“Because you’re my best friend and I smell bullshit. Youlikehim. He likes you, I can tell. There couldbesomething, babe. Why not explore it a little?”
“Because he’ll hurt me!” I snap, louder and more aggressively than I intend. “He’s divorced—and why? What’s the story? I’ll be the first to admit there’s no innocent party in a divorce, Cora. When I had the miscarriage, I shut down. I stopped wanting Daniel—I wanted nothing to do with him, and it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t my fault either, and I know that. But I took it out on him.”
“That’s not quite how it happened, Elyse.”
“Close enough. My point is, I’m not innocent.”
“And sure, maybe there’s a story there, and yeah, Jamie probably holds his portion of the blame for whatever happened between him and his ex-wife, but that’s just life. That doesn’t mean he’s not a good and decent guy at the core. And you know what? Yeah, maybe he will hurt you. You date someone, you get involved with someone, you get hurt. It’s inevitable. Hell, we’ve been best friends our whole lives, literally from birth, and how many times have we pissed each other off and hurt each other’s feelings over the years? How many times have your parents had blow-out fights? I remember most of them. I remember when your mom moved back to Montana for two months because she and your dad were fighting so bad.”
I sigh. “They worked that out, and haven’t had a fight like that since.”
“Right! That’s exactly my point! And do you think that didn’t hurt them both? Of course it did! Your momhatesMontana. She got hurt, and your dad got hurt, and it was a huge, giant, messy mess. But their relationship was worth it for both of them, so they figured it out, and they forgave each other.Weforgive each other. And if Jamie were to hurt you, you’d be faced with two basic choices: either it’s worth it and you forgive him, or it’s not and you don’t. You can’t know which one it’ll bewhenhe does something to hurt you—because he will—until you give him a chance.”
“I thought what I had with Daniel was worth it,” I say. “I thought we could work it out. Iwantedto work it out. I didn’t want to get divorced. I thought maybe he’d need a month or two away and he’d miss me and miss Aiden, and he’d come back and we’d—we’d—” I blink hard, choking. I stuff it down; force myself to be okay, to keep going. “I thought we’d be a family again. Mommy, Daddy, and Aiden.”
“Apparently Daniel had other plans,” Cora says, her voice soft. “I know. I wanted that for you, too.”
“You didnot,” I snap.
She rears back, hurt. “Yes, I did! And damn you for doubting me, Elyse.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I just meant you never liked him.”
“No, I didn’t, and I won’t apologize for that. I always saw that cowardly center of him. I never thought he’d have the inner strength to weather a life with you. He was a coward his whole life. He let Brad Vostich beat him up every single day for two years and never fought back, never told anyone, never dealt with it. Just gave him his lunch money, literally, and took the beatings. Hell, Brad tried to bully me and I socked him in the jaw, and he left me alone. Your wimp of an ex-husband just took it, because he was too scared to fight back. And it’s not like Brad was even that big! Daniel was nice, yes. He was good-looking, yes. But he was also the stereotypical gym teacher, and you know it. He ended up teaching gym because he had no idea what else to do with himself. He had no special skills or talents or dreams. He was just…there. At least now we have Kelly Pruitt teaching gym, and she’s fanatic about fitness and health. She teaches gym because she loves kids and loves teaching them to be healthy. It’s a calling for her. Daniel just did it as a cop-out.”
I sigh. “Can we stop trash-talking my ex, please?”
“Fine. My point is that, yes, I never liked Daniel Thomas, not for one second, not at any point in our lives. I never liked him for you, and I never knew what you saw in him. But—but…” She reaches out and takes my hands. “I wanted your marriage to work, foryou. Becauseyouwanted it to. You loved him—god knows why, but you did. He’s Aiden’s father. You wanted that family, and you had it, and it got taken away from you, and yes, sure, you can shoulder some of the blame because no one is ever totally innocent.” She leans forward, squeezing my hands again. “And what I want for you more than anything is for you to realize that youcanmove on from Daniel, that you haven’t yet, and that you deserve happiness—you just have to let yourself have it.”
“And you think my happiness will come from Jamie Trent.”
Her eyes flick over my shoulder, widen a bit, and then she glances at me, a mysterious smirk on her face. “It’s not that I think your happinesswillcome from Jamie, just that I think youcouldbe happy with him.” She grabs her purse. “And here he comes now—okay, bye!”
And then she’s out of the booth and vanishing into the crowd near the bar. I barely have time to register that she’s gone before another body is filling the booth.
Jamie.
With two glasses of red wine.
His smile is gentle and hopeful, and he’s still dressed for work in tan slacks, a white button-down, and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles necktie loose around his neck, the top button undone, sleeves rolled up, that five o’clock shadow dusting his jawline.
“Hi, Elyse.”
I swallow hard. “Hi, Jamie.”
