Now Mary was really glad that she was leaning against the counter for support. It provided something solid to cling to as she tried to feel her way through this conversation. She wasn't sure what to make of his currently feelings of jealousy being compared to something he'd felt with his wife.
With a jolt, Mary realized that that was something she'd done with her Johnny. Maybe not quite in the same words, but she had put him in his place after a jealous outburst. She wasn't the sort to tolerate a guy who would hit someone for just looking at her wrong.
Mary pushed off the counter and moved back over to the table to get her drink. She drained what was left of it and then poured herself another.
"So what do you propose we do? Play housing bingo so everyone's got a roommate of the same gender?" she asked, not even bothering to deny the fact that she'd been jealous too. There was a little ghost of a sad smile tugging at her lips. "Or maybe we just need to go knock off a liquor store and forget we had this conversation."
It wasn't that she actually wanted to forget, but she also didn't want push him too hard into territory that might make him run the other way. She was very aware of just how long it had taken him before he'd been ready to move on and even then they had taken things very slowly in the beginning and it had been clear that it hurt him just a little to move on, even if it had done him a lot of good too.