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“Jessa,” I started as I removed my jacket, “I really like you.”
She smiled and grasped my hand. I didn’t flinch or pull back, and I knew it was because she put me at ease. “I like you too. A little too much, I’m afraid.”
“I’m sorry?”
She looked in the direction of David and Alex and sighed. “I just . . . I haven’t seen David this easy and relaxed since we were children. Don’t get me wrong, he’s always playful with Alex, but he just seems different around you. Less edgy. Like he’s actually found . . .” She turned back to me. “I can’t help but wish for the impossible here.”
I nodded, searching for the words. As I did, silence drew out between us and understanding appeared in her eyes. For the first time, she looked at my left hand, her eyes lingering on the empty space.
“I’m leaving my husband,” I said, and then added, “for David.”
After a moment, her eyes flicked up to mine. “That must be very hard.”
“It is.” I glanced over at David, who still took my breath away. “But it almost feels like I don’t have a choice. I couldn’t move forward with Bill after knowing David.”
I looked back and tried to read her passive expression. It was hard to gauge her reaction, but there was no judgment, and that was the best thing I could hope for. “All this is just happening,” I continued. “Things have been hectic. Complicated. Divorce has always freaked me out.”
She nodded. “It was a difficult time for me.”
“What was?” David asked, walking up and crouching beside us, a sheen of sweat glistening on his biceps.
“Divorce,” we said in unison.
“Oh.”
“That’s a lot to take on,” Jessa warned him, but she was smiling. “Huge commitment.”
“She’s worth it,” David said without hesitation and winked at me.
Jessa fell back on the blanket dramatically. “Oh my God. Finally!” she yelled up to the sky.
“What?” Judy called from across the grass.
“Shut up,” David hissed. “You act like I’ve never had a girlfriend.”
“Olivia,” Jessa addressed me seriously. “It may be too soon to say this, but I don’t care because the energy is good here. Welcome to the family. I can see my brother here is quite taken with you.”
I blushed wildly, unable to contain the huge grin spreading across my face. “It’s complicated, Jessa,” I said, hating to ruin the moment. “There have been . . .” I glanced up at David. “Indiscretions. We haven’t been as ethical as we would like.”
She blinked at me, and her smile wavered. “Do you think I’m blind?” she asked. “I could see that there was something going on the moment I saw you two together.”
“Does that bother you?” David asked.
“Of course it bothers me, David,” she said, nodding over at Alex. “But . . . sometimes something passes between two people that can’t be explained. If that’s how it had to go down, then I guess you two have to live with that. I can’t condone it, but when Alex’s dad cheated on me, it was because he was drunk and stupid, not because the universe was giving him something better. It was really just a symptom of a dying marriage.”
“So you think it would have happened eventually? Your divorce?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“I do. I loved him, and it destroyed me, but after many years I’ve realized that we were not a match. He brought me down. I mean, Libra and Virgo – what was I thinking?” She laughed as if I should understand that.
I found comfort in her words, though. The more time I spent with David, the more I realized how out-of-sync Bill and I were. The recent deterioration of sex had indicated as much. At the same time, David and I had connected on a level that couldn’t be ignored.
“We’re good, right?” David asked Jessa. “Can I go play?”
She laughed. “Get out of here so I can tell embarrassing stories about you.”
He halted suddenly and looked toward his parents. “What am I going to tell Mom and Dad?”
“I suggest you tell them the truth. Today.”
He broke out into a smile and, with a glance to make sure they weren’t watching, leaned over to give me a swift kiss.
“Jesus, I’ve never even seen him hold hands with a girl in public,” Jessa said after he jogged off.
“Has he brought many girls home?” I asked, fingering a lock of my hair.
“Here and there over the years.”
“How about Maria?” I blurted.
“Oh, yes,” Jessa said, rolling her eyes. “I’ve met Maria at a couple events. She’s a first-rate snob.”
“She’s not happy about this.”
“She told you that?”
“She came to the apartment last night to say she wants a real chance with him.”
Jessa burst out laughing.
My eyebrows knit. “I worry about her,” I confessed.
“Don’t,” she said through a smile. “David called me Friday to say he’d met someone and Maria’s out of the picture for good. He knows how I feel about her.”
I curbed a triumphant smile. “How about you? Are you seeing anyone?”
“I have a few prospects,” she said, smiling. “No one I’m ready to introduce around though.”
“Right. Is it hard dating with a kid?”
“Yes,” she mused. “But I make it work. Anyway, Alex is more fun than any guy I’ve ever gone out with.”
