Chapter 11: The Husband's Copy

On Monday I went to the nightstand for a pencil, and found my husband's secret.

Hal had come home whistling, which he'd never done.

He had slept eight hours on Saturday night, and again on Sunday.

He walked.

Dinner was a fried chicken, and he ate four pieces.

Afterward I sat on the bed with the Guide open on my knee and index cards fanned beside me.

I was planning the tea.

I had listed every shelf and drawer in the house, and every rule that Gertrude Strub might quote.

"I need a pencil," I said.

"There's one in the kitchen."

"This one's sharper. Is there one in your drawer?"

"Dolores..."

I'd already pulled the nightstand drawer open.

Hal made a small noise.

Under his handkerchiefs and a tin of mints and his army watch, there was a small green cloth book.

I took it out.

It was exactly like mine.

The title was stamped on the cover in gold, The Good Wife's Guide, and under it the words, "Revised for the Modern Home."

There was a price in pencil on the flyleaf. Twenty-nine cents.

"Where did you get this?"

He sat down on the bed. He rubbed the back of his neck.

"The five-and-dime on Main," he said. "Two weeks before the wedding."

I turned a page.

Every page was marked.

It was marked in red pencil, with slashes along the margins and notes in his square, careful, machinist's hand.

On page three, beside Rule 1, he had written, She is in charge of my comfort. I intend to be extremely comfortable.

On page twenty, beside Rule 7, Let him talk first. Then ask him what he wants. Make sure he says it out loud.

I looked up.

"You wrote that before I did it," I said.

"I wrote it before the wedding."

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