Karen tapped lightly on the frame of the door to Stanley's office, which was standing open.
"Come in," he called, not looking up from the papers in front of him. Stan was seated on the couch across from door, his emerald green terrycloth robe just barely covering him. He looked up over his half-moon glasses as Karen stood leaning in the doorway. She folded her arms across her chest.
"I asked Will to come stay with us," she told him frankly. He looked back down at the paper in his hands.
"Wow, you cut right to the chase don't you," he mused sarcastically. "So when's the wedding?"
Karen rolled her eyes but ignored his comment.
"It just makes sense. Seeing as he's doing with business with you," she rationalized.
"Yeah but he comes here to see you," Stan countered, turning to a new page of the document he was holding. Again, Karen ignored this comment.
"So he's bringing his stuff with him tomorrow. I told him he could stay in the guest house. Is that ok with you?"
She didn't really care if it was.
"Yeah, that's fine," he answered vacantly. He put the document down and looked up at her. "If you have sex with me tonight."
Her body tensed and disgust ran across her face.
"Jesus, Stanley. You're really going to use that as a bartering tool?" she asked him maliciously.
"That depends…is it going to work?" he asked her innocently, raising an eyebrow and focusing on her breasts.
"No, it's not!" she cried. "You cheated on me Stan! Having sex with you is the last thing I want to do right now!"
"Well then what do you want to do? You don't want to be intimate with me, you don't even want to talk to me! God, Karen, it seems like you don't even want to be with me anymore," he sighed, defeated.
It was true that Karen had been very resistant to trying to solve any of their marital problems. They had come there to work things out, but they hadn't even touched the subject yet. They had been sleeping in different rooms and Karen avoided Stan as much as possible.
"Well, maybe that's because I'm not sure if I do," Karen whispered, looking at the floor. Silence.
"And you think having Will moving in here is going to help you make that decision?" Stan demanded.
"When did I ever say that?" Karen was angry now. "Will's got nothing to do with this."
"Will's got everything to do with this!" Stan yelled, standing. Karen took a step backward.
"We didn't come here so you could run off and fool around with your gay lawyer friend all day!" he continued.
"Well maybe you should have thought of that before you started doing business with him on our VACATION!" she shot back. Stan shook his head and sat back down.
"I don't get it, Karen. I thought you didn't even like Will," he questioned, searching her face.
She hesitated.
"I don't – it's just stupid to make him pay to stay at that crappy hotel that's so far away when he could stay here with us for free. But is this about Will or about us?" she tried to steer the conversation back to the real issue. Stan pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.
"You know what? Whatever. Do what you want. I don't mind if he stays here, if it will make you happy," he told her, honesty and resignation in his voice.
Karen smiled, pleased. She had won. They still weren't anywhere close to solving their own problems, but at least Karen had gotten her way and Will would be around more for her to talk to.
"Thank you," she told him curtly. He forced a smile and his eyes looked tired, sad. Karen crossed to him and bent down to kiss his cheek. He wrapped his arm around her waist and held one of her hands, pressing his face into her stomach and holding her close to him for a moment. She didn't move, just let him embrace her limp frame.
"I love you, Karen," he told her softly. He hadn't said it since that night on the plane when he thought she was sleeping. The words didn't make her chill this time, though, like they had that night. She didn't say them back, but she couldn't hold back a single tear that ran down her cheek and landed on the top of his head.
