The answering machine got almost to the end. A fist came down across its front, stopping it in the middle of the last phrase. “…It’s not my home anymore…I get that…”
“Tell it to the judge,” Rex growled. “You’re such a waste of skin, moron.”
He loosed a heavy sigh and dropped his suit coat over a chair. He groaned as he tossed the mail into a heap on the breakfast table, dislodging a plate left over from breakfast. The electric bill slid across the table and down onto the floor.
“You’re such a slob, Raisa,” Rex muttered. He raised his voice and repeated himself as he retrieved the bill, replacing it on the stack. “You hear that? I’m always telling my health services students about vigilance against germs and then here we are.” He lowered his voice and added, “Just because you’re upset about how Sydney pushed you to keep a perfect house for him doesn’t mean you can’t pitch in sometimes.”
None of his words could be heard. Raisa lay still, her body rolled into the same heap she had formed after her fall. The only movement was a shallow breath struggling upwards.
Rex rolled up his sleeves and gathered the dishes. He doused them with a quick rinse and opened the dishwasher. “What a surprise. All there exactly where I left you.” He sighed as he had before and set about returning the clean dishes to their proper places, slamming them down.
The phone rang. Rex grumbled, “Get that. The least you can do is get that.”
The phone rang three more times. Rex grabbed it just as Raisa’s voice chirped out of the answering machine, “Hi. This is the Westcott residence—” He stopped the recording and uttered his own “hello.”
“Hey,” mumbled a familiar voice with a somewhat woozy edge. “I need to speak to Raisa—”
“In your dreams,” Rex snapped. “I’m all the husband Raisa needs, jerk. I’m doing the work. All of it. Even the stuff you wimped out on, not to mention her end of the deal too. I don’t care what your legal status is right now. Your real-world status is ‘lower than cockroach.’ No one’s talking to you without legal counsel present and don’t give me the bit about you being a lawyer. Cockroaches don’t count.”
“Well, this is a bit different. You see, I’ve been arrested—”
“Enjoy, Sydney. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving person.”
Rex hung up as Sydney continued, “—without her sworn statement and then you’d have to go to court and see me anyway—”
Raisa groaned and rolled her head. Her eyes opened to the unfamiliar sight of the stairway ceiling. She closed them, searching her mind for an explanation.
