“Craig left dishes sitting around everywhere. I had to presoak everything before it could go into the dishwasher. He never understood why it bothered me. He dismissed my irritation with, ‘You could have it worse. At least I’m not a drunk and I don’t cheat on you.’ And he was right. I could have had it worse. I just hated that I couldn’t take issue with anything he did and not be labeled a complainer.”
After a few blinks, I scanned the room. The faces studying me held odd expressions.
Shock?
Pity?
“I know.” I chuckled shaking my head. “I don’t speak for months, and the first thing that comes out of my mouth is something negative about my dead husband. I’m going to Hell, aren’t I?”
Rhonda cleared her throat and slid the pendant on her necklace back and forth. A forced smile bent her matte red lips. “Maybe we could pray for you.”
“That I don’t go to Hell?” I quirked an eyebrow at her.
“No. Just asking our Lord to—”
“Grant used to trim his beard and leave the whiskers in the sink. If I dropped my contact lens, I’d have to throw it away.”
Everyone shifted their attention to Jennifer. Her husband, Grant, died of a heart attack five months earlier.
“And…” she continued “…he’d trim other parts of his body and sweep the hair under the bathroom scale. The first time I found it, I swear I thought someone had shaved their entire head in my house. I blamed the kids.”
“Jennifer, dear … I’m not sure this is productive—” Rhonda made an attempt to intervene, but Kathy cut her off.
“Rick used to dribble urine down the front of the toilet, but he always said it wasn’t him. I knew it was because he also had pee spots on the front of his pants. Like … would it have killed him to stand there a few extra seconds to give it a little shake?”
A few women snickered, but not Rhonda. I stayed silent, not anticipating my ill manners instigating such confessions.
“Eddie used to order fries from McDonalds, tear off the corner of the ketchup packet, and alternate between squeezing the ketchup into his mouth and shoving fries into it like he mastered the perfect ratio of fries to ketchup. When I asked him why he couldn’t just dip them like a normal person, he said he wasn’t that boring.”
A few more people laughed.
“Jared used to sing along to every song on the radio, and he didn’t know any of the words. He’d just mumble random stuff and ruin the song for me.”
“When I was at work, Eric texted me a photo of his turd in the toilet. He couldn’t believe it came out of his … uh … backside. And he compared it to me giving birth. As if …” Kelly rolled her eyes.
That made everyone laugh, even sour-faced Rhonda cracked a smile before ending the meeting. “Time’s up. Let’s pray.”
So … we prayed.
And afterward, several women cornered me in the church foyer.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Bethanne hugged me.
I stiffened in her embrace. You’d have thought I saved her child’s life or something heroic like that.
“For?” I returned an awkward pat on her back.
“Saying what no one else has had the courage to say.” She released me and sighed with a huge smile. And tears … yep, those were tears in her eyes.
“That my husband left dishes everywhere?”
“No, silly.” Pam grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “You told the truth.”
I didn’t tell the truth. Four people knew the truth.
Pam continued, “You weren’t afraid to share the imperfect parts of your marriage. We’ve all been so afraid to be completely honest. Of course, we miss our beloved husbands, but if we were to be honest like you, not every day was a walk in the park.” She looked right then left and lowered her voice. “Not every night ended in an orgasm. And no matter what anyone says … size matters.”
Bethanne nodded.
Craig never had size issues, but I understood where they were going.
“Speaking of size … did you happen to get a glimpse of the new guy in town?” Bethanne fanned herself with her hand in spite of the cool forty-degree day.
“New guy?” I squinted.
“The store across the street. Kaylee messaged me right before our meeting and said they just put up the sign. It’s called What Did You Expect?”
“The store is called What Did You Expect?”
“Crazy right? But … not going to lie, I’d go into it in a heartbeat just because I’d have to see if it’s what I expected.”
Fiddling with my earring, I returned an easy nod. “So what kind of store is it?”
Bethanne shrugged. “No idea. All of the windows are still covered in black paper. You’d think they’d want people to know what they plan to sell, especially with the holidays upon us. Anyway, Kaylee saw the owner coming out the front door and she took a picture.” She held out her phone and the photo of the man with a gray, slouched beanie, trimmed dark beard, and huge smile. “Kael Hendricks. That’s all I know until I get home and talk to her. Clearly, she asked his name. She’s a little nosey.”