Part Seven

"Syd?"

"In here, Michael!" Sydney calls, sinking down further into the bubbles. She knows she needs to get out of the tub, needs to slip into the little black dress hanging on the back of the bathroom door, but she can't quite bring herself to do so.

"Hey." Sydney had left the door that led from their bedroom to the bathroom open, and now Michael appears, leaning against the doorjamb. "Where are the kids?"

"I dropped Grace and Emily off at the Byrnes' on my way home, Amanda said she didn't mind watching them a little early."

"Oh." Confusion clouds Michael's green eyes. "I thought she was going to watch them over here."

Sydney shakes her head, though that was, in fact, the original plan. "They're going to stay overnight over there. Remind me, we have to stop over there and drop off the kids' pajamas and more milk and diapers for Gracie on our way out."

"Overnight?" Michael frowns. "Syd, she's going to charge us a fortune."

"Damn it, Michael, we can afford it," Sydney says irritably.

Michael just stares at her, his wonderfully expressive green eyes showing first irritation, then hurt.

"I needed a break, okay?" Sydney says, struggling to keep her voice even. "I wanted to come home and have a nice bath and a glass of wine without Emily running in here every two seconds. I want to drink too much at the party and come home and tear off your clothes in the front hallway."

"Well, when you put it that way," Michael grins, moving to sit on the edge of the tub. He kisses her gently, and she smiles. "Are you okay, Syd?"

She shakes her head. "I ran into Kerri today."

"Kerri Weiss?" Sydney nods. "What was she doing in town?"

"A wedding, or something."

"How is she?" Michael asks, brow knitted in concern.

"Not good," Sydney says. "She's bitter, and mad at the world. At Eric, of course, for leaving her for that little whore, and at me, for continuing to live the life she lost."

"Don't say that," Michael says, rising from the side of the tub and beginning to pace. "You may live a similar lifestyle, but Eric and Kerri never had what we have."

"It wasn't just Shawna, was it?" Sydney realizes, naming the twenty-four-year-old Eric has been seeing. "He'd cheated on her before."

"Yes," Michael says, eyes full of pain.

Sydney sighs, lying back in the tub. "How long had he been cheating?"

Michael sighs, running a hand back through his brown hair. "For years, Syd."

"You knew, and you didn't tell me?"

Michael opens his mouth to reply, but she interrupts hurriedly.

"No, no, why would you have told me? I saw Kerri every day, that would have put me in a really awkward position. And it's not like I didn't suspect, anyway."

Michael nods, taking her wine glass and having a sip.

"Why, Michael? Why would he do that?"

Michael shakes his head. "I think for a lot of different reasons. In college he was always-- well, you know the type. Every girl's friend, no one's boyfriend. Then he met Kerri, and everything seemed so great. He went to law school, and then--" he shrugs. "He started making some money, and more women started paying attention. I don't know, Syd."

"God," Sydney sighs. She sits back, frowning as she remembers her conversation with Kerri. "I was so mad at her at first, the things she was saying to me, accusing me of. But then I started just to feel sorry for her. I'd die if I was in her position."

Michael leans over to kiss her. "You're not," he says firmly. "Because I'm not Eric."

"Thank God," she says with a smile.

He stands, smiling down on her. "We should probably leave in about an hour."

"Okay. I was almost ready to get out, anyway."

"Good." He pauses at the door, fingering the fabric of the new black dress. "Is this your new dress?"

"Mm-hmm," Sydney says with a smile. "You like?"

"It's beautiful," he says, returning her smile. "You haven't had the chance to do much shopping for yourself since the baby was born."

She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, well, next time I go, I'll leave the little ones with a sitter. Grace needed fed while I was still in the dress, started wailing. I had to practically throw the price tag at the salesgirl."

"I don't know how you do it," he says, moving to sit on the edge of the tub yet again. "You're so amazing."

He kisses her, and she smiles. "I'm not amazing."

"You are," he assures her.

Her smile widens. "I love you, Mike."

"Love you, Syd."