The Friday that Mia left
for the lake,
Bob came home early.
He had been thinking.
Maybe Mia
was right.
Maybe he did
spend too much time
with the car.
Maybe he did
need to be home more.
So he came home
to help out.
He wanted
to show Mia
where his heart was.
Dishes were in a pile
in the sink.
He swept
the whole house.
He even washed
some clothes.
By the time it got dark,
Mia and the girls
still weren’t home.
So Bob called
Mia’s mother.
“She had to go
out of town,”
said Mia’s mother.
“A sales meeting,
I think she said.
She’ll be back
on Sunday.
I have the girls here.
So the weekend
is all yours
to work on your car.”
“Okay, thanks,”
was all he said.
A sales meeting?
Since when
does the store
have sales meetings
out of town?
Why didn’t Mia tell him
she was going away?
Something was off.
At dinnertime
on Sunday,
Mia came home.
“Hello, Bob,”
she said,
without a hello kiss.
There was ice
in her voice.
She called him Bob,
not Bobby.
“Are the girls
still with my mother?”
“Yes,” Bob said.
But why didn’t you
tell me sooner
that you were going away?
Where have you been?”
“You don’t seem to care
what I’m doing,”
said Mia.
“I wasn’t sure
you would even see
that I was gone.”
“Really?
Is that so?
It might surprise you
to know
that I came home
early Friday.
I cleaned up
around the house.
Did all kinds of stuff
around here.”
“Nice,” said Mia.
“Too little, too late.
But nice of you.”
“Too late, Mia?
I came home Friday
because I
haven’t been fair to you.”
“You’re right,”
said Mia.
“You haven’t been fair.”
Bob moved close
to Mia.
He reached out
for her hands.
Slowly,
Mia put out her hands
and took hold of his.
“You know what?”
said Mia,
“I haven’t been
I should have told you
that I was going away.
Or not go at all.”
“Bobby,” said Mia.
“Let’s make up our minds
right here and now.
Both of us.
Let’s promise
to always be fair
to each other.
No matter what.
Are you with me, Bobby?”
Bob let go
of Mia’s hands.
He put his arms
around her
and held her tight.
“I’m with you,”
he said.
Mia moved
and looked Bob
in the face.
“You don’t think
car racing
will come between us
ever again?”
“I won’t let it,”
Bob promised.
“I want to race.
But I choose you
over the car.
Nothing makes me
feel like a winner
more than
our life together.”