My turn to sigh. “Fuck no.”
“Well. Let’s see how this plays out, but be prepared to try that route if I can’t see a clear path out of this that won’t cost you a fortune and lose you the land anyway.”
I sigh again. “Will do.” I run a hand through my hair. “How are things with you?”
“Fucking great,” he says. “I love Bend, and the practice is kicking ass. We decided to shift the focus. Kind of the opposite of the way you went,” he says, sounding faintly apologetic. “We were all burning out on hostile divorces, so we’re only doing collaborative divorce now, and we’re doing a lot of pro bono work advocating for kids who are getting screwed by the system.” He eyes me. “We’re looking for another partner.” His voice is casual. “You wouldn’t happen to know of anyone who’s interested in leaving a big-city practice for a more peaceful existence, would you?”
“You mean me?” I ask, startled.
He shrugs one shoulder. “I mean, yeah, that would be the dream—someone like you. But I don’t expect you to leave behind big-city money and glory for this. Just because I love it here doesn’t mean you would, especially not if you’re happy doing what you’re doing there. That article inMANhattansure made it sound like you are.”
“Yeah, I am,” I say without thinking, but then I remember the conversation with Eden. Her suggestion that I donicey-nicedivorces.
Matias grins. “My mom, she says divorce is a sacrament. Like marriage. Sacrament coming in, sacrament going out. Like baptism and death.”
I laugh. “I take it she’s divorced.”
“Three times,” he says. “The next time, she says she’s going the collaborative route.”
“Things bad with husband number four?”
He shakes his head. “Nah. Things are good. But she says everything has a shelf life.”
I chuckle. “Shelf life. Yeah.”
“She and her husband come over to my house for dinner every Sunday night. You should join us sometime. And feel free to bring a plus-one.”
My mind jumps to Eden, to her scent and the drag of her fingers through my hair, before I push the image away. “Not seeing anyone,” I say.
He shrugs. “I can hook you up with a friend of a friend-with-bennies if you want. And Bend Tinder is not half bad.”
I snort. “Thanks. I think I’m good.”
“Well, text me if you want in on the Sunday-night festivities. And definitely let me know if you hear of any kickass lawyers with an eye on family practice partnership in Central Oregon.”
I nod. “Will do.”
On my drive back through town, my eye snags on In Stitches, Eden’s store. The door opens and someone comes out, a form so familiar that my throat closes. Eden. She crosses the street toward Rush to Read Books and disappears inside.
I almost park my car and follow her. Every cell in my body wants to be in her presence again, to talk to her. To share a bag of junk food or split a samosa, to be headed somewhere with her in the seat next to mine.
I have to make myself put my foot back on the gas, because if I’m not careful, I’m going to be telling Matias I know a guy who wants that job.
Matias’s mom has the right idea. Everything has an expiration date. And trying to hold on to something that’s past its date just lands you with a whole lot of grief and a bad case of food poisoning.
28
Eden
“Ispent years wishing my brothers would come back to Rush Creek,” Hanna says. “And now I want to send them all back where they came from.”
Laughter ripples through the group of women gathered in Mari’s living room.
I’ve been camping out in Mari and Kane’s guest room for two weeks now, ever since they helped me set up the quilt exhibit and move my stuff out of Paul’s condo and into storage. I found a new place to live, but I can’t move in till October. Mari insisted I stay with them until then, and I took her up on her offer, temporarily moving in with her, Kane, and their two littles, four-year-old Zara and two-year-old Zayden.
I was thrilled when Mari roped me into tonight’s activity. She and her friends—mostly her brothers-in-law’s wives and girlfriends (Wilders and Wilders-to-be) and Hanna’s brothers’ wives and girlfriends (Hotts and Hotts-to-be)—get together to watch K-dramas once a week. They just started a new one—Crash Course in Romance—so it was the perfect time for me to join the fray.
We’ve just finished watching and discussing, and the conversation has turned to the Hott brothers.
