Chapter 10

MANHATTAN Eugene sat across from Anna at an Italian restaurant.

He wasn’t in the mood for Italian. He had wanted Thai.

Anna had won again. She got her way too much, and Eugene was tired of it.

Their wedding was less than six weeks away. Yesterday they had learned they had lost the place they were supposed to have their ceremony—the bookstore where they first met. The owner had agreed to it. Loved the idea.

Then he had decided things would be easier as an OS. He killed himself and left the shop to his brother. 

The brother didn’t want to hold weddings at his shop.

If Anna hadn't called yesterday to ask a question about chairs, they might not have known until….

Whenever?

Maybe the day of the wedding.

The brother didn't know about the wedding. "Wedding? We don't hold weddings here. No way. Out of the question."

"But your brother…."

"My brother is dead."

"Maybe you should talk to him."

"I do talk to him. And my relationship to my brother is none of your business. No weddings. Do you hear me? No weddings!"

Anna relayed the conversation to Eugene. He wasn’t sure what was true, and what she exaggerated. She had suggested they go out for dinner to discuss things more. Eating out together had become rare for them, especially on weeknights. Anna usually ate at work…while working. Or she went out with workmates.

 Eugene usually ate  on his own…sometimes a frozen meal. Often he picked something up from nearby.

"So what do you think we should do?" Eugene asked. He knew what they should do, but he wanted her to be the one to say it.

"I have an idea," she said. "You might not like it."

He didn’t like it, but he knew it was for the best.

"We could have the ceremony at my office."

 What? This isn't what he expected. "I thought….”

"You thought what?"

 "Well, you don't think it's an omen? The bookstore? The suicide?"

"There's been a lot of suicide lately," Anna said. "It's nothing special."

Eugene had the sudden feeling that he was being watched. He figured Sebastian had joined them. Great. Just what he needed at this point.

"Sebastian’s here?" Anna asked.

Eugene looked at her with bewilderment. "You can sense him too?"

She shook her head. "No, but you get a certain look when you feel he's there."

He was surprised. He didn't know she noticed things like that.

"Maybe it's just gas," he joked.

She didn’t laugh. She looked bored.

What kind of marriage was this going to be? It shouldn't be. And he most certainly didn’t want to get married in her goddamn office. If she wasn’t going to say it, he would. "This is wrong."

"What?" she said."Sebastian?"

 "No."

"The calamari?"

"No."

"I'm not in the mood for guessing games," she said.

She was never in the mood for anything fun. At least not with him. Not that this particular guessing game was fun or meant to be fun.

He thought about how Anna did have fun with other people.

She definitely had plenty of fun with her OS friend, Melinda. They talked to each other a lot lately. He thought it would end when Anna didn't end up dumping him for Melinda's Staten Island brother. But no. They were still friends. They still laughed together in that way that made Eugene feel stupid.

"What is it, Eugene?" Anna brought him back to the present. "Stop playing guessing games and just tell me."

He took a deep breath; then spoke. "We should call the wedding off."

She stared at him.

He continued. "You know it. I know it."

Eugene expected her to look sad but relieved. The fury on her face startled him.

"Are you fucking insane?" she said, a bit too loud. The room got quiet. People stared. "Do you know how much money I've put into this?" she demanded.

"You put into it?" He wanted to kill her. And he wanted to kill her back in a time where dead might have equaled forever gone—eaten by worms.

"Oh little baby, doesn't like that his fiancé makes more money than him."

"Fuck you." To his extreme shame, his voice cracked. He was going to start crying. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Anna sighed. "Look. It doesn't matter. We’ve both put a lot of money into this. And so have my parents. We're not calling it off. People have already bought plane tickets."

She was right. How did they get into this mess?

Anna continued. "It would be humiliating to cancel. Please don't do that to me."

"We don't love each other," he said. To his surprise, he wanted her to argue against that.

"Probably not," she said.. "Look, we'll get married. We'll fake it. We'll have the party. Everyone will have fun. I can wear my dress. Then we'll get a divorce."

Eugene couldn’t believe this was happening. He wondered what Sebastian would say about it later.

"We don't have kids. It's not a big deal." She laughed a bit, as if trying to lighten the mood. "We don't even have a cat."

 "We have the Titanic coffee table book."

"You can have it," she said. "I'm not really into it."

That hurt. The Titanic was one of the few interests they shared together. What? So it was all a lie? 

"How about the turtle lamp?" The one they had bought during their antique-seeking weekend adventure.

 "Can I have it?" Anna said.  Eugene said yes after realizing he had enjoyed the actual trip more than the lamp. Now those memories were soured. Life sucked.

"Let's get done with the wedding stuff," Anna said. "Then we'll work on the divorce." 

"Fine."

The waiter came with their main courses. They quietly ate without talking or looking at each other.

Continue to Chapter Eleven

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