The Space Between Us Read online

  I felt like shit even though what I’d said was no more a lie than Vic saying nothing was “wrong.” Elaine lifted her hair off her neck and twisted it, securing it with a ponytail holder she pulled from her wrist. She briefly touched the spot between her eyes as if it pained her. When she looked across the table at me, I hated seeing the sheen of tears in her eyes.

  “If something was wrong and you knew about it, Tesla. You’d tell me. Right?”

  “Of course. Of course I would.” It tasted like a lie, though I meant it to be the truth.

  The back door opened and caught us looking guilty, like we were the ones keeping secrets. Vic came in, stamping off the slush from his boots, and paused in the doorway. He looked first to his wife, who got a faint smile from him, then to me.

  I got a frown.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  Elaine heaved her bulk from the chair and went to give him a kiss. “How was work?”

  “Fine. Closed early, had no appointments and Cap was on about something having to do with what it would take to launch an iPhone into space or something like that.”

  I laughed, and Vic shot me another frown. “Did he have diagrams?” I asked.

  “Yes.” Vic rolled his eyes and looked over Elaine’s shoulder to the stove. “Spaghetti?”

  “Yes. It’ll be a few minutes.” She hugged him close.

  I looked away from their intimacy, not because it embarrassed me, but because I didn’t want to see Vic’s face when he hugged the woman he was lying to. The pounding of feet up the stairs alerted the three of us to the kids before they hurtled through the door to attack their dad, and I took the opportunity to finish the bread, then start the spaghetti. Vic played daddy for a few minutes, then went to take a shower before dinner.

  Elaine let the subject drop, but it still hovered between us as we both set the dining room table and put out the food. My phone rang just as Vic, head wet and clothes changed, came down the stairs. He looked as if he was going to say something to me, but I held up a hand to hold him off while I answered.

  It was Meredith. “Hey, sugar pie.”

  “Hello, crumb cake,” I answered, just to be sassy.

  She laughed. “What’s going on?”

  “Getting ready to eat.” Phone in one hand, I snagged Max by the back of the pants with the other as he ran by. He yelped, I giggled.

  “Sounds crazy over there.” Meredith herself sounded the opposite of crazy—calm and amused. “It’s a circus, huh?”

  “Yeah, a circus. With monkeys.” I picked Max up in one arm, ignoring his wiggling protests, and took him into the dining room to hand him to Vic. “It’s pretty much always a circus here. What’s going on with you?”

  Frowning, Vic took his son from me. I ignored his glare, not interested at the moment in his judgment, since he had no justification for it as far as I was concerned. He narrowed his eyes; I widened mine innocently and turned my back.

  “I wanted to take you out to dinner,” Meredith said. “See a movie. Whisk you away from your dreary, humdrum life and give you something magical.”

  “Magical, huh? Sounds exciting.” I looked over the table, Simone and Max in their places and most of the food set out. Elaine looked up curiously as she placed the bowl of pasta and sauce, already mixed, in the center. “Where do you want to take me?”

  “What are you hungry for?” A shuffle sounded in the background, then her distinctive giggle. “Charlie says he has something nice for you to eat.”

  Charlie’s voice muttering a protest came through next, though I couldn’t quite hear what he said. I laughed at the mental picture of him laid out on a table. Naked. “Mmmm.”

  “Let us come and pick you up. We can be there in fifteen minutes. Is that enough time to get ready?”

  I laughed again at that; Meredith was the one who took forever. “I’m a wash-and-go sort of girl. You know that.”

  “Good.” She paused. More shuffling, something muttered. “Charlie says wear something sexy.”

  Apparently that wasn’t what he’d said, because I heard him retort, loud and clear, “I said tell her to come hungry!”

  “He says get ready to come,” Meredith said.

  I was giddy and giggly, listening to their exchange. Tingles in my toes. Cheeks a little flushed. It must’ve been obvious because when I turned to face the others at the table, they were all staring. “I’ll be ready. See you.”

  I disconnected the call. “What?”

  “Who was that?” Vic asked suspiciously.

  Elaine smiled. “I bet I know.”

  “Santa Claus!” Simone shouted.

  “No, not Santa,” I told her. I didn’t answer Vic and spoke instead to his wife. “I’m actually not going to eat here. I got invited out.”

  Elaine’s smile got bigger. “Woo, woo!”

  I picked up the plate we’d set for me, and tickled Max as I passed, then ruffled Simone’s blond curls. “Catch youse on the flip side.”

  “What’s the flip side?” Simone asked, twisting in her seat to look up at me.

  I touched her nose. “It means later, gator.”

  I took my plate and fork to the kitchen before I left, and when I turned, Vic was standing so close behind me I let out a surprised squeak and had to step back so I didn’t bump into him. “Christ, Vic, what the hell?”

  “Don’t you think you’re being a little selfish?”

  I could only stare, drop-jawed.

  He gestured toward the dining room. “Dinner’s all ready, and you’re going to dump us so you can go out with someone else?”

  I held up a hand. “Slow your roll.”

  “Slow my…” His expression transformed from irritated to infuriated.

  “Yeah. Slow your fucking roll, Vic.” I kept my voice low to keep the kids from hearing me curse, because I’m not a totally insensitive twat. “Back off. And it’s not any of your business, anyway.”

  “It’s completely my business.”

  “Since when?” I demanded.

  “Since always.”

  My jaw dropped again, and I actually made that noise cartoon characters make when they’re flabbergasted. Boing-oing-oing-oing. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Elaine worked hard to make that dinner in there. I think you shouldn’t be a self-absorbed little brat, but get back in there and eat it with us.”

  It was like someone had reached down my throat and torn out every single word I’d ever uttered. I couldn’t form a sound to save my life. All I could do was stare.

  Well, stare and blink away the rapidly rising tsunami of red fury that had begun crashing over me.

  “First of all, I made the dinner. Most of it.” Saying it that way made it sound like a complaint, which it wasn’t. “So I doubt Elaine really cares if I don’t eat it.”

  Vic’s mouth worked. A smart man would’ve stepped back. After all, he knew me. We’d gone at it with hammer and tongs enough times for us both to know when to stop pushing the other one’s buttons. But he didn’t.

  “When’s the last time we all ate together? Maybe instead of rushing off with your friends you should spend some time with your family.”

  I didn’t like the way he said “friends.”

  “Is that your issue? That it’s with them? What if I were meeting someone else—would that matter?”

  “Didn’t you learn anything from what happened with your parents?” Vic said tightly. “Jesus, Tesla. I thought you’d be smarter than that.”

  “This is nothing like that. It’s not like anything in The Compound.” I meant it as the truth, but it came out sounding defensive. Like a lie.

  “You should stay here with us.”

  “I’ve had more dinners here with your wife and kids in the past three weeks than you have,” I pointed out coldly. “I’m not the one off fucking around.”

  “I’m not…” Vic stopped to lower his voice. “I’m not fucking around. Jesus, Tesla.”

  A sound in the doorway made us both t