Run: A Novel Read Online Free Page A

friends. When’s that ever happened to you? How about a little sympathy?”
    She moved to the chair farthest from me and sat down, brushing a stray hair from her cheek and then crossing her arms and legs.
    “I did try to call you. I left you a message. Didn’t you get it?”
    “Of course I got it. And when I tried to call you back, you’d disappeared. What was I supposed to think?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe that having been stabbed in the back, I needed a little time to recover? That I’d fill you in tonight, like I said in my message?”
    “Leaving me to get the news tonight, when it was cold? When you were done
recovering
from it? I should be the first one you tell, Marc. The one you talk to about things like this.”
    “You were. You are.”
    “We should have talked then. Right away.”
    “We couldn’t.”
    “Why not?”
    “You were working. You didn’t answer your phone. I guessed you were busy.”
    “You could have come and found me.”
    “No, I couldn’t. I was shut down. Thrown off the premises.”
    “Then you should have kept calling till I picked up. I’d have dropped everything and come to you.”
    “Would you? Are you sure?”
    She looked away without replying, so I took the chair closest to hers and leaned forward.
    “Sweetheart, let’s not fight over this. What’s done is done. The smart thing is to draw a line and move on. Plus, I’ve had a great idea. I’m dying to tell you all about it. Do you remember—”
    “Where did you go?”
    “What about my idea?”
    “I want to know where you went.”
    “When I left AmeriTel?”
    “Yes, when you left AmeriTel. Who did you talk to?”
    “Oh, I see where this is coming from. This isn’t about supporting your husband. It’s about protecting your career. You’re worried about the fallout. What my contract being canceled might do to your reputation. You wanted to get to me first, to make sure I didn’t run my mouth.”
    “That’s ridiculous!”
    “What do you see when you look at me, Carolyn? Tell me.”
    “I see my husband. Same as always. Why?”
    “I don’t think you do. I think you see a problem. Something to be
handled
. A potential banana skin on the path to your next big promotion.”
    “That’s not fair,” she snapped, but the spattering of pink that began at her neck and spread to her cheeks said otherwise.
    “Well, I’m sorry. But that’s how it seems to me.”
    “Only because you always see everything in black and white, Marc.You don’t get the gray areas. Everything has to be either right or wrong in your little world. But real life? It’s more complex than that. I can be worried about you
and
my career, believe it or not. Two things. At the same time. Equally. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.”
    “If they were equal, maybe you’d be right. But they’re not. You know what? I sometimes think you’d have been happier if you’d married AmeriTel instead of me.”
    “What does that mean?” She added a sharper edge to her voice. “You think you don’t get enough attention? Because how could I give you more? You’re never here.”
    “Neither are you. That’s my point. You need to get your priorities straightened out.”
    “No, I don’t. There’s nothing to straighten out. I value my marriage. To you. And I value my job. At AmeriTel. I work extremely hard at both. I need both. I shouldn’t have to pick between them. It’s not a competition.”
    “I’m not asking you to pick. I just think it says a lot about your priorities when you spend more evenings at the office than you do at home.”
    “That’s temporary. We’re still a finance manager down, after Melanie Walker’s accident. Which is hardly my fault. And I never wanted to work at AmeriTel in the first place, remember. I only went there as a temp. Then I had to stay when you got fired—the first time—and needed someone to support you while you were busy becoming mayor of nerd-central. My dream job went out of the window.