Victoria’s story about their engagement party must be an exaggeration.
I can’t imagine it. As Adam unpacks the Chinese food takeout feast that got delivered a few minutes ago, I try to envision him throwing a phone across the room. I can’t do it. He’s not like that. He’s been nothing but kind and gentle around me.
“You’ve been really quiet tonight,” he comments as he peers into a container of kung pao chicken. “Hey, did we order two of these chicken dishes or just one?”
“Who is Mack?” I blurt out.
Adam lifts his eyes from the container of chicken. “Mack?”
I can’t tell him about the diary I’ve been reading. If I told him about it, he’d think I was violating Victoria’s privacy. He wouldn’t believe that she gave it to me to read, because he thinks nothing is going on upstairs with her. He doesn’t see what I see. “Victoria said the name.”
“Oh.” He looks in the brown bag of food again and yanks out some chopsticks. “It doesn’t sound familiar.”
“She used to work with him… I think he was a paramedic.”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. She had a lot of coworkers at the hospital.
It’s a busy place.”
“So the name doesn’t sound familiar to you?”
“Not really.” His face is completely blank. If he’s lying, he is an incredible liar. “Why do you ask?”
“I just thought…” I wring my hands together. “I feel bad that Victoria never has any visitors. She mentioned him, and I thought maybe…”
Adam steps away from the bag of Chinese food. He frowns at me. “She had a few visitors when she first got home, but they used to upset her. So… I stopped inviting people.”
“Oh…”
“It’s hard to blame her.” He bites his lip. “I’m sure she doesn’t want people she used to know to see her like this. She used to be intelligent and charming and beautiful, and now she’s… Anyway, it’s got to be hard.”
“That’s true…”
He makes a good point. If Victoria had feelings for this guy or he had feelings for her, I’m sure she wouldn’t want him to see her like she is now. But that’s silly. She’s lonely. She’d probably be happier if she could reconnect with some of her old friends.
Or maybe I just want to do something nice for her because I feel so damn guilty about Adam.
Adam has gone back to unpacking the food from the bag. We got way too much—enough for at least four people, but it’s fine—we’ll have leftovers tomorrow night. “Hey,” he says. “I’ve been thinking about Thanksgiving next week. Do you need a few days to go see your family?”
My family. That’s something I haven’t spoken to him much about, and he’s been good enough not to ask. Given he had some sort of falling out with his own parents, maybe he would understand. I was never close to my father. I always felt like I was disappointing him in one way or another. My grades were never what he wanted them to be. He always acted like he expected more from me than what I felt like I could give him. He had given me a roof over my head, food, and a good education—so what did I have to show for it? And my mother always just followed his lead.
Another C? Is that really the best you can do, Sylvia?
But then again, I can’t bring myself to tell Adam that the last time I saw my father, he kicked me in the ribs hard enough to break them. That’s not a story I want to tell anyone.
“I’m not close with my family,” is all I say.
“Well then,” Adam says. “I was thinking we could have a little feast.
Here.”
I feel a smile touch my lips. I haven’t had a real Thanksgiving dinner in years. “Okay. What did you have in mind?”
“Well…” He pulls me close to him, his hands on the small of my back. I love the smell of his aftershave—it always gets me. “I just thought I could make a turkey and you could help with a couple of the sides. Nothing big.”
“Would you invite your parents?”
He shakes his head. “They’re going to my father’s brother’s house.”
I can’t hide my relief. The last thing I want is to explain this awkward situation to Adam’s parents. They’ll surely recognize something is going on between him and me.
“I thought we should just keep it small,” he says.
I nod vigorously. “That sounds great.”
He leans in to kiss me. “So it will just be you, me, and Victoria.” Wait… what?
Maybe it was unreasonably selfish, but I had thought the meal would just be him and me. Or me and him with Maggie and her boyfriend. I can’t even imagine how awkward it will be with the three of us around the table. I used to want to bring Victoria down for meals, but now I see it would be a mistake.
“Um…” I disentangle myself from his embrace. “You want Victoria to join us?”
“You don’t?” He raises his eyebrows. “It’s Thanksgiving, Sylvia.
Victoria is my wife.”
“But…” Doesn’t he understand how weird it would be? “I know you want to be nice, but I think it will upset her. I think she knows about… you know, us…”
He snorts. “She doesn’t know.” “She does, Adam.”
“You’re imagining things.” He shakes his head. “She has severe brain damage, Sylvia. The doctor said she’s like a two-year-old child. She doesn’t know what’s going on. She can’t even remember things from one day to the next. She barely even knows who you are.”
“She remembers my name.”
“Does she? Then how come every time you walk into the room, you say, ‘It’s Sylvie’?”
He’s right. I do say that every time I walk into the room.
“We have to include her,” Adam says firmly. “She’ll enjoy it. You can dress her in one of the nice outfits from her closet and do her hair. And then after dinner, we’ll bring her back upstairs and… then we can be alone together.”
I don’t think Victoria will enjoy this dinner, but on the other hand, it’s just one night. And Adam seems to feel strongly about it. I guess it won’t be the end of the world.
