Sisters and Husbands (13 page)

She held her breath, closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as the phone rang. One, two, three…

“C’mon, Kevin,” she muttered. “Answer. Please answer.”

She knew that he could see her number showing up on his caller ID if he looked. Would he be cruel enough to ignore her call?
Don’t do this to me, Kevin, she whispered to herself.

His recorded message came on and she slammed the phone down. Crap! She didn’t want to hear a stupid recording. She wanted
to hear Kevin. She dialed his number again. Maybe he was having a hard time getting to this cell phone because… because… whatever.
She bit her bottom lip as the phone rang. When his recording came on a second time, she left a curt message, banged the phone
down again, and took a deep breath.

As aggravating as this was, she could not let it get her down. Maybe he was on the line talking to one of the children. Or
maybe he was working through his lunch break and had his phone turned off. Lots of things could have happened to keep him
from answering. It didn’t necessarily mean he was ignoring her. Right?

She reached down and undid her gardening shoes. She would stay inside and wait for him to check his messages and call her
back. She didn’t feel much like pulling weeds anyway.

E
velyn walked through the revolving doors of her office building, entered the lobby, and shook the rain off her umbrella. She
stamped her feet on the carpet to remove some of the water from her heels. What a dreary day, she thought as she passed the
stairs and made her way to the elevator bank. Hot, humid, raining.

She had just pressed the button to go up when her former high school classmate Reuben Roberts came bounding down the stairs
near the entrance. She smiled as he approached her, tall and handsome, wearing beige slacks, a blue pin-striped shirt, and
a denim-colored necktie. He was the first thing she’d had to smile about in three days, when she learned that Kevin had told
Rebecca and Andre about the split. Rebecca had called every night since getting the news, but Evelyn had yet to speak to Kevin,
who apparently saw no reason to return his wife’s calls.

“Good morning,” Reuben said.

“Morning,” she said. “Although maybe not so good, given the weather. Depressing, isn’t it?”

“Not to me. This time of year, I welcome the rain. Cools things off.”

She nodded. “That’s one way to look at it, I guess.”

A newspaper in his hand, he gestured toward the front door. “I’m going back out to grab a cup of coffee. Care to join me?
It’s been ages since I saw you, and it would be nice to catch up with each other.”

“Um, yes, it would be.” Evelyn hesitated and glanced at her watch. It was a kind thought, but Cathy was due for her weekly
Wednesday appointment at nine-thirty, less than thirty minutes away. “Unfortunately, I don’t really have the time. Got a client
coming soon.”

“Ah. Maybe another day, then?”

She nodded. “I’d like that. Thanks for asking.”

The elevator arrived and she stepped in as Reuben headed out the front door. In truth, she wasn’t sure she would have joined
him even if she didn’t have a client on the way. It would have been nice to hear what he had been up to all these years, but
she wasn’t exactly in the mood for idle chatter and catching up on old times. Her husband had split and refused to call her.
Her daughter was pissed off at her. Talking to an attractive man over coffee would be way more fun than she felt she deserved
to have at this moment. Besides, what would she tell Reuben about her life as they caught up with each other? That her husband
had just left her?

She got off the elevator on the sixth floor, walked to the door of her office suite, and bent down to pick up the day’s
Washington Post
. She unlocked the door and walked down a short hallway past the closed doors of two other psychologists. She entered her
own office, dropped her purse and the newspaper on her desk, then sat down and picked up the phone to listen to her messages.

The first was from Cathy, canceling her session that morning due to a bad case of seasonal allergy, aggravated by the rain.
Evelyn listened and jotted down notes from two other clients who had called wanting to make appointments. Then she hung up
and flipped her computer on.

So she had an hour and fifteen minutes to kill before her first appointment that morning. She could fill the time by catching
up on her e-mail and visiting some of her favorite websites. She could take her time reading the newspaper with her morning
coffee. Or she could dash across the street and join Reuben. She swiveled in her chair to face the window behind her desk
and stared down at the rain pounding the pavement and all the people scurrying in and out of office buildings and shops on
the avenue below.
Nah,
she thought. Why go back out in that nasty weather?

