Two months later…
It’s late when I get home, and Rosy hasn’t answered my texts. The house is dark, but it’s not unusual for me to get home by the time she’s already in bed. I think about the ways I’m going to wake her up and then all the ways I’m going to make love to her as I open the front door and drop my briefcase.
Something catches the corner of my eye on the way to the stairs, and I stop when I see a letter on the table nearby. As I walk closer I see my name written in Rosy’s beautiful handwriting, but I’m confused as to why she would leave this here.
With a shrug, I open it up and scan the single page. My stomach drops, and my blood runs cold as I read it again and again.
Dear Darian,
I love you, but I can’t do this anymore. I thought our trip to the islands was a turning point for us, but two months later we’re back in the same old routine. I don’t know how to fix this on my own, but I know that I can’t sit in that big empty house waiting for you to come home every night.
I’m going to stay at Lindsey’s for a few days to clear my head. Please give me the space I need. I’ll come home, I promise. I just need to figure out…I don’t know, everything.
Rosy
Before I know what’s happening my knees give out, and I fall to the floor. How can this be happening? The weeks since we went away for her birthday all blur together. I’ve had more demands at work, people pulling me in different directions, and no time left over for home.
How could I have been so stupid? How could I have let the best thing in my life fall to the bottom of the pile? How could I leave her as leftovers? I was so busy trying to build a life, I wasn’t living it. There’s one thing that’s clear to me in this moment, now more than ever before. We don’t do space, and being apart is what got us here in the first place.
Pushing up off the floor, I rush to the garage and grab the keys to my old truck. I break a few traffic laws on my way across town, but when I pull up to Lindsey’s building, I toss the keys to the doorman, who nods like he was expecting me.
The elevator to the penthouse is slower than normal, and I wonder if it’s because I’m anxious to get to the top and it’s torturing me. When the doors open to the top floor, I walk out to the small entrance with her front door straight ahead. I look at the keys in my hand and curse myself for not bringing the other set that has a key to her place. So I do what any normal husband would at this moment: I begin to beat on the door with my fists while kicking it in and screaming out my wife’s name like a lunatic.
“Rosy, you get your ass out here right this second, or so help me god, I’ll tear this building apart!”
There’s a click at the door, and then it slowly opens to reveal Lindsey standing there with her arms crossed over her chest. “You’re gonna pay for that damage.”
“I’ll write you a check,” I say, trying to push past her.
She surprises me by putting an arm against her doorframe and blocking me. “Can I help you?”
“I want my wife.” My teeth are clenched, and I know I might be on the verge of a breakdown.
“You should know better than to come to my house demanding anything.” She narrows her eyes at me as she takes a step forward. “I don’t care how big and mad you are, baby brother, you’re not getting past me.”
“Lindsey, this isn’t your fight.”
“You’re my fight, she’s my fight, my family will always be my fight.” I see fire flare in her eyes. “I think one of us has lost sight of that lately, and it ain’t me.”
Some of the anger bubbling up inside me deflates.
“Do you think any of us would have traded our old lives for this?” She pauses, waiting for me to disagree. “We would have gladly stayed in that gutter if it meant we stayed together.” She pokes me in the chest, and it stings almost as much as her words. “She’s the heart of this family, Darian, and you’ve broken it.”
“Fuck.” I put my head in my hands as flashes of the past few years come tumbling at me all at once. It’s images of Rosy and how her light has slowly been slipping away from her. I’ve tried to give her everything she ever wanted, and in the process, I took away what she loved most. Me.
“I think you should go,” Lindsey says softly, and I shake my head.
“Please.” My voice breaks. “Please, I need to see her.”
“Darian.” Rosy’s voice comes from behind Lindsey, and my heart lurches toward the sound.
Lindsey closes her eyes for a moment and then opens them before she straightens up. “Fix it,” she says in a low voice. “For all of us, you better fix it.”
She moves away from the door, and behind her is Rosy with red eyes like she’s been crying. The sight of her tears makes me weak, but I don’t move, afraid if I do she’ll run.
We’re silent as we stare at one another and then a smile tugs at the corner of her mouth. “I should have known you wouldn’t give me any space.”
“Never.” I shrug, not at all sorry.
“Darian, I meant what I said. I do love you—”
“I love you too,” I cut her off, and she shakes her head.
“But maybe that’s not enough.” She looks down at the ground and sighs. “I know that what you do is important, but so am I.” When her eyes finally meet mine again, I see the tears.
“You are the reason I do the work. For us.” I can’t stand the distance between us anymore and take a step closer. “Rosy, you are the reason I wake up every day. Without you, it all means nothing.”
I shake my head as she begins to talk.
“Please, let me just say this.” She hesitates and then nods as she presses her lips together. “I thought by giving you your old life of luxury, I was somehow making up for taking you away from it. All the times you told me that you were happy to give it up, I thought about all you had to sacrifice, all we had to sacrifice when we didn’t have two pennies to rub together.” I put my hand on my chest as I feel the hollow ache clench. “Those were our best times, not because of the money, but because we had each other, and I’ve lost sight of that.”
I take another step closer, and I can almost reach out my arms and touch her.
“After I read your note, I could only think about one thing, and it was the first time you looked at me. It was the first time in my life that I felt like I could do anything. One look from you and I could take over the world and become the man I was destined to be. You gave me the courage to do that, and then without realizing it I left you behind.” I shake my head and take one small step closer. “I lost sight of my purpose, and that’s always been to love you.”
“Darian,” she says softly, and this time it’s her turn to step toward me until we’re a breath apart.
“On the way over here tonight, I relinquished my control of the company. They have everything they need to keep my work going forward, and I named Lindsey as head of operations.”
“What?” she screeches from the hallway.
“Oh my god, are you serious?” Rosy’s eyes widen in disbelief.
“You are my life, not my work. And I’m sorry I needed you to remind me of that.”
“Um, can we go back to the part where I’m in charge of something I know absolute shit about?” Lindsey says, but I ignore her because Rosy is smiling up at me.
“Promise me something,” I say as I pull Rosy against me and cup her cheek.
“Anything.” She reaches up and touches my face like she’s checking to be sure I’m real.
“Promise me that the next time you want to leave, you’ll tell me first. It will save me a lot of money.” I glance back at the bashed-in door, and I hear Rosy laugh.
“Deal.”
With that one word, I look into my wife’s eyes just before I kiss her with all the love I have inside me. Her arms wrap around my neck, and she pulls me in tight as I lift her off the ground. Every part of me is clinging to her, and right now, all I want to do is find a flat surface so we can make love.
“Take it back to your house. I’ve gotta find a midnight repairman,” Lindsay says, although she doesn’t sound as pissed as she did earlier.
“I’ll send someone over,” I tell her as I carry Rosy out of her apartment and to the elevator.
“Yeah, and then send someone who can explain what the hell it is you want me to do for your company.”
I turn around as I step onto the elevator with Rosy in my arms. “Relax, it’s your company now. Do what you want.”
With that, the doors close, and Rosy and I laugh before our lips connect once more.