believe how easily the lies fell from his lips. He didn’t even blink.
“As long as the money for your games comes from your fun money account.” She murmured.
“Don’t worry, it is.” He fell quiet as she finished up. She got up and went to the ensuite to wash her hands. When she came out, he was sitting propped up on the pillows, watching as she dug in the drawers for her pyjamas. “So, we’re not doing Sunday dinner anymore?”
Quinn shook her head. “Nope.”
“Why not?” He appeared genuinely confused, which only served to frustrate Quinn, but she bit her tongue.
“I told you why.” She finally found the night dress she wanted and pulled it out of the drawer. “Good night.”
“Where are you going?”
“Spare room. I’m going to start sleeping there.”
“What?” Joel shifted up, looking shaken. “Why?”
Quinn paused in the doorway, wondering how to explain this in a way that wouldn’t give away how much she knew and decided to go back to her issues before she found out. “Two weeks ago, I asked you to either prove you wanted this relationship to work or get out, and so far, all you’ve done is get upset with me for “flirting” with a married man in front of my husband and his wife. I need you to realize just how fucking done I am -”
“I wanted to have dinner together tonight! You’re the one who said nope and fucked off!” Joel sat up painfully and glared at her. Anger flared up as his outrage, and she whipped around, still trying to remain as calm as possible so she wouldn’t give things away.
“Yeah, I did. Because last week you bitched and complained about it and then fucked off and didn’t come back until midnight while I cried myself to sleep. Why would I put myself through that again? I also told you that being constantly rejected for sex was destroying my self-confidence, and you haven’t done anything to improve that either. Instead, you spend an evening that you knew I would be out for in here fucking masturbating to women trying to sound like children and faking their orgasms. You say you want to stay married to me and put in exactly jack for effort. So, until you can prove that you want this to work, I’ll sleep over there.” Quinn turned to leave. “And Joel? The clock’s ticking.”
She shut the door softly and walked into the room next door, pleased she had managed to handle that as well as she did. As she climbed into the spare bed, she made up her mind. Monday was a long day for the salesman at Rhyme Porsche. All the paperwork they neglected over Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, which were the busiest days for sales, had to be done, which meant Joel usually didn’t get home until after nine. He was going to be the one moving to the spare room. She was willing to bet Rilla, Quill, and Bishop would come over to help her move things out, including the bed, because she was definitely getting a new one of those. Pleased with her plan. She rolled over onto her back and studied the ceiling. She both wanted to drag this out and make him suffer and wanted to kick him out. An idea struck her, and she pulled out her phone and brought up Tenn’s contact. It was the second anniversary of her last relapse on Wednesday, and she just decided she wanted to celebrate.
How do you feel about bowling?
Tenn
Tenn got home just behind Viki, pulling into his spot in the driveway as she unlocked the door. He noted she was limping and seemed to be in a rush to get inside. He took his time, collecting the folder Quinn had given him and putting the contents in the folder he was keeping in the glove compartment, locking it up carefully. He went to the kitchen to get a snack and found Viki standing with a bottle of Advil and a glass of water.
“Everything okay?” He asked as he dug out a bag of baby carrots and ranch dressing.
“I fell down some stairs and sprained my wrist and ankle,” Viki said quietly. He noticed that she was very subdued.
“Did you go to the hospital?”
“No. I’m pretty sure it’s just sprained. I’ll make an appointment to see Dr. Kauffman tomorrow.” She got up and started limping down the hall. “Are you coming to bed?”
“You know, I’ve been enjoying sleeping alone. You hog the blankets and don’t leave me enough room, so I think I’m just gonna move over into the spare bedroom.” He popped a carrot into his mouth and watched her get flustered.
“Seriously?” Viki shook her head, and Tenn couldn’t understand her outrage. She hadn’t let him touch her in close to two years. “Married couples are supposed to sleep in the same bed!”
“Actually, there’s a lot of research and proof that sleeping separately builds healthier relationships,” Tenn spoke calmly. “Besides, it’s not like we’ll miss out on much.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She was staring at him like he had kicked her puppy.
