Page 64 of If I Didn’t Have You

“To set up—” I stopped myself before I could make an idiot out of myself. “What exactly is cyber security?”

“Basically, anything you do online can be accessed by anyone if they know what they’re doing. Like mobile banking.”

“Why would anyone do banking online when the bank is right in town?”

“Because it’s easier,” she pointed out. “If you just want to transfer money, do you really want to drive into town when you could just do it with the touch of a button?”

I grunted, not at all liking any of this. “Obviously, it’s safer if I just drive into town.”

“Well, not everyone is an old curmudgeon like you.”

“I am not a curmudgeon. And I’m not old!”

Laughing, she pulled into The Beaver and Boot. “Is that why you were asked if you wanted to use the senior citizen discount last week?”

“Fucking ridiculous,” I muttered. “I don’t look that old.”

“No, but you act like it. Seriously, you and Mom walk around like you’re already in your seventies. You need to lighten up and live a little.”

“I do not act like I’m seventy!”

“Yeah? When was the last time you had any fun?”

And with that, she parked and got out. Rolling my eyes, I followed, but not because I wanted to. I was proving a point. I could hang out at the bar for fun and not drink. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do in a bar full of young people, but I wasn’t about to prove my daughter right.

To my surprise, the bar was already full of life, and right at the center of it was my wife.

I almost didn’t recognize her, not because she was having fun, but because half her head was shaved off, and instead of her long, silky strands, all that was left was a mop of hair side-swept off her face.

She was fucking beautiful, and the smile that lit up her face said it all. She was happy. I’d never seen her laugh so much or beam so bright. It was like I was staring at an entirely different person.

“Come on!” Krista shouted over the music, tugging me to the dark corner where we wouldn’t be seen.

As I slid into the booth, I took in the entourage surrounding my wife. Lizzy was slinging drinks like it was the wild west, and Blake and Bailey were up on stage, singing their hearts out.

But that wasn’t where it ended.

My wife seemed to have collected women from around town. Ellie May was at the table, along with Josie, Delaney, Cheyenne, and even Bea from the police station.

“What are they doing?”

“Having fun,” Krista laughed, as if I was the stupidest person alive.

“I meant, are they celebrating something?”

“Nope, they’re just having a girls night.”

“Then why aren’t you with them?”

“Because someone had to look after you, and make sure you understood exactly what you were missing out on.”

For the better part of the night, I watched as my wife laughed, sang karaoke songs, and drank as if she was twenty-one. I’d never seen her so carefree or young at heart. All the years of raising the kids and taking care of everyone else had taken their toll on her, but tonight, I could see the woman I married.

By the time eleven o’clock rolled around, my wife was wasted, stumbling around the bar, but still laughing and having a great time.

“Maybe you should take her home.”

It was a shame to cut her fun short, but with the amount of alcohol in her system, I had no doubt she would be feeling pretty sick by the time she came down from her high. And there was only one place I would let her be that vulnerable.