I had a mental image of both my mother and my stepmother kicking my ass. “Not all wives do those things. It’s not 1950, households have equal divisions of labor, and—”
“I asked what he was making for dinner. You’re the one who said that was treating him like a wife.”
Being on the losing end of the argument had me scrambling. “I meant a housewife.”
Adan rolled his eyes. “Fine. Whatever. So what’s wrong with being a housewife?”
“Nothing! There’s nothing wrong with being a housewife. I never said—”
“Great. So why can’t Charlie be the wife, er, housewife?” He paused and then waved his hand dismissively. “Other than the guy thing, I mean.”
“I don’t, uh, Charlie has a job!” Finally grasping on to some sort of logic helped clear my mind. “He’s worked hard to get where he is in his field, and—”
“Please,” Adan scoffed. “He’s got a bit part in a Vegas show; this isn’t the apex of his career. And you saw his paycheck—you know he’s barely making enough money to cover his bills.”
I wanted to crawl under the couch but instead, I jerked my gaze over to Charlie. He hadn’t moved from his spot, he was still watching us, but he hadn’t said a word about the fact that we’d snuck a peek at his paycheck or about the way Adan was insulting his career.
“He’d make more if he had a bigger role in a bigger show, but then he’d be working every night, and he can’t because he has to be here for the kids, Adan, you know that.”
“Yes, I know. I’ve seen him dance, Scott. Don’t act like I’m insulting his talent. He’s amazing. But on the days he has evening shows, he’s miserable about leaving Stephi and Bobby with a sitter. Plus, he’s bone tired every day because he’s running around like a chicken with his head cut off to get to work and drive the kids everywhere they need to be. It seems to me his job is a hindrance to what he actually wants to be doing.”
“Care to enlighten me as to what that is?” Charlie asked, finally joining the conversation.
Adan leaned back in the sofa and relaxed his stance. “You already know.”
Their gazes locked.
“You think I want to be a housewife.” It sounded like a statement, not a question.
“I think you want to quit that silly job. I think you want to sign Stephi up for ballet class instead of having to say no because you’re working at four and she has to be in aftercare and you can’t afford to buy the costume for the recital. I think you want to be here every night when they go to sleep. I think you want to make them dinner, but some nights you feel like you’re going to pass out if you don’t get at least a few minutes off your feet, so you stop at the drive-through. I think being a single working dad sucks and you hate that there’s no end in sight.”
At the beginning of Adan’s rant, I thought he was being an ass and I was gearing up to drag him out of the room before he ruined our plans and pushed Charlie further away. But somewhere along the way, his description of Charlie’s life and struggles began sounding familiar. They reminded me of Charlie, but not in the way he meant.
“Charlie,” I said quietly. He looked at me, his eyes shining and his cheeks flushed. “It doesn’t have to be like it was for your mom.”
When he gulped and trembled, I knew I’d hit the nail on the head. I remembered how hard his mother had worked the whole time I’d known him. I remembered how alone Charlie had felt and how exhausted his mother had been.
“How could it not?” he asked hoarsely.
“You know how,” Adan said gently.
“No… I can’t.” He shook his head. “It’s not….”
Adan moved over and patted the spot between us. “C’mere, baby.”
After a brief hesitation, Charlie hurried over and sat down between us. I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and Adan caressed his knee.
“Let us take care of you, Charlie,” I whispered.
“I can’t do that. It’s not right.” His words were a definite no, but I was getting better at listening to those other forms of communication. I heard the yearning in his voice; I saw the way his shoulders were shaking, like he was barely holding it together, and I couldn’t miss the hopeful look in his eyes when he gazed at me.
“Of course it’s right. Adan and I both do very well. We don’t have any debt or anybody to spend our money on.” I dipped my face and kissed his neck. “Let us take care of you.”
He clenched and released his fists nervously. “But I’m not even sleeping with you.”
“Is that the holdup?” Adan said with a chuckle. “Because I’m more than happy to put a stop to that impediment tonight. We can get naked, get busy, and clear that problem right up. Done and done.”