Are these Actual Miles? By Raymond Carver

Page 584.

“ ‘Kiss kiss. Here.’ She says and points to the corner of her mouth.”
Their marriage is very robotic, and suburban style. She cares more that her lipstick looks good for the sale, than that he can kiss her. She cares more for the money, and the sale than kissing her husband goodbye. The perfect lipstick seems stereotypical of the 1950’s woman. Their appearance being just as important as what they say. Their marriage seems empty.

Page 584.

“Fog lifted, Ernest Williams stared, then slapped the paper against his leg, hard. Leo recalls the slap hunches his shoulders…”

Ernest Williams is the neighbor who can see much from his window across the street., more even than the wife of Leo. Leo cheated on his wife, but has not told her. The guilt however is always there. There is always something in the room with them, a huge secret that he hunched his shoulders with the weight of. This is another example of the hidden secrets of suburban life. On the outside everything looks like a fine marriage, but on the inside is a man cheating on his wife.