Read Online Sisters and Husbands by Connie Briscoe - Free Book Online

notepad she kept on a small glass table next to her armchair and discreetly jotted a note to herself:
Call caterer—urgent.
Then she listened as Cathy, wearing a floral print sundress and seated on a small couch across from Evelyn, talked about
     wanting the security and comfort that comes from knowing that someone will always be there for you.
    “I miss so much about being married,” Cathy said. She was twisting a lock of her shoulder-length blond hair, a habit she had
     whenever she felt anxious. “Like having someone I can tap on the shoulder when I’m feeling horny.” Cathy chuckled. “Someone
     I know is attracted to me and free of diseases too, by the way. And yes, women in their late forties get horny.”
    There was a time when Cathy’s blunt sense of humor would have made Evelyn laugh herself. But not now. Not today. Given what
     she was now going through in her own marriage, all she could manage was a weak smile. It felt familiar and yet so strange
     to talk about divorce with a client, now that she and Kevin were separated and her own future was so precarious. A part of
     Evelyn wondered if she would begin to view divorce differently now.
    “You don’t have to tell me that women in their forties have those feelings,” Evelyn said, thinking with dismay about the many
     months that had passed by since Kevin had touched her intimately. She quickly shook the personal longing from her head and
     focused on her client. “We’re about the same age, you know.”
    Cathy’s pretty blue eyes brightened. “Really? I always thought you were in your early forties at the most. You look so young.”
     Cathy laughed good-naturedly. “It’s not fair. You-all age so beautifully.”
    Evelyn smiled. “I’m not surprised that you have these feelings. You’re still a healthy woman. And being around a man whom
     you find attractive is reawakening the feelings within you.”
    Cathy nodded eagerly.
    “But do you feel that you need to be in a marriage to deal with them?” Evelyn asked.
    “Not really. I’m not
that
old.” Cathy laughed again, and this time Evelyn joined her. “I could get it on with a man without marriage,” Cathy continued.
     “I guess what I really miss is having someone I know will be around to the end, at least until one of us croaks. For that,
     you need marriage or something close.”
    Evelyn nodded with understanding. “You’re talking about lifelong companionship or a partner who is always ready to share intimacy
     or whatever else whenever you are. Can you be sure you’ll have that with marriage?”
    Cathy frowned with thought and the wrinkles around her eyes deepened. “Obviously, I didn’t have those things toward the end
     of my marriage, even though I didn’t realize it at first.” She shrugged. “That doesn’t mean I couldn’t have them with someone
     else in the future.”
    “Sounds like you think marriage would be different the second time around.”
    “Maybe. Well, yes, I do.”
    “Why would it be different?”
    “I could meet a better man. Someone who wants a lifelong commitment just as I do.”
    Evelyn nodded again.
    “Not that my first husband didn’t want those things in the beginning,” Cathy continued. “I’m sure he did. I know he did. At
     least I think he did.” Cathy sighed. “But he changed, you know? We both did. People change all the time, I guess, and I have
     no way of knowing if this man I’m seeing now would change on me. Or anyone else I might meet, for that matter. At least I’m
     older and wiser now, as well as the men I meet, so we should be smarter about these things.” Cathy paused, and Evelyn waited,
     as she could see from Cathy’s expression that she was turning things over in her head. One of the tricks Evelyn had learned
     as a therapist was that sometimes the best thing you could do was wait and see where the client was going.
    “Do second marriages have a better success rate?” Cathy finally asked. “I know the success rate