“Part of me wanted to see if Simon and I would work out. New setting, new career… I think I wanted some stability. In hindsight, I sounded like I was going to get Simon back. Our time as husband and wife ended before I left for Ghana. I apologize for being an idiot and making it seem like we’re still us… a couple.”
Wait, did Lucy admit that she and Simon weren’t together? After talking to Mom, I realized it wasn’t so cut and dry. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself and misread her words. “So, you and Simon are…”
“I signed the papers.”
“Oh.”
This wasn’t the conversation I expected. In my head, at any moment, she would backtrack and tell me to stay away from her man. Could she be both beautiful and reasonable? Dammit. Shewasperfect. We had gotten through the marriage conversation, but it ignored that her ex-husband was playing kissy face with another man.
“Did he…” I couldn’t stop my face from turning red. If he hadn’t told her, I didn’t want to out him by accident. Simon deserved to work through his sexuality without me throwing him to the wolves.
“Tell me he met a cute guy?”
“Yeah…” Did Simon describe me as cute, or did she? I couldn’t take the compliment without blushing. If I got any hotter, I’d squeal like a tea kettle.
“Oh… you were worried… did you think…” Lucy laughed hard enough that the couch shook. When she reached out, resting a hand on my arm, the tension in the room vanished. We had gone from adversarial to old friends. “Honey, I’ve known Simon has a soft spot for soft men.”
“Really?”
I couldn’t hide my surprise. Beautiful. Check. Humanitarian. Check. Progressive. Check. If Lucy got any more perfect, I might ask if she was seeing anybody. If Amanda had been here, she’d have already made Lucy a cocktail and suggested they take the party back to her place.
“Simon and I talked about it when we first started dating. If I remember, before me, he had been seeing a guy. Levi, I think?”
The disbelief on my face had found its way into my throat. “You’re telling me you knew your husband’s?—”
“Boyfriend, at the time?”
“Yourboyfriendhad a thing for guys, and it didn’t bother you?” Dear God, was I archaic? Had I gotten so fixated on something being black and white that I didn’t see the shades of gray in between? Holy shit, even my mom was more progressive than me. My world might as well have been tossed in the blender. I needed to do a self-evaluation.
“I loved…loveSimon. I always will. That includes every part of him.”
“Has anybody ever told you that you’re perfect?”
She gave me a wink. “If it makes you feel better, it took me a while. I had my insecurities. I still remember sitting on the park bench with him and asking if he found a guy attractive. Eventually we argued about whether he was a briefs or boxer man.”
That sounded like Simon. “I guess, for some reason, I thought you’d be upset.”
“He’ll always be the father of my son. As long as you’re okay with Lucas’s mom being in the picture, I think it’ll be okay. Ultimately, I want Simon to be happy.” Her eyes narrowed as the corner of her lip turned up. “The way he talked, it sounds likeyoumake him happy.”
I had barely finished processing Lucy being in my living room. Now, she let it slip that I made Simon happy? I couldn’t tell which raced faster, my mind or my heart. The ridiculousness of the situation made me laugh. Lucy had delivered a compliment on behalf of her ex-husband.
“Sorry, I can’t help it. This is just so damned weird.”
She giggled. “I guess it is. But now I understand why Lucas asked why there was another man on top of Daddy.”
I nearly choked. “He didn’t…”
Lucy nodded, trying to stifle a laugh. “You’ll get nothing past that boy.”
Mom would never let me live this down. The angst I had been feeling over the last week could have been washed away with a candid conversation. A little honesty and Lucy had gone from rival to confidant. I could see why Simon married her. Heck, at this rate, Amanda would need to work to keep the title of bestie.
“Does this mean we’re friends now? Cause I’ll be honest, this is not how I imagined this conversation going.”
“If you’re going to date my husband— ex-husband, I think it’s a requirement.”
“Yep, it’s still a weird statement.”
“Let’s make it even weirder. Give me your phone.”
