Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 116708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
“Yes. That. But what am I thinking, opening that can of worms again? My life is a mess right now. I don’t have time to add a train wreck on top of that.”
“That’s fair. But I guess you need to figure out why that chemistry is still there. Why did you two get divorced anyway?”
I sat there for a minute. A dozen reasons sat on the tip of my tongue, but that was just it. I knew the reasons. I knew the circumstances. I knew the trauma. But I had no idea why leaving me had been the answer to all his problems.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
She leveled me with a side-eye. “You don’t know? All these years and you never asked?”
“Oh, I asked. A million times. Over and over until I could barely breathe. He just never answered me.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Then I think you’re talking to the wrong person here. Clearly that mouth of his is working now. It might be time to throw a few hypotheticals his way.”
I sagged in the booth. She had a point, but a part of me was afraid of the truth.
Had I been too cold after he had come back from his deployment?
Had the sight of me reminded him of everything he’d lost?
Or had I meant so little to him that discarding me had been easier than letting me in?
My old friends, Anger and Resentment, flickered inside my chest.
Damn, how was I right back in a situation where I was willing to take whatever scraps of Truett he was willing to give me? One ounce of affection and I was a teenage girl again, lovestruck and smitten.
“You’re right. This is dumb. I shouldn’t even be entertaining something with him.”
“Girl, stop putting words in my mouth. I didn’t say all that. I’m just saying, you have to figure out if he’s your version of husband one, who you didn’t give a fair shake; husband two, who was a total shitbag and doesn’t deserve to ever taste you again; or husband three, the one who slipped away far too soon and you’d give anything to have him back. Because I’ll be honest, if there is even a speckle of a chance that he’s your husband number three, it’s worth a conversation to figure it out.”
I stared at her. This woman was crazy on every level, including the one where she doled out sage relationship advice by using her three ex-husbands as examples.
But she wasn’t wrong.
I wasn’t sure she was right either, though.
“I’ll talk to him,” I relented.
“Good. And don’t be chintzy on the details next time. I should have gotten a call the second his tongue exited your mouth.”
I laughed until the sound of the door caught my attention. I’d forgotten to lock it when she’d arrived, but luckily it was only Nate who came barreling inside.
“Mom!” he shouted, a huge smile on his face and his bookbag bouncing on his back.
“Hey, buddy! What are you doing here?” I checked my watch, worried that I had the day wrong. Nope. Definitely Friday.
He launched himself into the booth, tackling me with a bear hug.
I managed to wrap my arms around him, catching us both before we fell against the wall behind me. I kissed the top of his head, his brown hair smelling of grass and sweat. “Ew, you stink.”
He giggled as he pushed off of me. “We got extra recess today for winning the school fundraiser. And then when Dad picked me up, he opened the sunroof. It was sooooo cool.”
Right on cue, Jeff waltzed in the door, wearing his signature polo shirt and penny loafers that had gone out of style at least twenty years earlier. Brushing his blond hair to the side to cover his receding hairline, he stated, “That parking lot is horrendous. I scraped the shit out of my car on the way in. Good luck not getting sued over that when you open up this dive.”
“And hello to you too,” I mumbled. I patted Nate’s thigh. “Lemme out, buddy.”
He slid out and dropped his bookbag onto the floor. “I’m hungry! You have any chips in the kitchen?”
“I think so, but so help me God, if you touch any of the tools in there, you will be bedazzling the ribbon for our opening ceremony. There’s a thousand-piece gem set I’ve been eyeing with your name written all over it.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he grumbled.
I grinned as I watched him disappear into the kitchen.
My smile fell as I turned back to face my ex. “What brings you two by?”
He acted as though he hadn’t heard me as he made a lap around the dining room, his lip curled into a sneer.
I couldn’t quite explain it, but when he stopped in front of me, it made my skin crawl. Actually, that was completely explainable. My skin crawled whenever I so much as heard his voice. Though, my reaction this time was due to his proximity to that booth—Truett’s booth.