Tightening the Knot (21 page)

           
“This is really good.
 
Thanks.”
 
Meredith decided to start with small talk and see if it grew.

           
“I had one, too.
 
I thought you’d like it.”

           
“Were you the only one by yourself?”

           
He pulled out the desk chair and sat down opposite her.
 
“No, not at all.
 
There seemed to be quite a few spouses still in bed.”

           
“Hmm.”
 
She had just stuffed a huge bite into her mouth.

           
“So I don’t know if I told you, but I have to go back to
Atlanta
on Monday.”

           
“Already?”

           
“Yeah.
 
But this should be the last time for at least a few months.”

           
“Two nights as usual?”

           
Greg nodded.
 
“I’ll be back on Wednesday.”

           
“Well, I’ll be back to work on Monday, too so…”
 
She trailed off because she really didn’t have anything else to add.

           
“So you won’t even have a chance to miss me?”
 

           
He winked and she smiled.
 
Greg was kidding of course, but he wasn’t
just
kidding.
 
There was a question in his eyes and in the air about whether or not they were secure enough for a relationship joke to be okay.
 
It was okay and it was in that comfort zone that Meredith finally found her courage.

           
“Greg?”

           
“Yes?”

           
“I need to say that I’m sorry I made you feel like you couldn’t tell me about your visit with the doctor.
 
I don’t think it’s fair to say I wanted you to have a problem, but I was scared enough to be somewhat irrational so I can kind of, I mean, I’m not upset with you because I understand why you didn’t want to tell me.”

           
“I guess neither one of us really knew what to do with the situation.”

           
“Yeah.
 
Maybe we’re ready now?”

           
Greg nodded.

           
“I think… or I hope I’d like to take the next step, but I’d really like for you to go with me.”

           
“Absolutely.
 
We’ll find out together what our options are.
 
And I don’t think it would hurt to start trying again, just in case.”
 
He moved to sit next to her on the bed as he said it and Meredith realized that his suggestion was not meant to refer to some vague time in the future.
 
It made her self-conscious.
 
She tried to smooth her bed head with her non-sticky fingers, but gave up when she noticed that Greg was looking at her the same way he had the previous night when she had been dressed to the nines.
 
She stashed her plate on the bedside table and prepared to reconnect with her husband.
 

╣ Chapter 28 ╠

           
Meredith and Greg spent the rest of that Tuesday and Wednesday feeling pretty good.
 
They went to a movie together.
 
Neither of them cared for the film all that much, but they enjoyed discussing its flaws together.
 
On Wednesday, they had dinner at home and then went out to split a banana split.
 
Greg casually asked, as he gave her the one cherry, if she had yet scheduled a doctor visit.
 
She explained that since he was coming with her, it wouldn’t make sense to call when he was going out of town so soon.
 
He wisely said that he just wanted to put it on his calendar and then dropped the subject.
 
Slow progress was good progress.

           
He returned to work on Thursday, and while he was there, Meredith received an excited phone call from Jenna saying they
had
to get together.
 
The two women met for lunch on Friday.
 
It was a tiny Italian place a few blocks from the gym where Jenna worked.
 
They sat down with goofy smiles and each noticed the other’s pleasant mood.

           
“You look like my idea worked.”

           
“What idea?”

           
“The marriage thingy,” Jenna prodded.
 
“How was your New Year’s?”

           
“Interesting.”

           
“Interesting?
 
Is that good or bad?”

           
The waiter interrupted to take their orders, and when he left, Jenna continued to look expectantly at Meredith, who obliged her friend by elaborating.

           
“The event itself was, well, interesting.
 
They had some ideas that were a little… out there.
 
But I can’t really say anything bad about it because we did spend a lot of time together and we ended up having a really good talk so I can’t say it was a waste of time or anything.”

           
“I’m glad you guys talked.”

           
“Yeah, it sort of got the ball rolling at home.
 
Things aren’t perfect yet, but I’d say we’re sort of rekindling.”

           
“That’s great.
 
I don’t want to pry into anything personal, but I’m very curious about these ‘out there’ ideas.”

           
“I think the most interesting was the bit about molding emotions.”

           
“Moldy emotions?”

           
Meredith giggled slightly.
 
“No, mold
ing
emotions.”

           
“Okay, that sounds less yucky, but doesn’t make any more sense to me.”

           
“They gave us Play-
Doh
, pink and blue Play-
Doh
, everything was pink and blue and very… cute.”
 
She managed to give the word cute a negative connotation with her expression and Jenna understood.
 
She nodded to encourage Meredith to continue.
 
“We were supposed to make the Play-
Doh
into the shape of some emotion.
 
It was all very abstract.
 
I can actually kind of see how some people would enjoy it, and believe me the instructor was very into it, but it just didn’t, it just wasn’t my idea of fun.”

           
“Was Greg a good sport?”

           
“Yeah, we both tried.”

           
“Okay.”
 
Jenna paused for effect.
 
“Now I really want to tell you my news!”

           
“News?
 
I’m all ears.”

           
“I have a date with Shawn tomorrow.”

           
“How did that happen?
 
Last I heard you were getting ready to send him hate-rays because you thought he snubbed you.”

           
“Let me explain.
 
Thank you.”
 
A waiter had just placed a steaming dish in front of her, which she left untouched out of politeness.
 
They assumed Meredith’s was on its way.
 
“So yesterday morning, Shawn comes into the gym.
 
He comes right up and says ‘hi’ and I’m thinking he doesn’t know that I know he was still at the gym when he was supposed to have had an ‘appointment’ and I’m trying to decide if I should ask him or just let it go and he says, completely out of nowhere, ‘How do you feel about dating co-workers?’”

           
“What is your policy on co-workers?”

           
“I don’t know.
 
I just said that I guessed it would depend on the co-worker, and he said that it was his first day in accounting.
 
He hoped that since he was now a co-worker instead of a client that maybe I’d reconsider going out with him.”

           
“Yeah, I bet you had to consider that for a long time.”
 
Meredith laughed through her sarcasm.
 
She was genuinely happy for her friend.

           
“I don’t think I was too transparent, but was it bad to agree to Saturday?”

           
“Were you free on Saturday?”

           
“Of course, but isn’t it supposed to make you look desperate if you’re available on short notice?”

           
“I think it makes you look honest, and you can go ahead and start eating by the way.”

           
“Are you sure?”

           
“Yeah, I don’t know where my food is and I don’t want yours to get cold.”

           
“Okay.”
 
Jenna picked up her fork.
 
“But are you sure about the not-looking-desperate thing?”

           
“It’s not like I’m an expert on relationships, but I would think the only reason to lie about your schedule is if you want to give the impression that you’re dating other guys.
 
Since you’ve always had your attention on one guy at a time, it would seem, to me, that giving a contrary impression would not be true to who you are.”

           
“You’re right.
 
And he was the one who suggested we get together so soon anyway so if anyone’s desperate…”

           
“There you go.”

           
“Oh yeah, and it turns out that when he said he had an appointment, that was the job interview.
 
It was at the club so he really did have an appointment.
 
He must have just come out of it when I saw him.”

           
“See!
 
I told you there was no need for the hate-rays.”

           
“For the record, I never sent him hate-rays.
 
I don’t even know what that means.”

           
“If you figure it out, could you send some to our waiter?
 
I would kind of like to have my food eventually.”

╣ Chapter 29 ╠