Chapter 6:

Emily

In the rear view of his Saturn, William eyed the promising start of a new beard. He sat in his car, in the garage, strangely at peace with himself after running out on his wife and child. After sleeping with his best friend. After failing the good people of Southern Europe (and Northern Africa). He listened to NPR the whole way home, and since there weren’t unending reports of damage in the Old World, William figured that somehow Lucifer 6 was destroyed. Or averted. Or possibly just imagined? Whatever happened, well, he figured nobody was going to tell him.

William was back to see what would become of his life, eyes bloodshot from travel and lack of sleep, the muscles in his back and legs knotted from sitting. Yet, despite his condition, William was strangely optimistic. He didn’t think of the possible outcomes, of what might be. There was too much of that over the last month, too much consideration of what may happen, how things might go bad, might get worse and, of course, all the possible things he could’ve, should’ve, would’ve done to make things better. Now, he only wanted to see what happened without any more screwy input of his own. Then he would deal with it as he may.

All he had to do was get out of the car.

He’d been there for nearly half an hour. The garage door was open when he arrived, and the neighbor was banging away at his drums, so it was imaginable that neither Emily nor Haley knew he was home—and he was remiss to mention it. For now, it was enough to be home.

The door to the den popped open, and a green-eyed girl of six stood on the threshold, surprised to see her father’s car parked next to her mom’s. She noticed her dad sitting in the driver’s seat and gave him a confused and slightly frightened look. He realized he could cower and blame all the bureaucrats and tycoons that upset him so, or he could put on a brave face and do his damnedest to leave it all behind him. William cocked his head to the side and glared at his daughter. He gave her a mischievous smile. He opened the door as she stepped forward with a great grin across her tiny face. “Hey Petunia,” he said to the little lady. “Where’s Haley?”

“Daaddd,” she complained. “You know its me.”

“You sure? Because I bought this for my Petunia,” he said as he pulled a puzzle out of the back seat. She smiled at the two sea turtles on the box. She rolled her eyes, though she continued to smile. “Thanks dad,” she began. “You want to help me with it?”

“Now?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “I just made a sandwich, and I’ve got skating soon. But, maybe when I get home—maybe for an hour or two?”

“Sounds great!” he said as he gave her a hug. “Tell ya what? I’ve got five bucks for ya if you’ll bring my luggage up to my room. It’s just the one small bag...”

Haley shook her head. “I watered the garden and now mom’s got me dusting. She says the place has gone to pot.”

William frowned. “That bad, is it? Tell ya what. I’ll give you ten bucks and I’ll love you bunches.”

“Why don’t you do it?” Haley replied.

“I figure I better go apologize to your mom. Where is she?”

“She’s in the bath. She took a bottle and chocolates with her. She said she’s relaxing and asked me not to bother unless the place caught fire.”

William blanched. “You think I should?”

Haley considered it. “You should be alright. I think she’s mopey over you.”

“Well then, I better be off. It’s been nice knowin’ ya, kid.”

“Daaddd...” Haley rolled her eyes as her father went inside.

William found Emily in the master bathroom under several inches of foam. Only her knees, face, and hands were above the bubbles. She had a wine glass in hand as several chocolates graced a plate, that sat atop her towel, which rested on the seat of the toilet. She was reading a book, something by that charlatan, Sebastian Sinclair. She looked up at William, gave him a questioning look, and set the book aside. “Well, hello stranger,” she quipped, and held a curious expression. “Where you been?”

William shrugged. “I fucked up,” he said and stared at the ground.

“Well then,” Emily replied. “Close the door?”

William closed it. He turned to his wife, contrite.

“Do you still love me?” Emily asked, her expression neutral.

“Yes,” William answered.

“Come here,” she said and leaned half out of the bath. William sat on the tile in front of her. “Are you mine? Now and forever?”

“Yes,” he said, and stared down at the tile.

She lifted his chin and forced him to make eye contact. “Are you mine?”

He started to explain, but she shushed him and shook her head.

“Just answer the question.”

He stared back at her. “Yes.”

“Alright then. Kiss me and tell me how bad it is,” she leaned forward and closed her eyes. He kissed her several times, until he realized he really wanted to kiss her. He opened his mouth. Emily pulled away, pushed him back, and sighed. “So, what is it? Did you get involved with the mafia, or maybe you have a secret brother that you helped escape from a nuthouse?”

“What?” William stared, confused. He shook his head. “Are you picking things out of your book?”

Emily smiled. “He is so talented! He writes the most incredible characters and puts them in absolutely outlandish situations! He’s pure genius!” she gushed. “If I weren’t happily married...” she began, then amended it. “If I weren’t for better or worse...” she stared.

William rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Would you believe that I met him?! Just a few days ago?”

“Get out!” she stared. “What’d you think?”

Slowly, William nodded his head. “You know, he’s one of the few people I’ve met in the last couple weeks that I actually liked,” he told her.

“Is that so?’ She stared some more. “Are you going to tell me what this was all about?”

William shook his head and stared back at her. “This gets pretty bleak,” he noted. “And it’s going to take a few days.”

“Well, you’ve been keeping things for over a month,” she noted. “Tell me what you can before I turn into a prune, then, can you come skating with us?”

“Yes,” William said. “Are you skating?”

Emily shook her head. “Not tonight. I want to talk to you.”

“Okay. I got Haley a puzzle and I promised her that I’d help her with it after practice. Can we talk and do that after dinner?”

“What are we eating?”

“I’m not up to preparing anything, and I’d prefer not to eat out,” William shrugged.

“Let’s get take out!” Emily nodded. “Villacasia’s!”

William smiled and agreed.

“Alright then,” Emily leaned back in the tub. “Have you met a lot of celebrities lately?” she asked as she sipped her wine. “Did you meet a starlet and run off on me?” she frowned.

William shook his head, then slowly began to nod it with big round eyes.

“Really...” Emily grinned, intrigued. “Which one was the weirdest?”

William thought about it for a second. “Probably the boxer,” he decided.

Emily smiled back. Slowly, the smile faded, and she stared at the floor.

“What is it?” William leaned forward.

“I feel like I should be mad at you,” she frowned.

“I am,” William nodded.

“Well then,” Emily leaned forward and took up a chocolate. “I guess you better start at the beginning,” she said as she popped the truffle in her mouth. “We’ll discuss your punishment after you’ve confessed your sins.”

“I’m sorry,” William said with a shrug.

“Sit down,” she ordered. “Spend some time with me. And if you apologize again, I swear I’ll never forgive you.”

William smiled back at his wife, absolutely smitten. “Well, then. Remember a few months ago, the gag order.”

“Did they lift it?” she asked.

“No.”

“But you’re going to tell me anyway.”

William locked eyes with Emily and nodded. “So I was studying pictures of the Cat’s Paw Nebula when I noticed a streak that shouldn’t be there. A blip. A bit of space trash, crossing through our view,” he began. “I showed it to Valerie, and asked her what she thought it might be… Well… Turns out it was something pretty big.”

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