behind them, she was so funny. She was the best thing that could have happened to us on that trip.”
But the Peru trip wasn’t all fun. Mike had studied up on what diseases they might encounter and had done his best to see that no one suffered anything worse than “Montezuma’s revenge,” the travelers’ diarrhea that is pre standard for tourists in South America. “We all took malaria prophylaxis,” he recalled, “and we had vaccinations for hepatitis A.”
About 90 percent of the adults and three or four of the children developed fairly severe diarrhea in the first few days. Mike had taken along a good supply of the antibiotic Cipro to kill the bacteria that caused the fever and diarrhea and shorten the course of the illness from five to seven days to only thirty-six to forty-eight hours. The Cipro worked well, but even so, it took about forty-eight hours for the sufferers to recover. Mike himself suffered a bout; Celeste was knocked flat for two days, and she lost a night’s sleep. But although the diarrhea was miserable, it was not life threatening. Once it was gone, it was gone; no one feared they would bring some terrible bug back home to Kansas City.
If Debora sensed Celeste’s admiration for Mike, she didn’t mention it. Celeste was the most attractive woman in the group, and she was an energetic hiker, while Debora’s weight and her bad knee made her less than enthusiastic about some of the more vigorous climbs. The two women had pleasant enough conversations with each other at first. One day, on a riverboat, Celeste asked Debora why she was no longer in practice. “She said she had to stop because she needed to be with her kids,” Celeste recalled. “But she had an offer from someone to go into family practice. She said she kept giving them reasons why she couldn’t do that at the time. I remember she said she was running out of excuses not to go back to work. I’d been out of my nursing practice for ten years, and I told her I thought the family practice sounded great, that I missed nursing. I was longing to get back in the mainstream….
“But then later Mike told me that Deb was always going to go into some different kind of practice.”
Celeste was captivated by Mike, as much as she tried to deny it. Except that they were both physicians, he was the antithesis of her husband. Mike was so interested in everything, so full of life. Celeste envied Debora, having such a vital man for a husband. One thing became apparent to Celeste in Peru: she had laughed so much, had so much fun—and had observed couples who actually enjoyed their marriages. “While I was gone, I came to the truth that John and I were so incompatible it would never be a satisfying marriage.”
Unfortunately, John had come to the opposite conclusion: “John said it was worth trying again to salvage it.”
It was the beginning of a strange and tragic summer.
8
A lthough Celeste and Mike were nothing more than members of the same traveling group in Peru, they had felt a tremendous magnetism between them. That wasn’t surprising; they shared more than most people knew. Celeste and Mike had the same energetic, optimistic nature. And they had both stayed in their marriages for years after they became convinced that there was no hope, comfort, or passion to be found there. Celeste had been faithful to John, but she longed for some intimacy in her life. And Mike had been faithful to Debora since they moved into the house on Canterbury Court, but he kept alive his decision that their reconciliation was a disaster. He had made a stupid mistake in going back.
The façade of togetherness that Mike and Debora had managed to maintain on the Peru trip cracked and fell away the second day they were home. True, in the conversation that had so impressed Celeste and Carolyn, they had calmly worked out the logistics of who would drive to St. Louis to get Lissa. Debora would go, while Mike stayed home to unpack and start doing
But the Peru trip wasn’t all fun. Mike had studied up on what diseases they might encounter and had done his best to see that no one suffered anything worse than “Montezuma’s revenge,” the travelers’ diarrhea that is pre standard for tourists in South America. “We all took malaria prophylaxis,” he recalled, “and we had vaccinations for hepatitis A.”
About 90 percent of the adults and three or four of the children developed fairly severe diarrhea in the first few days. Mike had taken along a good supply of the antibiotic Cipro to kill the bacteria that caused the fever and diarrhea and shorten the course of the illness from five to seven days to only thirty-six to forty-eight hours. The Cipro worked well, but even so, it took about forty-eight hours for the sufferers to recover. Mike himself suffered a bout; Celeste was knocked flat for two days, and she lost a night’s sleep. But although the diarrhea was miserable, it was not life threatening. Once it was gone, it was gone; no one feared they would bring some terrible bug back home to Kansas City.
If Debora sensed Celeste’s admiration for Mike, she didn’t mention it. Celeste was the most attractive woman in the group, and she was an energetic hiker, while Debora’s weight and her bad knee made her less than enthusiastic about some of the more vigorous climbs. The two women had pleasant enough conversations with each other at first. One day, on a riverboat, Celeste asked Debora why she was no longer in practice. “She said she had to stop because she needed to be with her kids,” Celeste recalled. “But she had an offer from someone to go into family practice. She said she kept giving them reasons why she couldn’t do that at the time. I remember she said she was running out of excuses not to go back to work. I’d been out of my nursing practice for ten years, and I told her I thought the family practice sounded great, that I missed nursing. I was longing to get back in the mainstream….
“But then later Mike told me that Deb was always going to go into some different kind of practice.”
Celeste was captivated by Mike, as much as she tried to deny it. Except that they were both physicians, he was the antithesis of her husband. Mike was so interested in everything, so full of life. Celeste envied Debora, having such a vital man for a husband. One thing became apparent to Celeste in Peru: she had laughed so much, had so much fun—and had observed couples who actually enjoyed their marriages. “While I was gone, I came to the truth that John and I were so incompatible it would never be a satisfying marriage.”
Unfortunately, John had come to the opposite conclusion: “John said it was worth trying again to salvage it.”
It was the beginning of a strange and tragic summer.
8
A lthough Celeste and Mike were nothing more than members of the same traveling group in Peru, they had felt a tremendous magnetism between them. That wasn’t surprising; they shared more than most people knew. Celeste and Mike had the same energetic, optimistic nature. And they had both stayed in their marriages for years after they became convinced that there was no hope, comfort, or passion to be found there. Celeste had been faithful to John, but she longed for some intimacy in her life. And Mike had been faithful to Debora since they moved into the house on Canterbury Court, but he kept alive his decision that their reconciliation was a disaster. He had made a stupid mistake in going back.
The façade of togetherness that Mike and Debora had managed to maintain on the Peru trip cracked and fell away the second day they were home. True, in the conversation that had so impressed Celeste and Carolyn, they had calmly worked out the logistics of who would drive to St. Louis to get Lissa. Debora would go, while Mike stayed home to unpack and start doing
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