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"You should have told me. I could have kept the girls!"
"No, I wanted to see them. See if I still had it in me. You know, to do it on my own."
"And do you?"
"I'm still standing," she said with a wry smile.
I chuckled. "That's my motto, too."
"You want to come in while you wait?"
"It's all right. I'm sure they won't be long."
"Girls!" she called in. "Your dad’s here."
"Two minutes!" Lexi called back. "Rhea's on Bowser!"
I raised an eyebrow. "Bowser?"
"It's a videogame thing." Stephanie took a beat. "So. The girls have been talking a lot about Elara. What happened with her?"
Was every fucker in my life going to interrogate me about Elara? "She left, that's what."
"You had a thing with her, though, right?"
"What? No. Why do you—"
"I know you, Cole. I remember your tells."
“My tells?”
“You know, the little things you do when you’re hiding something. When you’re happy, sad, in love.”
In love?
"Right. Well. I guess I did have something with her. Jesus, it's like having a KGB agent for an ex-wife."
"The girls really liked her, you know?"
"Everyone really liked her," I said, my patience starting to wear thin. "But that doesn't matter, Steph. It's over."
"Shame. You seemed genuinely happy for a while."
"I can’t believe you knew I was with her and didn’t say anything." I sighed. "The girls talk about her a lot?"
"Constantly. You know, in the way they probably talk about Bryce all the time, too.”
I gave a nod out of politeness.
"Anyway, I’m sorry things didn’t work out,” said Steph. “You deserve to be happy."
I roll my eyes. “First time you’ve said that about me.”
Stephanie gave me a long, tender look. "Of course you do, Cole."
"Are you kidding me?” I asked with a laugh. “Remember why we got divorced?"
She sighed. "Yes."
