“What was he saying?”
“He was talking about the women he was seeing.”
“Women? As in multiple?”
“Yup. And apparently, he got caught by two of them.”
Her eyes go wide. “There were more than two?”
I nod. “I think the final tally I came to was five.”
“Ew! That’s so gross!” But she’s thoroughly invested. Sipping her wine, she leans in. “How did he get caught?”
“One of them got suspicious and followed him. She found him and one of the women at a restaurant on a date and things went wild from there.” I laugh just thinking about it. “And if you saw this guy, you would not think he’d have five girlfriends.”
She grins. “That must mean he had money.” Finishing her wine, she adds, “That’s always why shit like that happens. It’s awful.”
“I figured it had to be something like that, but not at the time. While I was listening to him talk, I honestly couldn’t figure it out. Especially when he started talking about some of his bad habits.”
“You mean there’s more?” Liv asks excitedly. “Like what?”
“Just bad habits—he makes his mother do his laundry, his sister is his maid, and let’s just say I heard way too much about his personal hygiene habits. Or lack of them, I should say.”
“Ew! No! And he has five women sleeping with him?”
I laugh softly and lean in. “He must have a freaking ton of money.”
“And an enormous dick,” she adds before cracking up and falling back in her seat.
I think it’s safe to say that Liv is definitely more relaxed. Darcy comes over and takes our glasses as we prepare for takeoff, and I wonder if we’re going to chat like this for the entire flight. I wouldn’t mind; I was just planning on watching a movie or playing more solitaire. But I’m wildly curious if she finished the eulogy.
“My ex,” she says, turning her head toward me. “He always had more than one girl at a time. I didn’t know that about him when we started dating, but I was seventeen and naïve. When we broke up, I was devastated, but as time went on, I realized it wasn’t me; it was him. That was just who he was. It doesn’t make it right or take away the hurt, but I can tell myself it wasn’t like I wasn’t enough.”
I shift again. “Were you friends with him afterwards?”
“Not right away. It was probably after I graduated from college. I was home and hanging out with friends who were also his friends, and I just felt like it was stupid to keep holding onto this grudge and making our friends pick sides. By then, I saw him with completely fresh eyes and even though I guess we were friends, it was only because of everyone else. We never would have been without them.”
“And your relationship with his mom?”
“We just hit it off all the way back in high school and we both worked at the local library together and kept in touch. It was never about her son.” Shaking her head, she sighs. “I always felt bad for her. She was so freaking nice and he was such a nightmare. I know she was disappointed in him, even though she loved him. Right now, she’s grieving, and I want to just…I don’t know, help.”
“It’s very nice of you. Way nicer than most exes would be. If that guy I was sitting next to died, I doubt if any of those women would offer to speak at his funeral.”
“Now, you don’t know that. For all you know, they’d love to speak and tell everyone what a piece of crap that guy was.” She grins.
“Did you consider doing that? Writing a scathing eulogy?”
“Oh, that one I wrote right away just to get it out of my system. Unfortunately, the real version was much harder to write.”
“Does that mean you finished it?”
She nods. “It’s as good as it’s going to get. And maybe once I’m around my friends tonight, they’ll help me tweak it a bit.”
“Well, that’s good.”
“That reminds me that I need to text my friend who’s picking me up and let her know we’re actually going to take off this time.”
Liv busies herself with her phone and I figure that maybe I should do something other than watch her text. So, I take my phone back out and go back to my game of solitaire.
