But Gwen was quite certain he didn’t understand anything at all. Or he didn’t truly believe it. He probably thought she was speaking from a place of pride or ego or just playing hard to get, but that wasn’t the case. What she’d said was the truth.
She looked out the car window at the evergreens whizzing by.
Then she looked at Eric behind the wheel and felt as if she were looking at a stranger. Someone from her past with whom she no longer had anything in common.
He reached across the console and held her hand. “It’s not my intention to push you into anything, and I understand that this isn’t a done deal. I deserve to be raked over the coals, and I fully expect to be groveling and apologizing for however long it takes.”
“It sounds like you have it all figured out,” she said.
He looked at her with a small frown, as if he had only just spotted a detour sign on what he thought was an open road before him.
He slid his hand back to rest on the steering wheel, and Gwen thought of Peter again—about days of exhausting travel and challenging research, beautiful boat rides, and deep conversations. This moment in Eric’s shiny new BMW was nothing like that. She felt quite fatigued.
“Talk to me,” he said. “I want to know what you’re thinking.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, then. Here it is.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “Ever since you walked out on us, you knew I was lost without you. And I was.” She would never forget the devastating early days of their separation. The loneliness and the crushing sense of failure. “But things are different now.I’mdifferent. And I’m not sure how I feel about you after you’ve been with someone else for the past six months and have looked completely happy and in love with her on social media. You weren’t missing me then.”
Eric stared straight ahead and nodded, but he looked slightly panicked. They were barely at the Fall River junction and still faced an hour of driving. Perhaps Gwen should have stuck to small talk.
But what had she just said to herself about not wasting time?
They drove in silence for a while. Then Eric spoke. “Let’s not talk about that anymore. Let’s change the subject, because I promised myself I wasn’t going to pressure you, but it feels like we’re rushing things. Rushing them in the wrong direction.” He glanced briefly at her. “Can we take it slow? Can we at least get home and get comfortable around each other before we decide the fate of the universe?”
Gwen felt a little unnerved by his use of the wordhome, as if he’d never left it. Would he think he could move back in immediately and sleep in their bedroom tonight?
“I agree that we should take it slow,” she said. “And if I was pushing too fast to resolve things, I guess I’m still a bit touchy about everything. But in my defense, you don’t deserve for this to be easy.”
“You’re absolutely right,” he replied. “And that’s where I failed you before. I avoided the difficult stuff. But I want to try again and show you that I’ve changed. Or grown—whatever you want to call it. I hope you’ll give me a second chance. Till death do us part, remember?”
“I do remember.” By now, the distance to home seemed less daunting. Gwen turned on the radio. “Let’s listen to some music, then.”
She found the popular station she liked best, and one of Scarlett’s songs came on. Gwen increased the volume. “Oh, my gosh. What are the odds? This is Scarlett.”
Eric looked at her strangely. “No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is. It’s not her singing, but she wrote this.”
Eric listened for a second. “No kidding. I never would have guessed.”
“I know, right? This is a huge hit right now, and it feels brand new.”
Eric was noticeably impressed. “It’s amazing what producers can do in the studio to bring an old tune up to date.” He leaned close as if he were about to share a secret. “Did you know the Bee Gees wrote ‘Islands in the Stream,’ sung by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton?”
“I did indeed,” she replied.
They spent the rest of the drive talking about movies they’d watched recently, and it was a relief to talk about something other than their failed marriage.
Eric pulled into the driveway, shut off the engine, and leaned forward over the steering wheel. He peered up at the front of the house.
“She looks pretty good.”
“She absolutely does,” Gwen replied as she reached for her purse.
They got out of the car, and Eric retrieved Gwen’s suitcase from the trunk. He carried it up the front steps and waited for her to unlock the door and cross the threshold.
