“Yes. You did say that.” He waited.
Cara sighed. “He cheated on me, okay? He had a little girlfriend, and they’d have their twosomes every other week, at a motel out by the airport, when he was supposed to be at a sales meeting in Atlanta. I was too dumb to realize what was going on. When I found out, I ended it. I moved out, stayed a while with Bert, then rented this apartment, upstairs over the shop.”
“And that was it? No counseling, no attempt at a reconciliation?”
“Now you sound like Leo,” she said. “Why would I want a reconciliation? Or need counseling? He was quite clearly in love with somebody else. No need to prolong the inevitable.”
Did she sound bitter? she wondered. Maybe that was because she was bitter.
Jack had gotten quiet again. He sat back on the bench and took a sip of the iced coffee. All the ice had melted. She should really ask if he’d like another. But did she even want him to stay? What was the point of all this?
“The woman he cheated with. Are they still together?”
She felt her face go pink. “He says not. But then, he’s a liar. And a liar will tell you whatever they think you want to hear.”
“I’m not on his side, you know. I never even met the guy.”
“His name is Leo,” she said. “Leo Giardinella. He’s in sales with Great South Office Products. He plays golf with an eight handicap, and he’s an Auburn fan, even though he never went to Auburn, and you’d probably like him a lot. Everybody likes Leo a lot. You never met anybody who didn’t like Leo. He could totally sell ice to Eskimos. My dad? The Colonel? He still thinks it’s somehow my fault our marriage broke up.”
“What about your mom? What did she think of him?”
Cara shrugged. “She died while I was a freshman in college. But knowing her, she would have loved Leo too.”
She was suddenly close to tears now, and he’d just told her he hated a crier. So maybe now he’d leave, and she was pretty sure she didn’t care if he did.
“For the record, I went to Georgia Tech,” Jack said evenly. “I tried golf, but I don’t have the patience to chase a little white ball around all day. I run, and sometimes I play tennis. And Leo? Your ex? He sounds like an asshole.”
“He was,” she said, sniffing.
Jack got up and came around the table and sat down on the bench beside her. With his little finger, he wiped away the huge tear that was welling up in her right eye. And then he leaned in, and he very gently kissed her.
“You wanna get some lunch?” he asked.
***
The Firefly Café was on Habersham Street near Troup Square. They leashed up the dogs and walked over, sitting at a café table outside. Cara ordered a crab salad and Jack had the patty melt and fries, and they sat in the sunshine, eating and talking about not much of anything.
Shaz and Poppy lolled in the shade under their table, strategically positioned for stray bits of food.
As usual, Jack seemed to know half the people who walked past, or were seated nearby.
Cara sat, a look of amusement on her face as he chatted with two elderly ladies still in their church clothes, at a table nearby.
“What?” he said, when he turned back to her. “They play bridge with my aunt Betty. Irene O’Conner, the one with the pink hair? Her daughter is Meghan’s godmother.”
“Do you ever go anyplace where you don’t know somebody?”
“I’ve lived here all my life, and my parents and grandparents did too. Is that a crime? Don’t you know a lot of people in—where’d you say you grew up? Akron?”
“Columbus. And I know some people, but nothing like you. Anyway, I only finished high school there. Went away to college, met Leo, and eventually we moved down here to Savannah.”
“Why Savannah?”
“Leo had a job offer. It was a promotion and a pay raise, and it seemed like a good idea. I didn’t have much of a career going in Columbus, so there was no reason for me not to move. Even though I didn’t know a soul down here.”
“And no reason to move back up there after your divorce?”
“The Colonel, my father, wanted me to move back. But by then I had the shop, and I was determined to make it work.”
