Upside Down by Liz Gavin Page A

and went to the kitchen to check on Mark.
    “ Since that’s the case, I assume you are coming back home soon.”
    “As soon as Jerry finishes his work here which means not for another month. Or ten - who knows? This research is taking forever! Then, we’ll both be home bugging you until you beg us to get on the next plane to Katmandu, or somewhere equally far. By the way, can you check on our place again to see if everything is fine there?”
    “ Don’t worry your pretty head about it. I’ll have everything shipshape and waiting for you whenever you are ready to come back. I can’t wait for you to be back in New York, though, Dave.”
    “Tell me about it ! Oh, look at the time! I gotta go, Carol. I need to start packing. We’ll go to my villa in the Amalfi Coast, as soon as Jerry arrives from the hospital. A weekend getaway. Talk to you soon, babe. Love you!”
    “Love you, too , baby.”
    I shook my head and smiled at Dave’s last remarks as I put the phone down thinking it was so typical of him - complaining about boredom and lack of fun while planning to spend the weekend in one of the most romantic, most beautiful places on Earth. I was still smiling when I looked up at Mark. He was leaning on the kitchen counter, arms crossed on his chest, a dark expression on his usually friendly face. I shrugged and frowned back at him.
    “What?”
    “What!? How can you even ask, Carol?”
    His anger g ot me by surprise and I took some precious seconds to process that novelty, to adapt to his new disposition. When I didn’t answer and just looked at him with a blank expression on my face, looking for something to say, Mark seemed to get angrier.
    “For Christ’s sake, Carol! How can you be so insensitive? Or are you just cruel?” Mark was almost shouting. I had never seen him lose his temper like that. “You tease me at the office; invite me over saying you had planned a special night for us; then interrupt our dinner to talk to a man who has clearly been your boyfriend. Or who still is your boyfriend, for all I know! Then, you don’t expect me to get upset? Really? Do you have such a low opinion of me? Don’t you care about my feelings at all? Am I just a life-size sex toy for you to pass your time and play with until your real man gets home?”
    I wasn’t used to having to explain myself to anyone and I had a temper much more volatile than Mark’s but his altered state forced me to control my instinctive reactions to those unfair and unfounded accusations. If I had lashed back at him the whole situation might have gotten very ugly. Although it wasn’t easy, keeping my head was the best thing I could have done because when I calmed down I was even able to see things from his perspective and began to understand where those accusations were coming from.
    “Mark, you’re so wrong in so many ways I don’t even know where to start. All I know is that you have to calm down, first, baby. There’s no need for this drama. Let’s sit down in the den and I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
    He scoff ed but followed me upstairs. He sat on the sofa facing the empty fireplace and I chose to sit down on the thick rug facing him and leaning on his legs so that Mark would have the advantage of looking down on me. It’s a position of dominance and he needed that. His ego had been badly bruised, making him feel insecure. Besides, I’d always called the shots in our relationships – both the professional and the sexual one.
    “Look, Mark, I’m sorry if you got th e wrong impression but I can assure you there is nothing going on between Dave and me.”
    He was still fuming and cut me off before I could go on with my explanation.
    “It’s hard to buy that, Carol. You g ot all worked up talking to the guy to the point you had to fan yourself,” he used his fingers to count and emphasize what I had done wrong, in his opinion. “You giggled like a school girl. You said you wished he were here. You said you had