That Day

by Clay Anderson

My wife tells me she’s cheating on me halfway through dinner. I’m working on the potatoes and beans before replying.

“Who?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

I think that very much does matter. I imagine a Greek god of a man fucking my wife. I think about how he holds her. Is he gentle? Rough? And the noises she makes for him. Is she quiet? Does she scream for him?

“Michael?”

I’m chewing on the last of my chicken. Wondering if she’s ever fucked us both on the same day.

“Michael, listen to me! I want a divorce.”

I watch her for a while. Her jaw. The hollow of her neck. The way her hair falls down the side of her face. Those eyes that echoed the bluest of moons.

“Is he better?”

“What?”

“Is he better than me?”

She purses her lips. I think she’s going to tell me that he’s just different. That she’s sorry it had to be like this. That she still loves me. Really deep down. It was a mistake and that no one could be better than me.

“Yes Michael. He’s better than you.”

My wife says that she’s staying in the house until she can find a place to rent and we sort this out. I say I want to take the bed.

“Trust me. You don’t.”

“In our bed?”

“Sleep on the couch, Michael.”

And so that’s where I find myself. Working on a bottle of expensive scotch that I was saving for a special day. I suppose this is that day.

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Clay Anderson is an author and bookstore owner. He holds both a Bachelors and Master's degree in History, and a Master's of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. He is the author of the novel, The Palms. The Palms was nominated for Georgia Author of the Year in 2019.