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Spinner hated that he’d become so paranoid, watching the clock tick on the oven in their kitchen, each minute passing another suspicious minute that his wife wasn’t home. He wanted to trust her, he wanted to believe that she really was working late in the library at University. But she always came home smelling like coffee. Had she been meeting someone?
If she were going to lie about studying, she could just say she was studying at a cafe on campus or at a Starbucks or something. Then the coffee smell would make sense. But her lie was bad, bad enough that a meat head like Spinner was starting to catch on. Besides, she’d never needed to study for hours after class every single day last semester. There’s no way her classes were suddenly much harder or much more demanding.
But just because she was coming home late literally every single day now, that didn’t necessarily mean something bad, right? Spinner shook his head at himself. No. If the reason she was out late wasn’t bad, she wouldn’t have to lie about it.
Spinner felt a twinge of grief and guilt. Wasn’t he a hypocrite? He’d been a two-timer before. He wasn’t so perfect. But then again, there’s a big difference between high school flings and your literal spouse.
He grit his teeth, remembering his last relationship. He had come to forgive Jane, but she made him out to be a fool. He had thought they would go the distance, be together forever. But she certainly proved him wrong. That feeling of shame doesn’t fade quickly.
“God, I’m an idiot,” Spinner said aloud to himself as another minute passed. He didn’t know what to do except count every minute that he waited for her, like he was catching each second in his hands so he could throw them at her feet when she got home. He saw himself gesturing to all that unexplained time, laid out on the floor between them, and demanding that she count it all up and explain each passing moment that she was out late, lying to him.
When finally she pushed through the front door of their loft, Spinner was practically ready to tell her it was over, that he knew he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but wasn’t going to be made a fool again. But before he could start yelling, he noticed something in her hands. A pair of drumsticks.
“Hey, Spin!” she said, waggling them. “Guess who has a surprise for you?”
“Huh?” he said, stupidly. This wasn’t the conversation he was expecting to have.
She crossed the room and shoved the drumsticks into his hands. “You’ll be needing these again. Because tomorrow morning, I’m having a brand new set of drums delivered here.”
“What?” Spinner didn’t sound any more intelligent, even with more information from Emma.
“I felt awful that you had to sell your drumset for my textbooks this semester,” Emma said. “So I picked up a job at one of the cafes on campus. I hate that I had to lie to you, but I wanted it to be a surprise. I even called up Peter to make sure I picked the best stuff for you.” She looked at Spinner eagerly, but then her face started to droop. “You’re not excited?”
Spinner pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry, Em. I’m so stupid. Every night you’ve been late, I’ve been imagining the worst. And the whole time you were trying to do something nice for me. I feel like an ass.”
Emma laughed. “Oh, god, Spinner! I’m so sorry! I didn’t think about how much you’d worry!”
“You came home smelling like coffee every night, so I knew you were lying to me, I just didn’t know why!” Finally Spinner smiled.
“I didn’t think I sucked so much at lying!”
“Well, apparently, you do. Good to know!” Spinner wrapped his arms around her, picked her up and spun her around, accepting the happy truth and feeling the excitement of impending percussion. “Thank you thank you thank you. I didn’t realize how much I’d miss drumming.”
“You need an outlet,” Emma replied, pressing her forehead into his.
“I love you,” Spinner said, setting Emma’s feet on the floor. “I thought I might be losing you, and the thought of that killed me.”
“I love you, too, Spin,” Emma said. “And I won’t lie anymore in an attempt to prove it.”
Spinner kissed her. “That sounds like a good plan.”