“We’re just spending a summer apart! It doesn’t have to be a big deal, and God knows the boys don’t need to know their dad is… Anyway, Will should have to do it since he’s the one who started it.”
“Sure, but who’s going to get it in the neck if the kids find out in a weird way?”
She growled. “Me. Because I’m their mom.”
“Yes, ma’am, as I think you know.” Elysia sighed. “Sam, I am familiar with kids blaming their mom. I’mmean to Daddy. Sadly, my kids are little, so I can’t shout back about how Daddy is an asshole who likes to put his penis in other women.”
“I’ve never understood how you did it.” She shook her head. “How you didn’t…tell them he cheated on you. He’s the one who ended your marriage.”
She nodded. “Sure. He is. But what happened between him and me is exactly that. It’s between us. It has never had anything to with what kind of father he is to the girls and…the way I idolized that man. I thought he was just the greatest, best, most perfect husband.” The sadness in Elysia’s eyes made Sam feel like sitting down and crying. Worse, she knew exactly what her friend felt. As far as thinking you knew someone, she understood. “I couldn’t bear to be the one who took that feeling of admiration from my girls, because even though he’s not still that husband for me, he’s still that dad for them.”
“I’ll think about how to handle it,” Sam said. “Because the problem is, my kids are adults, and as much as I don’t want to throw Will under the bus entirely…”
“I think they’re old enough that you can find a way to talk about it that’s honest,” Elysia said.
She looked out the window and saw an aqua-colored car with a white convertible top, up for now, and dramatic fins on the back, pull into the driveway. Logan was in the driver’s seat, his forearm resting on the steering wheel, sunglasses firmly in place.
The…car was beautiful.
She looked back at Elysia.
“I’m going on an adventure. To think, a couple weeks ago I was just going to Texas Roadhouse.”
Elysia smiled. “Life is weird like that.”
“I wanted rolls. I got a trial separation and a road trip with a man I struggle to exchange ten words an hour with.”
“Play music,” Elysia said. “It’ll be fine. And text when you get to the hotel for tonight.”
“I’m sure I’ll text before then.”
She walked out the front door into the warm morning, and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She scrolled through her contacts until she found Will My Love, a name she’d been using for his contact since she was literally twenty.
She opened it up and hit Backspace until it was just: Will.
She let out a hard breath and stuffed her phone back into her pocket, just as Logan got out of the car.
“This is beautiful,” she said.
“I didn’t know you were into cars.”
“I’m not especially. But even a car philistine such as myself can recognize the beauty in this one.”
He opened up the passenger’s side door and went around to the back of the car, popping the trunk, and reached out for her bag. He was always doing things like that. Like it was muscle memory, and she didn’t know if it was an intense streak of chivalry he’d carried with him since childhood, or just a lingering habit from being a single dad for the last ten years. Taking everything, holding everything.
There was a box in the back that took up half the space, and a very small duffel bag shoved all the way to one side.
“I need to drop a care package by Chloe’s. Since we’ll be driving by.”
“Oh. Of course.” She frowned. She didn’t know how she was going to explain her presence to Chloe.
“I already told her you’d be with me,” he said. “She’s excited to see you.”
“She didn’t ask why I was with you?”
“I told her I hired you to be my relief driver. You know, nineteen-year-olds are very self-absorbed, even the good ones. It’s part of their charm. She didn’t question it deeply.”
“Sorry. Of course you want to visit her. I’d like to see her too. I’ll try not to make everything about my current trauma.”
