“That did not look like ancient history,” she argues, waggling a freshly manicured finger in my direction. “That looked like…”
“What?” I humor her, my face deadpanned.
“Like fireworks.”
I snort. “You are so delusional.”
“Come back to me after Josh’s wedding when he gets to see you all glammed up in that green dress.” She jabs her chopsticks in the air, stamping her point.
I groan. “Ugh, don’t remind me.” My hands move to my face, tension coiling at my temples as soon as I realize I haven’t seen the last of him. “I’m going to have to see him with his stupidly perfect face and his stupidly perfect hair in a stupidly perfect tux. All while I’m going to be up there at the altar with him.”
“He is pretty stupidly perfect.”
“Tell me about it.” We each stuff our faces with a sliver of sashimi before I look at her. “Leo came by. He picked up Sadie to take her to camp. Said he wanted to take me out to dinner so we could ‘talk.’” I use air quotes when I say the last word, unsure of all the ambiguity behind his request to have a chat with me.
“And did you have dinner with him?”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I told him if he needs to talk to me, I’ll be in touch with my lawyer.”
“What did he say tothat?”
“He got angry. Gave me the whole, ‘You’re notreallydivorcing me?’ spiel.”
She rolls her eyes. “Did you talk to my lawyer? You got my email, right? With all her contact info?”
“I called her.” I nod and run a hand through my hair. “It’s a lot of work. A lot of paperwork, going over our financial history, our assets like our home and cars and investments.”
“And Sadie.”
“And Sadie,” I repeat. My lower lip twists under the pressure of my teeth, and I look at Grace, concern etched on her face. “Can I be completely honest with you?”
She nods.
“What if…what if I just stayed. And I—I just swept this affair under the rug. For Sadie and—” My eyes round into a sad pout, and I suddenly feel ashamed.
“Teen, if that’s what you want, then I can’t tell you otherwise.” We sit in contemplating silence before she adds, “Isit what you want?”
“No.” More silence, this one more despondent and mournful. “I just…I’m scared to be alone,” I tell her, saying the words I’ve been avoiding for so long. “And what if this is it? Like, what if no one will ever want me, and I’ll just be this single mom raising Sadie fifty percent of the time?”
“Then you go be a single mom.”
I huff a sad sigh, the first of tears starting to make my eyes blurry. “That sounds like fun,” I say sardonically.
“No, Teeny,” she urges. “I mean it. I know it sounds scary, but youcando it. Screw Leo and his little whore.”
“That’s not very ‘girl power’ of us.”
“Oh, fuck that shit!” she exclaims, drawing a loose chuckle out of me. “Sheknewhe was married. Obviously Leo should be taking the brunt of the fault, but she is a grown ass woman who knew better. And I don’t care whatever daddy issues made her go for a married man, she earned that title.”
I wipe at my cheek as a tear slips and smile at her, unable to disagree.
“Teeny, you can do it. You can. You are a strong woman, and I know you can do this shit on your own. If you want to stay with Leo because you love him and you want your marriage to work, then that’s a different story, but don’t stay with him because you don’t believe you deserve better.”
I nod, realizing how true her words ring. “You’re right.”
“Of course, I’m right,” she answers with a smug smile. She reaches for the wine bottle, emptying its contents between our two glasses before lifting hers up in the air. I follow her lead with a small appreciative laugh. “To strong ass single divorced women.”
“To us.”
