Chapter 66: Love Is a Complicated Thing
The Next EveningThe Bar
"Hey."
Ross pushed through the door with the specific energy of a man carrying something heavy and looking for somewhere to set it down. The bar was nearly empty. Phoebe was at the counter with a drink. The bartender was wiping glasses with the unhurried pace of someone wrapping up their shift.
"Everyone went home already," Phoebe said. "Chris said I could lock up when I'm done." She looked at Ross properly. "What happened? Wasn't last night supposed to be a big romantic gesture?"
"It was very exciting," Ross said flatly.
"Then why do you look like that?"
"Because compared to last night, my marriage has no future."
Phoebe set down her glass. "Ross. What happened?"
Ross went behind the bar, found a bottle, poured himself something, and took a long drink.
"Carol is gay," he said.
Silence.
"She told you last night?"
"I figured it out last night." He stared at the bar surface. "Susan from the gym isn't just her workout partner."
"Oh, Ross." Phoebe came around and hugged him. "You poor thing. Seven years."
"Seven years," Ross repeated. "She's the only woman who ever—" He stopped. Cleared his throat. "Seven years."
Phoebe, who had a genuine gift for making people feel heard, put her hand on his shoulder and said all the things a good friend says in that moment. Ross, whose reserves of dignity had been significantly depleted by the previous twenty-four hours, responded to this warmth the way any overwhelmed person does when someone is unexpectedly kind to them.
Bang.
The bar door opened.
Adam walked in, took in the scene — Phoebe stepping back, Ross bumping his head on the light fixture overhead, both of them adjusting their positions with the specific energy of people who had just been interrupted — and sat down at the bar.
"Don't say it," Ross said immediately.
"I wasn't going to say anything," Adam said.
"Carol is gay," Phoebe said, with the calm efficiency of someone clearing the air. "The marriage is ending. I was comforting him."
"Right," Ross said gratefully. "That's exactly it. And Adam, you cannot tell anyone."
"Fine." Adam nodded. "But you said the marriage is ending. Has Carol actually told you she wants a divorce? Or did you just find out about Susan and come straight here?"
Ross stared at him. "What?"
"Did Carol come to you and say it's over? Or did you find out something, decide the marriage is finished, and immediately come to a bar to be comforted?"
"My wife is gay," Ross said, with the volume of someone who felt this should be self-explanatory.
"I heard you the first time," Adam said. "But you've been together for seven years. That's not nothing. She didn't just become gay last week — she's been figuring this out alongside you the whole time. That's complicated for her too." He paused. "You haven't talked to her. You haven't asked her anything. You just found out, came here, and started processing the end of your marriage. Don't you think the actual conversation should happen first?"
Ross opened and closed his mouth.
"I'm not saying you should stay married," Adam continued. "Maybe you shouldn't. Maybe this is genuinely over. But the marriage ends when you two decide it ends — not when you're sitting in a bar having a crisis by yourself."
"He has a point," Phoebe said quietly.
Ross put his head in his hands.
"I don't know what to do," he said, muffled.
"Talk to Carol," Adam said simply. "That's the first step. Everything else comes after."
Adam's real frustration — the one he kept to himself — was with the specific pattern he'd observed in this world's romantic landscape. The smallest friction became an emergency. Arguments that could be resolved with twenty minutes of honest conversation instead became the trigger for decisions that unraveled years of genuine connection. Nobody seemed willing to sit with discomfort long enough to work through it. The speed at which people went from "we had a disagreement" to "it's over" and then to the nearest available comfort — regardless of what that comfort looked like — was something he found genuinely difficult to watch.
He understood the impulse. He just thought people generally deserved better from themselves.
Ross looked up from his hands. He still looked miserable. But he looked slightly less like a man who had already closed a door.
"Yeah," he said finally. "Okay. I'll talk to her."
"Good," Adam said.
He signaled to the bartender for something to drink and let the silence settle.
End of Chapter 66
[Milestone: 500 Power Stones = +1 Chapter]
[Milestone: 10 Reviews = +1 Chapter]
Enjoyed this chapter? Leave a review.
20+advanced chapters on P1treon Soulforger