Page 37 of Promise

But Mavis gives me a concerned look, causing my knees to give out, and I fold down to the edge of the couch.

“Who the hell was that?” Genie finally asks, spinning to face me with a big grin. Like she’s proud of me for having a man in my house, thinking I’m getting something I’m not.

“Dart Rivers,” Vale answers for me, only she says it with grit, like dirt on her tongue, incredulous that he’s in my house. Most days, I still can’t believe it either.

“The man who broke your heart,” Mavis states quietly, perceptively, while she continues to watch me.

Halle finally swings her head in my direction and takes a seat in a chair opposite the couch. “Oh no. That’s Dart?”

“That’s Dart.” I sigh.

“Who’s Dart?” Genie asks, her hair flying around her head as she glances around the room.

“Trinity’s ex-husband,” Vale offers.

While three of the four present know I’ve been married, I don’t talk about it much. The occasional too-many-glasses-of-wine at book club can bring out lingering pain, but for the most part, I keep Dart locked away inside me.

“You were married?” Genie asks, her voice rising at the sudden information. She finally takes a seat in the second chair.

“Apparently . . .” I swallow hard and glance at Mavis for some reason. “I still am.”

“What the fuck?” Vale grinds out.

“Are you serious?” Halle’s eyes bug wide.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Mavis takes a seat beside me and cups my hand.

“Wait, what does that mean?” Genie asks, glancing from Vale, still behind the couch, to me, perched on the edge of it.

“It means Momma needs a drink. Then, she has some explaining to do,” Vale states, rounding the couch and setting down the multiple wine glasses in her hand.

Once seated, Vale pops the cork on a wine bottle and hands me the entire thing. No glass.

“Drink. And start talking.”

While my friends know the basics about how Mirabelle came to be with me, I back up and fill in all the details about Dart’s return.

“And now he thinks he can live with me. In my house.”

“Which is definitely not okay,” Vale argues.

“In your house . . . collectively,” Mavis corrects, her eyes full of compassion. “Are you afraid of him?”

Knowing Mavis’s history, I shake my head. “Only afraid he’ll break my heart again.” I pause, sitting straighter. “Which can’t happen, because I’m not giving it to him a second time.”

“That’s my girl,” Vale cheers.

“Best laid plans, though,” Halle mumbles, her smile slow and sympathetic. While she didn’t want to reunite with Knox when she first returned to town, their history is vastly different from Dart’s and mine.

“Do you still have feelings for him?” Genie asks, the question sympathetic.

“I—” I don’t know how to answer. “I have a lot of feelings toward him. Disappointment. Upset. Anger. I’m pissed.”

“You have a right to all those feelings,” Halle adds. “Be mad.”

“I kind of hate him, a little bit,” I admit.

But the real question Genie is asking is if I still care about him, love him. Despite those negative emotions, is there something positive beneath the dirt and rubble?