Page 63 of Truth or More Truth
Nanette has been in the hospital four days now, and she’s ready to go home, but they want to keep her another few days. A minute ago, I sent Kelli to the hospital cafeteria to get us some drinks, so I could talk to Nanette alone.
“We’ve had this conversation before,” I say, “and we’ll keep having it if needed, but you’re not a burden, and I’m never going to stop taking care of you, so it would be helpful if you’d stop arguing with me about it.”
She sighs. “I’m not helpless. And the second we signed the divorce papers, you were no longer obligated to take care of me.”
I cock an eyebrow at her, and she chuckles.
“OK,” she says, “you were obligated to make the more-than-generous alimony and child-support payments, but that’s it. You’ve gone above and beyond what even most spouses would do, much less a former spouse. And we’ve hadthisconversation before, and we’ll keep having it if needed, but it would be helpful if you’d stop thinking the accident was your fault. You didn’t drive drunk and blast across a cross-street without stopping. Allyou did was drive our daughter and me home from her soccer tournament that night.”
We didn’t make it home, but I’m not going to point that out. “I should’ve been paying better attention. It was late on a Saturday night, and I should’ve been on the lookout for drunk drivers, especially with Kelli in the car. If I hadn’t offered to drive you?—”
“No.” Nanette cuts me off. “You don’t get to regret doing something kind for your child and ex-wife.”
“It wasn’t even my weekend with her,” I argue.
“Bobby Jacobs, stop it with that nonsense. We both wanted you there. We’ve always wanted you to spend as much time as you can with Kelli—even before I lived in your backyard.”
I take her hand in mine. “It’s a shame we couldn’t make things work between us.”
“I’ll never regret getting pregnant with Kelli or marrying you to try to give her a stable home, and I couldn’t ask for a better dad for her. But we were never really meant to be more than friends. You know that as well as I do.”
I do know it. Nanette and I were friends who took things a little too far one night and ended up with the best thing that ever happened to me. Kelli’s birth and our short-lived marriage gave me the stability and family support I didn’t realize I needed. I’d been on my own for so long, I had forgotten what it was like to have people who needed and loved me, and who I needed and loved in return.
“You’re right, as usual.”
She gives me a soft smile and pulls her hand out of mine. “What you need is a woman to take your mind off me.” My mind shoots directly to Melissa, and Nanette must see something in my expression, because her eyes widen. “Is there a woman?”
I look away from her. “No.”
“You’re lying. Tell me about her. Did you meet her at the wedding?”
“We’re not having this conversation. And you need to rest.”
She gives me a puppy-dog look. “It’ll make me feel soooo much better if you tell me. You won’t deny me that, will you?”
“You’re the one who should’ve been a lawyer.”
Nanette laughs. “I would’ve made a terrible lawyer. Teaching is much more my style.”
And it’s my fault she can’t teach anymore. She occasionally substitute teaches at Kelli’s school, but being on her feet and constantly being “on” with a group of kids all day isn’t something she can currently do on a daily basis.
“No,” she says firmly, “do not blame yourself for that.” She knows me well—too well. “Now, tell me everything about this woman, and then I can sleep in peace.”
“There’s not much point in me telling you about her, because it can’t go anywhere.”
“Why?”
“It’s complicated.”
“What’s complicated?” Kelli asks from the doorway, saving me from having the conversation, because I’m definitely not telling my romance-loving daughter about Melissa.
“Nothing.”
My daughter narrows her eyes at me. “Which means it’ssomethingbut you don’t want me to know about it.”
I hold my hands palm up. “You got me. But I’m still not talking.”
“Fiiiiine.” Her faces scrunches up as she hands me a cup. “Here’s your Mountain Dew. I don’t know how you can drink that stuff. It’s so gross. Do you know what it does to your body?”