She stood, removed the jacket to her black linen suit, and hung it on the wall hook. She walked back down the hallway to the
coffeemaker and poured herself a cup of brew, then sat back down at her desk and opened the newspaper. She would read a few
articles and check her e-mail until her first client was due.

She had barely gotten through the first paragraph of the lead article before she found her mind wandering back to Kevin and
his call to Rebecca that weekend, getting their daughter all riled up. And why hadn’t he returned her calls? Evelyn sighed
loudly. She hated having all this downtime before her first client. It gave her more time to think, and she knew that if she
dwelled on negative thoughts she would get upset. That was the last thing she wanted to do before a client’s arrival.

Maybe she should go and have coffee with Reuben after all. It would take her mind off her problems and certainly be more interesting
than sitting around fuming about Kevin. She stood up, grabbed her jacket, purse, and umbrella, and left her office.

Within five minutes, she was shaking water off the umbrella and scanning the crowded coffee shop for Reuben. He was tall,
so she quickly spotted him sitting at a small table in a far corner. He was sipping from a paper cup and reading the morning
newspaper. She wove between the tightly packed chairs and tables and approached him.

He glanced up and a look of pleasant surprise crossed his face. “You changed your mind,” he said.

“My client canceled.”

“Ah. At any rate, you’re here.” He stood and pulled a chair out for her.

“I want to get something to drink first,” she said as she placed her soggy umbrella on the floor. “What are you having?”

“Plain black coffee. None of that fancy stuff for me. But you look like a latte kind of girl.”

She smiled. “Right you are.”

He held up a finger. “I’ll be right back.”

“No, no,” she protested. “I can get it myself.”

“I don’t mind. Really.”

“I insist. I’ll get it.” She walked quickly toward the coffee counter to order. She didn’t want this to seem in any way like
a date. He was married, as far as she knew, and so was she. They were just two office buddies having a cup of brew before
work.

When she arrived back at the table, he folded his paper and once again stood to help her get seated.

“Do you come here for coffee every morning?” she asked as she sat down across from him.

“Most mornings,” he said. “Although I’ve only been working here for a few weeks now.”

“Right. You were in D.C. before. Your company relocated?”

He shook his head. “No, just me. I’m a technology consultant, and I decided to strike out on my own.”

“Oh, that sounds interesting.”

“I like it, but I couldn’t afford office space in the city. Not that it’s cheap out here in Silver Spring, but it’s better
than D.C.”

She nodded. “Do you live in Silver Spring too?”

“I just got an apartment nearby. Hope to get a condo soon.”

She frowned, surprised to hear him say “I.” Wasn’t he married?

“My wife and I just separated,” he said to answer the question on her face.

Evelyn blinked. Reuben and Belinda had been a couple ever since she could remember. Every girl in high school envied Belinda
for her tight hold on Reuben. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be. We both realize it’s for the best. We actually decided to part ways several months ago. We were trying to share
the house until the settlement—we have a big place over in Mitchellville and we’re selling—and I was living in the basement.
But that didn’t go over so well when we both started seeing other people, if you know what I mean. So I decided to go on and
move out.”

Evelyn nodded. The parallels to her own life recently were startling. Although maybe she shouldn’t be surprised, given how
common divorce was. “I’m still stunned hearing that. You and Belinda had been together since forever.”

“That might have been part of the problem,” he said, shrugging. “We were so young when we got married, and we’re both different
now. After the boys grew up and left home, we realized how much we had grown apart. People change. Sometimes they change together,
sometimes they don’t.”

That
was certainly true, she thought. People definitely changed, and not always in harmony. For a few seconds, Evelyn toyed with
the idea of telling Reuben about what she and Kevin were going through but decided against it. Despite how dismal things looked
now, she still had faith that they would get back together eventually.

“Well, I hope you two work things out to your liking,” she said.