“When was the last time we had sex or even cuddled?” Tenn shrugged. “We’re practically just roommates anyway.”
“Are you saying you want to divorce me?” Viki’s breath started coming in short gasps, and Tenn knew it was only because if he asked for a divorce, she would be homeless. The house was his premarital property, plus the prenup protected it, and unless there were kids, he didn’t owe her any money unless she was unemployed. “That’s why you wanted me to get a job, so you wouldn’t have to pay me money!”
“I didn’t say anything about a divorce,” Tenn said quietly. “We have to do couples counselling first, remember?” Under the prenup terms, unless there was infidelity, counselling to attempt to repair the issues was mandatory.
Tenn wasn’t rich. His parents were though, and they had done the same prenup for each of their children when they got married. Del’s was a little different with his income as a hockey player in the NHL and had been updated when he had kids, but otherwise, James and Gigi Aston wanted to make sure their money would be protected when it was passed on to their children.
“I don’t understand where all this is coming from!” Viki wailed. “What did I do?”
“Really Viki? Do we have to rehash the last two years?” Tenn snapped. “I’m tired of being treated like an afterthought for you! I have done nothing but support and back down and bury my feelings for the last two years. I’ve encouraged you to do whatever you felt you had to do to help you work through the grief and put my grieving on hold to make sure you had the support you needed while receiving none in return. Well, you reap what you fucking sow. Congratulations, I no longer want to be a major part of your life, and I definitely don’t want you to be a major part of mine. So, you can either try to win me back or find a marriage counsellor tomorrow; we’ll have our ten sessions, and then you can move out.” He stepped closer to her, eyes narrowed on her face. “And if you even think about quitting your job, you won’t get a red cent from me until the divorce is finalized, and that’s only if a judge decides you are quitting wasn’t to spite me. So, what do you want to do here, Vik? Because I am done, so the ball is in your court.”
“I was trying to find myself!” she yelled. It was the same old excuse, and Tenn was tired of hearing it.
“And did you?” He asked, genuinely curious if the thousands of dollars of his money she had spent and all the time avoiding him and partying like a teenager actually helped her.
“No!”
“So, it was a fucking waste of my money too. You spent two years distancing yourself from me and neglecting our marriage, letting me work myself to near exhaustion to support us while showing no remorse about emptying the bank account to the point that I couldn’t pay the bills without dipping into the retirement account that I started for both of us – that you didn’t contribute to at all - and for what? Nothing! You know what? You can sleep in the spare room. Let me know when the counselling session is.” Tenn turned and tried to walk away, but Viki grabbed his hand.
“I want to fix it! Tell me what to do!” Her eyes were teary, and her nose was snotty and red. Tenn stared at her for a few seconds, trying to figure out why he married her. She was about as far from what he found attractive at that moment as possible.
“Well, to start, you can figure out how to fix it!” Tenn pulled his arm out of her grasp. “Why should I be the one to glue the pieces together? I’m not the one who broke it.”
“I’m going to call your mom!” She whined desperately. “She’ll make you -”
“My mother won’t make me do anything. You’ll no longer be her favourite daughter-in-law if you tell her what you’ve spent the last two years doing, and believe me, if you don’t, I will, with the receipts to back it up.” Tenn growled, incensed that she would even think to bring his parents, especially his mother, who adored Viki, into this mess and use her to have a go at him.
“This isn’t fair!” She stamped her foot, wailed, and hopped in pain from stamping her sprained ankle.
“I’m going to bed.” Tenn managed to leave the room this time. When he got upstairs, he pulled out his phone to plug in and saw he missed a text from Quinn.
How do you feel about bowling?
Bowling is fun. Why?”
I have a recovery anniversary on Wednesday, and I thought bowling would be an excellent place for you to meet Rilla (officially) and Bishop. Plus, it’ll be fun to watch Joel and Viki squirm.
I’d love to come, but given the argument I just had with Viki, I don’t know if she’ll join us.
Oh. Well, that’s too bad. We can talk about it tomorrow if you want. ”
Sure Flac?r?. I’m looking forward to it. Sleep well.
You too.