The Good Day

"How have you been, Carri?" Kyle was sitting across a clothed table from his ex-wife. She looked a little less agitated now that she was in the restaurant. Leo's. Her favorite restaurant- or at least it used to be- also where he took her for their anniversary.

"Overall since we last talked, I'm great. Recently: I've been better. You know." There was a sad smile lingering on her lips that made him think that his heart was breaking, but she never looked up from her menu. "And how have you been, Kyle?"

He hadn't actually expected her to extend the same politeness he had. What a pleasant surprise. "I've been good since I got out of jail." Carri raised the menu above her eyes. Bad move. "I mean, I'm glad I finally get to see my family, again. I've missed you guys."

"Well, we couldn't very well visit a prisoner." She snapped.

"A framed prisoner. Framed by his wife. You know it was- God, what are we doing?" Kyle ran his fingers through his thick black hair and rubbed his eyes. Carri smiled, because that was so like him. He'd always done that when he was frustrated.

"We're doing what we always do, Kyle: Fight."

A waitress came to take their orders and bring them their drinks. A martini and 'whatever you have on tap'. They both watched her walk until she was out of ear-shot.

"Well, I don't want to fight anymore. What happened to us, Carri? What possessed you to hurt our children? To frame me?" Kyle stared desperately across the table at the woman he'd loved since high school and ruined his life; Sent him to jail on false charges.

She stayed silent, staring at the black beaded purse in hr lap, looking hurt and guilty. Not talking wasn't awkward, but Kyle wanted to know what she was thinking about.

Fishing through the purse, Carri retrieved a prescription pill bottle and placed it on the table in front of her. He just stared at it, not wanting to snatch it away from her, but she slid it toward him until it was standing next to his beer. It was a bottle of anti-psychotics.

"Why do you have this?" He set it back in her hand, closing her fingers around it.

Carri sighed heavily. About a year after you were convicted I was forced to take an psych-evaluation, to make sure I wasn't 'traumatized' by my experience." She picked a rhinestone off of her purse nervously. "I was ashamed to talk to you about my problems, before. Then it turned into anger, because you didn't realize something was wrong. Then I just snapped while you were at work... I didn't mean to hurt them. I just couldn't handle it. They just wouldn't stop talking, and I just wanted to be alone for once..." Tears were streaming down her face and she was dabbing at them with her napkin. The waitress came back to serve them their food and glared at Kyle accusingly. Carri put the gray cloth, which was now smudged with mascara, back on her lap and sniffed loudly. She picked up a fork and knife and began cutting her salmon, "After the evaluation, I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia."

Somehow, he wasn't surprised. It was weird, but a great explanation for why everything went wrong. He examined her, trying to read whether or not she was lying. "So, you're saying that you were told to hit our children?" But he knew she was being honest. Carri was too proud to admit to something like that unless it was the absolute truth. Plus, he'd held the proof in his own hands.

"You wouldn't understand, Kyle." She took a bit of her food and he smiled. She was right, as always. He wouldn't understand. Probably never would. That, of course, didn't matter to him.

"You're right." He said it, not to give her the satisfaction, just to make her smile. And it worked.

They ate their dinner with minimal talking, but still had a pleasant enough time. Kyle payed and walked her to her car and opened the door for her. "You know," She said, climbing into her car, "We didn't really talk about Kelsey's situation."

Kyle smiled mischievously, "Well then, I guess we'll have to do this again."

She hesitated, but nodded. "I'll talk to Eli about it."

"And maybe we can go someplace less expensive this time?"

Carri laughed, melodically, like she always had. "That's fine with me, Kyle."

And just like that, she drove away. He climbed into his car, which was parked one level down, and smiled, thinking about where he would take her next. "This was not a date." He sternly reminded himself aloud, then drove back to the hotel.