MANHATTAN, It had been eight nights since their wedding and two nights since Anna moved out. She had gone to live with a friend until she could find an apartment.
Eugene missed her.
For the first few days, he had started to believe that maybe things could work out after all. Even though there had been no sex. No honeymoon.
But there had also been no fighting.
They got along.
They laughed together.
They even downloaded their wedding song and danced to it in the apartment.
Finally, after all these years, they had themselves a song.
And now it was all over. All for nothing.
"It's for the best," she had said.
Eugene knew that Anna was probably right.
But it still hurt.
***
Eugene decided to sleep on the couch.
It was too hard to sleep on the bed when one side was empty.
On the couch, he fell asleep right away.
He dreamed that he was at a hotel, wandering through the lobby, desperately looking for something.
When he woke up in the middle of the night to pee, he had an idea.
He went back to sleep feeling hopeful.
***
When he woke up in the morning, he had less enthusiasm.
The idea had been good in theory, but he had neither the money nor the resources to make it work.
***
Later, Eugene walked to Shake Shack for lunch, but once he got there, he realized he wasn’t hungry.
He was too poor to spend money on expensive food that he was not much in the mood for eating.
So he found a place on the grass and just sat there. He felt awkward, though, because everyone else around him had either a friend, a book, a phone, or an opened laptop.
He had nothing but his clothes and wallet, as if he had come here to meditate.
He wanted to get up and leave, but he was too lazy to move.
Eventually, though, he gathered up enough energy to stand and walk home.
***
When he got back to the apartment, he did something he had never done before.
He called Sebastian. It had always been Sebastian calling Eugene. Not Vice versa.
Sebastian answered on the first ring, and he seemed excited to get a call.
"How have you been?" Eugene asked.
"I was away. Have you noticed?" Sebastian asked. "I was visiting my parents. I just got back, actually."
"Oh!" It had been forever since Eugene had seen Mr. and Mrs. King. "How are they?"
"They're good. They have grandchildren now."
"Great," Eugene said. He wondered if Sebastian had visited them before. Was this the first time? It was funny that he had never asked.
"Three boys. My younger sister's. Do you remember her?"
He didn’t.
Or maybe he did. Now that he thought of it. There was a baby. Mrs. King had been overprotective of her. The neighbors whispered about it. Though who could blame her?
"I might go back there for a while, Eugene." Sebastian said. "But I’ll visit you."
"Thanks," he said.
Sebastian took a glance around the apartment. "Anna's at work?"
"Yes," he said, not wanting to say more. But then he felt compelled. "She moved out."
"I guess that's good," Sebastian said. "You guys really hated each other." He laughed.
Eugene forced a smile.
"I better go," Sebastian said. “I just wanted to check and see how you were. Funny you called right when I got back here. I guess that proves we have a special bond.
"Maybe," Eugene said. To his surprise, a tiny part of him was not disturbed by this. "Good luck to you."
"You too. Take care."
"You too." Sebastian waved, winked, and then disappeared.
***
Eugene decided to go through with his plan. It wouldn’t work as well as he wanted. But he felt he had to do something.
He went through the pile of papers on the coffee table and found the wedding guest list.
To his relief, it included email addresses.
He called Anna and told her he needed to talk to her about the divorce. It was important. Could she come over tomorrow night?
To his surprise, she said yes. She used that friendly voice he used to hear her use with other people; the one so different from the exasperated one she had used with him during the last year they were together.
After he talked to Anna, he emailed all locals on the wedding guest list and also Anna's parents. He asked all of them to come over tomorrow night and also asked them to bring a dish. His finances dictated that this event would have to be potluck.
Then he got to work with PowerPoint.
***
He finished with his PowerPoint by evening.
He checked his email.
No one had RSVP'd.
He wrote everyone again and essentially begged them to come.
Finally, he started to hear from people.
By midnight, fifteen out of the forty people he had invited gave a yes.
They'd be there.
***
In the morning, five more people had said yes.
Eugene started to fear they wouldn't all fit into the apartment.
And what if more said yes?
Shit.
Oh well. They'd manage.
He ran to the store and bought some beer, soda, bottles of water, chips, salsa, and some peanut butter M&M's.
For the next few hours, he cleaned the apartment. He vacuumed, swept, dusted, and made good use of the bottle of Windex, he and Anna had usually ignored.
***
At six-thirty, the guests started to arrive.
Most of them hadn’t brought food as he asked, and out of the few that did, only about three dishes looked appetizing.
Fine. That was fine.
It would have to do.
Anna's parents arrived with frosted cookies, obviously from a bakery.
He sat them down on the counter with the other food.
***
A guest used the bathroom. She came out and whispered something to another guest.
Eugene overheard part of it. Something about a toothbrush. Why was there only one? There were suggestions that they share.
"No," someone else said. "Haven't you heard? Anna's moved out already.
Eugene stood there awkwardly, not talking to anyone even though he was the one that invited them over.
Soon, Anna's mother came over. "We just heard, Eugene!"
"Oh," he said. “Sorry.”
I don't know who's to blame," she said. "But I hope you can work things out."
An elderly guest butt into the conversation. "Well, at least he's reaching out. Having this party. Trying to win her back."
"Oh, is this what this is about?" Anna's mother asked.
"Well…." "It's very romantic," the elderly guest said.
"That's not exactly what I was planning," Eugene said, but neither were listening.
The door opened.
It was Anna. She looked at all the guests with confusion and surprise.
Then her eyes met Eugene's. They were full of a million questions.
He walked to the door and took her hand.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi. What is all this?"
"You'll see."
Gently, he led her to the couch. It was fully occupied. Being as polite as possible, Eugene asked if one of them could move, so Anna could sit down.
"You don't have to do that," Anna said.
They all moved anyway.
"Please sit,” Eugene said.
She sat. Now she had the whole couch to herself.
"Stay," Eugene said.
Anna laughed. "I'm not a dog."
"Right," he said.
He walked to the bedroom and grabbed his laptop.
He walked to where there was a space in the room and said, "Hello. Can I have your attention?
No, he couldn’t. No one heard him…except maybe Anna. They kept talking.
He repeated himself.
This time, Anna's father heard. He took charge and got everyone to quiet down.
Everyone looked at him, and Eugene realized this was a huge mistake. He was going to embarrass both himself and Anna.
Well, too late now to back down. "Uh…Well. A few weeks ago my lovely fiancé…no, wife…she was honored for being one of the top female entrepreneurs in the city. It was a huge honor, but I was an ass and didn't show up on time." He looked at Anna and mouthed…"Sorry."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"So I wanted…well, this is my small way of making things up to her. It's not much, and I'm probably making things worse. But I wanted to at least try."
Eugene opened up his laptop and apologized for not having a big enough screen. Then he started the PowerPoint presentation that honored his wife's career.
***
When it was over, she got up, took the laptop from him, put it down on the coffee table, and gave him a hug.
He liked holding her.
***
After the party, she offered to help him clean up.
He refused. It wouldn't be right for her to help.
When they said good-bye, he asked if maybe they could have lunch together sometime.
"Probably," she said. "We'll see." And she smiled.
Continue to Chapter Forty-Six
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