Brief Interludes Read Free Page B

room, wondering where Jack was. This couldn’t be my house. I'd only been gone a week. It's impossible to manufacture a pool in that short amount of time, even a small one like this. Wasn't it? I needed to check out the rest of the place.
    This was crazy. Before I could move, my heart pounded in my chest, my lungs begged for air and I rummaged in my purse for my inhaler. I pulled it out and shook it as fast as I could, put it to my lips, and pumped. I breathed in and the cool medicine entered my esophagus and flowed into my lungs.
    I sat on the corner of that new black leather chair positioned just outside the dining room—a dining room that no longer housed my mother’s antique dining table—and looked around. What happened to all our stuff? My dog? My dog should be here. She always greets me when I come home.
    “ Reecie, come here, girl. Reece? Reece! ”
    Within seconds, in loped my eighty-pound golden lab. I crouched to welcome her into my arms, hugging and scratching her in all her favorite spots.
    “ Oh, thank God. Reecie, girl. What's going on here? Where's Daddy? ”
    “ Daddy is right here. Hi, honey. Welcome home. ” Jack poked his head out from the other side of the gigantic ball that sat in the center of the pool.
    “ Jack, what is this? How did we get a pool? ”
    He stood and sloshed his way over to me. “ It's not exactly a pool, Angela, it's a spa. ”
    “ A spa with a huge globe in the center. ” I pointed toward the monstrosity.
    “ It's a cool waterfall to give it an extra feeling of luxury. ”
    “ Luxury? Since when do we have money for luxury? I just busted my ass all week at some damn technology convention, a convention you should have been at, ” I said, poking my finger at his bare chest. “ We need to make connections and grow our business—where were you, by the way? We don't have enough money to make it through the month and you do this? ”
    I took another pump on my inhaler and waited for some explanation from my husband, who I assumed must have been conked over the head with a stupidity enhancer, if there was such a thing. At this point, I was sure there must be.
    “ Angela, relax, will you? You're getting yourself all worked up. Come on , take off your clothes . Let's soak a while. ” I stood, gaping at him as he slid his shorts down and stepped out of them, pushing them aside with his foot. He stood naked in front of me, his clever fingers unbuttoning my blouse while he nibbled my neck under my ear lobe. Oh, he knew exactly how to get to me. It had been a long lonely week and my sexual energy screamed for release. So , I let him undress me.
    Reece ambled toward the corner and slumped down, knowing it would be a while before she got any attention.
    “ Are you going to tell me how you managed all this? ” I asked between pants and breathless kisses.
    Jack smiled that cocky grin only he could pull off and touched my lips with his finger while brushing a stray hair away. “ You look beautiful tonight, Angela, I missed you. ”
    He was stalling and I tapped my bare foot on the new cold Italian marble floor—that wasn’t there when I left home last Sunday—next to the new pool … spa … whatever the fuck it was. I wanted answers not compliments.
    “ Jack, how did all this stuff get here? ”
    “ Okay. ” He sighed and leaned back with arms outstretched over the sides of the small pool. “ Sit with me, ” he said, doing a come-hither motion with his finger. I shrugged and plopped down on the marble edge of the lagoon that now graced my dining room, trying not to get the rest of my clothes wet —those that Jack never finished removing , that is .
    “ You're not going to believe me. ”
    “ Try me. ”
    “ Tuesday, I think it was ... yeah. Tuesday I took a walk along the river; you know the place where that old phone booth is? ”
    I nodded.
    “ Well, the light was on, so I opened the door to see if there was a switch to turn it off. ”
    “ You are forever