An Inconvenient Husband

An Inconvenient Husband by Karen van der Zee Page B

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Authors: Karen van der Zee
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their way to the
small mosque for their midday prayers. She concentrated on taking in details,
color—the dog sleeping in the shade under a house, the beautifully carved
verandas of some of the houses.
    "Here," she
heard Blake say. She glanced at the small notebook and pen he slid over to her
across the wooden table. She met his gaze, saw the faintly amused curve of his
mouth.
    "Thank you."
She gave a half smile. "Can't resist?'
    "I know.'' There
was unexpected warmth in his voice. "I can see it in your face—you get
that certain look in your eyes."
    She wiped her hands on
a thin paper napkin, glad to have something to do, feeling oddly touched by his
gesture and the tone of his voice. She began to write, recording her
impressions to be worked out later, hoping that her notebook at home would
still be there and not get lost somehow. Surely her father or the housekeeper
would have found her purse and notes and keep them safe. She'd planned to work
out the notes on the computer in her father's comfortable, air-conditioned
office today. Instead she was here with her ex-husband in a Malay village hours
out of town, eating food from a banana leaf, with nothing more in her
possession than the clothes on her back.
    She put the pen down.
"I know you don't care to hear me talk about clothes," she began
carefully, "but the reality is that I'll need something besides what I'm
wearing now. Isn't there—"
    "There'll be
stuff at the house you can borrow. I'm sure Lisette won't mind."
    "But I do."
She didn't even know the woman. "A T- shirt or a pair of jeans, fine, but
I draw the line at wearing someone else's underwear."
    He gave a low laugh at
that. "All right, all right. I imagine there's a market here somewhere."
    The waitress told them
yes, there was a pasar, in session today, down the road a little farther. Blake
paid for their lunch and they got back in the Land Cruiser.
    Nicky realized that
she'd have to ask Blake for some money, as if she weren't dependent on him
enough. The irony of the situation did not escape her. She clenched her teeth
and stared ahead at the road. Oh, damn.
    He gave her a quick
sideways glance. "What's the matter?"
    "I have no
money." She sighed. "Would you mind lending me some?"
    He glanced at her
again, one eyebrow arched. "You look as if it's distasteful to ask."
    "I don't like
borrowing money!" she said tightly.
    "Especially not
from your ex-husband," he added dryly.
    "Right." She
wished it didn't bother her, but it did.
    "Considering the circumstances,
I wouldn't make a big deal out of it," he said evenly. "I don't mind
in the least lending you some money."
    "I'll pay you
back," she said for good measure.
    He rolled his eyes.
"And please don't forget," he returned solemnly.
    "I don't like feeling
so dependent, dammit!" she snapped, knowing he was making fun of her.
"You know that."
    "Oh, yes, I know
that. But we're only talking about some underwear and it's only me, your
ex-husband. I don't believe I've ever been a threat to your independence."
    No, he hadn't been.
Whatever vices she could accuse him of, that wasn't one of them. He'd left her
as free as a bird in the sky.
    Too
free, came the sudden, surprising thought. She shook it away impatiently. No one was
ever too free.
    One hand on the steering
wheel, Blake fished his wallet out of his back pocket with the other and tossed
it into her lap. "Take what you want."
    It felt odd to have
his wallet in her hands, the leather warm from his body. Yesterday she'd gone
through his toiletry kit, used his toothpaste, brushed her hair with his brush.
Now he told her to take money out of his wallet. Intimacies that should no
longer belong between them, should no longer be appropriate.
    She stared at the
credit cards, the bills tucked in behind—dollars, as well as ringgit. There was
plenty of money there. She took some of the bills and handed back the wallet.
    He glanced at her.
"You have enough?"
    "I took a hundred
ringgit." About thirty dollars.
    They found

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