I smiled. “Seems like it.”
“Little boys,” she said, gesturing to both of them and laughing. “They get along so well that sometimes I forget they aren’t the same age.”
She asked me about my family. I told her my parents were divorced and was surprised to hear that she’d read one of my mom’s novels. As she talked about what she was currently reading, I glanced over at David because I couldn’t resist. He was crouched on his knees, wiping something from Alex’s face with the same care he used when he handled anything he loved. He ruffled Alex’s hair before grabbing a football and motioning for him to go long. It was a sweet scene. But it didn’t inspire in me what I knew it should, and a tiny knot formed in my stomach.
David’s dad, Gerard, called the family to the picnic table. David served me a hamburger exactly how I liked it, and I thanked him with a soft smile. As I took my first bite, I noticed Gerard staring at my left hand. I wiped it on a napkin quickly and put it in my lap. His gaze shifted.
“What on earth happened to your arm?” he asked.
David’s body stiffened in the same moment that his head turned. Having lived a life with the bruising abilities of a peach, I already knew what I would find, so I didn’t bother to look.
“How did I miss these?” David mumbled, taking my elbow gently and lifting my arm. He inspected the marks as I felt myself reddening. “Jesus, baby.”
My color only deepened at his endearment, and my eyes dropped to the table. Still, I felt everyone watching as he tenderly stroked my back and examined the bruises.
I grasped for an explanation, but he cut in. “Mom, Dad. You know, for a long time, I’ve been searching for . . . something more.”
“Honey,” his mom said softly.
“I’ve found it in Olivia.”
A blanket of silence fell over the table as his parents stared at us. I grasped David’s thigh under the table nervously as I waited.
“Honey,” Judy said again, “I’m confused. I thought Olivia was married.”
“I am. I’m sorry. I know this is uncomfortable. My husband and I have decided to separate.” David’s leg tensed under my hand. I closed my eyes. “Divorce, I mean. We’re getting a divorce.”
When I opened them again, Judy was looking between the two of us with round eyes. “Because of David?”
My eyes also went to David. “I’ve come to realize that things weren’t right with my husband, but I wouldn’t have come to that conclusion without David’s help. David is . . .” I let the sentence trail as I looked at him. He looked bac
k at me, and I didn’t finish because I knew that he could see all the things he was to me.
Gerard’s voice cut angrily into our moment. “What does that have to do with the bruises, Olivia?” He fixed a stern, dark stare on me. It was a look I knew well from his son, and I cowered down in my seat. David went to speak, but I squeezed his leg and shook my head at him. I wanted to be the one to tell them. His hand moved to my lower back as I felt myself quake slightly.
“I’m sorry, this is embarrassing,” I said, swiping the back of my hand over my forehead. “David and I . . . I mean, I – I was unfaithful. I told my husband, and we tried to move on from it. I couldn’t. Not while I felt this way about David. As more details come out, my husband becomes less . . . understanding.”
Gerard’s eyes flicked a mile a minute between my face and my arm. He banged his fist on the table, and everyone jumped.
I rose immediately. “I’m so sorry,” I said, backing away and holding in tears. “I know that – all of this – it’s awful.”
David called after me, but I ignored him as I walked out to the grass to regain composure. He was right behind me and when I stopped, he hugged me to him. “What did I tell you? Let me be your shield. Don’t run away from me.”
“They think I’m not good enough for you, and I don’t blame them.”
“Baby, that’s not – ”
“No. I did this; I have to face the consequences. You can’t protect me from it.” I sniffled back tears and rested my head on his chest. My chin trembled. “I just wish it wasn’t your parents,” I whispered.
David was gone suddenly, and I felt another hand on my shoulder. When I looked up, Gerard’s tall frame loomed over me. As he sent David back to the table, I noticed how attractive he was up close. He was sturdy, like David, and his hand weighed heavy on me. “I’m sorry if I startled you,” he said when we were alone. “I’m not angry with you.”
I sniffed and wiped my face with the back of my hand. “Please don’t be upset with David. This isn’t his fault. He’s been nothing but amazing to me.”
Gerard surprised me by laughing. “And I think I have you to thank for that. My dear,” he continued softly, “I’m upset that anyone put his hands on you in anger. I don’t care about the ‘details’ of your relationship with my son, because I’ve never seen him this happy with anyone. And if your husband hurt you like this,” he said, motioning to my arm, “even once, then I am even happier that David saved you than that you saved him.”
I gawked up at him. “Saved him?”
