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Were there other things he’d never know? Was my avoidance possibly robbing us of closeness? No matter how much I disagreed with Remington, I worried he might be right about one thing. Constantly peaceful marriages were unrealistic.
If it was a choice between messy and fake, I’d take the messy every time. Was that what he meant about healthy fighting keeping the passion hot in a relationship?
What if confrontation was necessary? I would never fight with Hale just to get him hot. But what if secrets were hurting us in the long run?
How to Suck at Seating Charts
The following days were peaceful. Maybe because Hale wasn’t scheduled to travel for a while, or maybe because I was finally “trying” to come to terms with the fact that life was unpredictable and sometimes that was a good thing.
I liked uncertainty about as much as I liked commitment, so I was trying this new thing where I took life one day at a time. I was doing okay, considering that today was Day One of my new staying present philosophy. I might not be so accepting as the week went on and new challenges arrived.
Remington’s health remained on my mind, so I scheduled a physical with his primary doctor and requested a full workup of his blood just to make sure everything was okay. When I asked Myles if he noticed any strange behavior, he confessed Remington had been smoking again.
Poor Myles. I had no choice but to throw him under the bus when I confronted Remington for such stupid behavior. “Are you kidding me?” I had burst into his office. “You’re smoking again?” I ordered him to quit immediately. “Hand them over.”
“This is my office, not an arena, Meyers. Lower your voice.”
His avoidance wasn’t going to derail my purpose. Angling my body over his desk, I lowered my voice to a chilling whisper. “Are you trying to give yourself another heart attack?”
“Why should I try when you seem set on doing that yourself? What are you thinking bursting in here like that?”
I flipped open his breast pocket and frisked him. “Hand them over, Remington.”
He swatted me away, but not before I found his stash. “Meyers?—”
“Don’t Meyers me. You should be thanking me. I seem to be the only person in the room who gives a crap about your health.”
He sighed. “You’re a royal pain in my ass.”
“The lighter too.” I waited until he dropped it into my palm.
I pocketed the paraphernalia and planted my fists on my hips. “Don’t you dare send anyone to the store to buy more.” I turned in the direction of the hidden figures I knew were eavesdropping from the next room. “Do you all hear me? Anyone who buys him cigarettes or offers him a light will answer to me!”
In the kitchen I opened the trash and snapped every black Russian filter and crumbled the tobacco into dust.
“You should not let him get you so worked up, niña,” Marta said, her attention on watering the house plants.
“He thinks he’s invincible and he’s not. He deserved to get yelled at.”
“But now he will be a bear to deal with. One or two a day can’t be that bad for him.”
I glared at her. “Marta, do not let him smoke.”
She sighed and nodded, but then she muttered something in Spanish as she left the room.
Myles appeared and smirked. “That was impressive.”
“If you catch him smoking, I expect you to yell at him, too.”
He laughed. “Not a chance, Meyers. I’m not family.”
“Neither am I…” My claim wilted as I realized how soon those words wouldn’t be true. “Okay, fine. Then you call me and I’ll handle it.” I slapped the gold zippo on the counter. “Hide this where he won’t find it.”
When I told his kids their father had started smoking again—less than a year after a massive heart attack—none of them seemed concerned. Hale said Remington would do whatever Remington wanted to do. Barrett called his father an idiot. Seraphina suggested homeopathic aroma therapy paired with hypnosis to help him break the habit, which Remington later called millennial cult voodoo—and there went Seraphina’s concern.
It was the first time I shared an actual conversation with Phina about her father and it was eye opening. I knew Remington could be a pain in the ass to his sons, but he caused a different pain for his daughter. There was so much expectation based on her gender, and we both knew he would likely never change.
“If it helps, I know your dad’s extremely proud of you.”
