The Last Original Wife Read Online Free PDF Page B

opinions, he had plenty. In my opinion.
    â€œRight. Listen, I know being a single parent is hard on Charlotte. She’s still angry with Holly’s father and probably always will be, but look! That awful irresponsible relationship produced a beautiful, affectionate little girl who’s as smart as a whip! It just seems to me that if Charlotte were more engaged with Holly, she would enjoy her so very much. So much. And here’s what I worry about. Pretty soon Holly is going to figure out that Charlotte would rather be elsewhere. That’s when the chickens will come home to roost. She’ll spend the rest of her life trying to please a mother who can’t be pleased and a father who can’t be found.”
    I could hear his brain ticking as he thought to himself, And that’s why I’ll always make a living.
    Dysfunctional relationships kept the lights on in his penthouse.
    â€œHmmm,” he said. “Is that why you left home and went to Charleston? To force her to take responsibility?”
    â€œMaybe on some level, but actually, I went to Charleston, which is where I’m from, to think. And to help my brother, Harlan.”
    â€œI see. Tell me about your brother. Is he ill?”
    â€œNot at all. Harlan is a distinguished professor of the Italian Renaissance and he lectures all over the world. And he’s the chair of the Art History Department at the College of Charleston.”
    â€œI see. Older or younger?”
    â€œOlder but only by a few years. Anyway, he was taking a group to Rome for part of the summer and he needed someone to watch his dog. And his house.”
    â€œAha! So his departure for Italy coincided with your departure from Atlanta?”
    â€œYes, but that’s irrelevant because I could have gone to stay with Harlan anytime. We have a really wonderful relationship.”
    â€œTell me about it. Is he an important part of your family? I mean, is he close with your husband and children?”
    â€œHardly. Wes is a huge homophobe, and he would never allow Harlan and Leonard to come to the house. Leonard was Harlan’s partner for decades. When he died—he was much older—he left Harlan a gorgeous house in the old part of Charleston.”
    â€œLeonard died from what . . . AIDS?”
    â€œNo. Thank you. Leonard, who was healthy in every single way, had a massive heart attack at seventy-two while doing the Bridge Run in Charleston. He was a marathoner. Why do you assume that if Leonard died, it had to be from AIDS?”
    â€œYou’re right. It’s a ridiculous assumption. I apologize. I just made the fleeting connection that if Wes didn’t want them in the house that it might have been because they were HIV-positive. Many well-meaning, uninformed people used to think AIDS was an airborne virus.”
    â€œTrue. No offense taken, but here we are again looking at another chink in the façade of my marriage. Wes just straight up hates gays. My only sibling happens to be gay. Wes hates him.”
    Silence from the shrink. Finally. I went on.
    â€œSo . . . ? It makes it impossible to mindlessly adore my husband.”
    â€œDo you think that’s what he expects? Mindless adoration?”
    â€œLook, Dr. Katz. No, it’s not what he expects, but it’s what he sees when he looks around at his friends.”
    â€œI understand.”
    â€œReally? Well, I’m glad you understand because I sure don’t. I mean, Wes’s friends are successful, reasonably intelligent men. What’s the matter with them? Do they really think that all that fawning over them from their Barbies is sincere?”
    â€œMaybe they don’t care.”
    â€œMaybe you’re right. Maybe they don’t care. What a thing to say. Well, how’s this? Maybe pretending to be in love leads to believing you’re in love.”
    â€œReally? Do you believe that?”
    â€œI’m not so sure about a lot of