“I think we will since it’s what we both want. We’ve accepted it. So what do you do in the building? You said you have clients.”

“I’m a psychologist.”

“Oh, wow. For children? Adults?”

“All of the above, but mainly family and relationships.”

He laughed out loud. “Talk about coincidences. You’ve been holding out on me.”

She smiled. “Not really. You and Belinda seem to be working things out pretty well yourselves.”

“Belinda and I are actually getting along better since we decided to divorce. But dating again is proving to be, well, interesting,
to say the least. It’s been a challenge.”

“How so?”

“Women are different now than they were twenty-five or thirty years ago. More… how can I put it?”

“More forward?”

He cocked a finger at her. “That’s the word.”

“And you don’t like that?” she asked.

“I’m adjusting, but it takes some getting used to. I probably seem old-fashioned to many of them, especially the younger ones.”

“Hmm. Then maybe you should try women closer to your own age.”

He laughed.

“Seriously.”

“You’re probably right. Guess that’s why they pay you the big bucks.”

“Actually, in a way, I’m the very last person who should offer advice about relationships these days.”

He looked puzzled. “Isn’t that what you just told me you do for a living?”

Evelyn sighed. “Yes.”

“But? Seems like there’s a
but
coming.”

“Isn’t there always?” Maybe she would open up to him just a little. It had been her choice to keep most of her troubles from
family and friends for now. She wasn’t sure how things would turn out and didn’t want to burden them. But it was hard not
having anyone to open up to and share things with. Reuben was outside her normal circle, and even if he talked, it wouldn’t
be to anyone in her life. So what difference would it make?

“I’m going to tell you something I haven’t told anyone else. Not my friends. Not even my family.”

He raised his brow with curiosity. “I’m all ears.”

“My husband and I separated a couple of weeks ago. Less than that, actually. Sunday before last.”

“Really?” he asked. “Of course you mean it. You wouldn’t joke around about something like that.”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Are you okay with it?”

“Well, yes, but…” She paused. The whole point of sharing this with him was to finally let it all out. “No! I’m
not
okay with it. It’s killing me.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. “How long were you married?”

“Going on twenty-five years.”

He whistled softly. “Almost as long as us. That’s rough. Whether it’s been two years or twenty or you think you’re ready for
it or not, divorce is always painful.”

“I know. I feel like such a failure.”

“I hear you. I felt that way too when I first realized that our marriage wasn’t going to work. Actually, we both tried to
keep the fires burning for a while, but it just wasn’t going to happen. Maybe you’ll have better luck, though. It’s only been
a short time since you separated. Is that what you want? To get back together?”

She nodded. “Very much so. As miserable as we’ve been the last several months, I’m even more miserable now.” She laughed nervously.
“But we’ll see if that happens. He’s going through some kind of midlife thing, and right now it seems that I want to stay
together more than he does. It’s also hard on the children. My daughter’s away at college and she just found out this past
weekend. He told her, which I didn’t agree with, and Rebecca has been calling me every night since. She’s beside herself with
worry.”

“Yeah, mine had a bad time with it too. Even when they’re grown, it’s hard for them to think of their parents divorcing. I
know it’s impossible to believe now, but it does get more bearable for everyone with time.”

She smiled thinly. “That’s what I always told my clients. Now I’m getting to practice what I preach.”

“That could be a bright side. It could help you in your work as a therapist.”

“Yeah, maybe
something
good will come out of this mess.” She smiled at him. “Thanks for listening. This has been a big help.”

“Don’t even mention it.” He reached into his pocket. “Here’s my card. Anytime you need to chat or want some company over coffee,
just call. Maybe we could get together for lunch next week.”

Evelyn took the card and smiled. She knew that she would probably feel awful again the moment she left the coffee shop and
went back up to her office. But right now, after talking with Reuben, she actually felt pretty darn good. In fact she felt
better than she had in many months. She had forgotten how a little attention from an attractive, intelligent man could make
a woman feel so alive.