Any Day Now by Denise Roig

Dayna. But it figured in both their (complicated, modern) Catholic codes as betrayal. Not having any children, it hadn’t been too hard to get lawyers and split up the numbered prints, the computer equipment. Not hard even to be grown-ups about it. He’d packed her himself. It was all easier than the non-stop negotiating that was marriage.
    Still, there was this: driving home in midnight silence from the airport. Dayna had — quick like a bunny — bought an old house in South Hadley and landed a geeky-but-rich dot-com guy who did home renovations as a hobby. Ben had retaliated by repainting their West Springfield condo in colours like raspberry and mustard. He’d had some great sex with some great women in his all-white bedroom. (Goodbye, florals!) But there were nights like this, too.
    â€œHey,” he said. “Still on top of the world?”
    Jackie laughed. “Slipping a bit.”
    â€œI know it’s late,” he said. “I just got in from New York.”
    â€œI’m awake,” she said. The boy was at the deadbeat dad’s, she said. Ben gave her the directions.
    â€œWow,” she said when she stepped into the vast, blanched space of his bedroom. “Kinda Zen.”
    Her hair, lighter than he’d remembered, was down and soft at her shoulders. She looked small, but built, in black slacks and tight white T-shirt. “Looking pretty Zen yourself,” he said, deciding he liked her.
    â€œDon’t feel it,” she said. “I had one of those meetings today. You know, one of those meetings?”
    â€œYou mean, like, we’re sorry but your numbers are down and we’re also downsizing and…” Ben realized he didn’t even know what she did.
    â€œMr. Bolyer, honey, I work in a daycare, and the numbers I’m dealing with are number one and number two. No, it was about Barbies.”
    â€œOK,” he said.
    â€œI tried not to raise my voice.” She sat on the recliner Ben kept in the corner for rocky nights. “But one mom pissed me off so much.”
    â€œUh-oh, that Ken. He didn’t give her herpes?”
    Jackie seemed to find this very funny. She had a way of tilting her head way back when she laughed. He remembered that.
    â€œBad role model for little girls. It encourages them to get too thin and aim for impossible bodies. That’s what the mom said.” Jackie slipped off one black flat with the toe of the other. The shoe sat on the white carpet, unmoored. “Of course, this woman looks anorexic herself. People are so crazy.”
    â€œWhat did you say to her?”
    â€œOh, it’s what I didn’t say. What I was thinking the whole time was, Lady, get yourself a real problem, would you?”
    Her skin was incredibly soft on top of all that worked muscle. And that softness worked on him. They had this knack already of being able to come together. It had taken such work with other women, when it did work. She left at 5:00, hair a tangle. “Not a cloud in the sky,” she said when he let her out.
    He washed clothes at home Monday night instead of dropping them off at the expensive laundry he’d been using since Dayna left, ordered a salad at lunch on Tuesday instead of a sub and fries. He called Wednesday. Any new developments with the Barbie mom? She’d backed off, Jackie said. She asked about his mall project.
    â€œAny chance of seeing you this weekend?” he asked.
    She’d arrange something for Joey, she said. It was the first time she’d mentioned her boy’s name and he was embarrassed he hadn’t asked before.
    They met back at the bar. It was more crowded this time, with people standing two abreast. The same bartender was on and when he spotted them together, he said to Ben, “Nice work.”
    â€œWhat do you mean by that?” asked Jackie. She was looking really fine in a short white dress and white heels.
    â€œI mean he’s a lucky guy,”