“And you still deny that you guys are made for each other?”
I squeeze my eyes closed, refusing to cry in the middle of José’s. “Stop, Cora.Please…just stop.”
She grabs my hand. “This is a really big deal for you, isn’t it?”
“You don’t understand.”
“I’m trying to.”
“Wecan’tbe perfect for each other. Because I can’t have him.”
“I think you could.”
“No! I can’t! Aiden can’t handle it, and I can’t handle the risk—I couldn’t handle it if it didn’t work out and Aiden had to go through all that again.”
“Elyse—”
I cut her off, my eyes on hers. “Aiden saw us kissing, Cora.”
She winces at that. “Oh. Oh dear. How’d he react?”
“He was confused, and he had so many questions.”
“What kind of questions?”
“Oh, you know, nothing big. Just…did you love Dad? Did you fall out of love with him? Could you fall out of love with me? If Jamie and I got together, would Jamie be his stepdad? Stuff like that.”
“Jeez.” She swirls her iced tea with her straw. “That must have been tough.”
“How do you explain to a confused eight-year-old why Daniel and I are divorced?”
“Saying Daniel was a loser and an asshole probably wouldn’t work, huh?”
“No, Cora, it wouldn’t,” I say. “He wasn’t always a loser and an asshole. The miscarriage really messed us both up, and we didn’t handle it well at all, either of us.”
“He should have been there for you. He should have understood, and been supportive and loving and strong for you.”
“It was hard for him, too, Cora.”
“Why thehellare you defendinghim? He basically abandoned you to deal with the emotional trauma alone. You should have seen a therapist, and he should have insisted.” Her eyes water. “I should have insisted.”
“Cora, stop. Don’t you try to take that on yourself.”
“Then don’t you either.”
I shake my hands, blowing out a shaky breath. “No more of that. The point is, Aiden saw Jamie and I kissing, and he was confused, and he had a lot of very difficult questions.”
“So he wasn’t cool with it.”
I can’t lie to her. “Well…the last thing he said was that if I wanted to kiss Coach Trent again I could, but maybe just do it where he can’t see because it’s weird and yucky.”
“That’s kinda funny, but it’s not an outright rejection of the idea.”
“He said he thought I was lonely, and he didn’t want me to be lonely just because he saw us kissing and I didn’t want him to.”
Cora claps her hands over her heart. “Oh, my god, that boy. He’s the actual sweetest human being on the planet.”
“He sure is.”
