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Or maybe there’s something worth pursuing here between us.
Perhaps a little more time with him will answer that very question.
My stomach moans with hunger, and my bladder is about as full as one can be. I slip out of bed naked, cross the hall, and go to the bathroom. While peeing my brains out, I peer at his mirror.
I wasn’t even looking for it, but I suddenly notice it’s gone.
The prom photo of Chad and his buddies.
My eyebrows raise up with surprise. I don’t know whether to feel guilty for stealing that day back from him, or appreciative of Chad’s thoughtful decision to remove it. Maybe someday I can look back on that night and feel differently. Maybe someday, the wound will heal completely and I won’t feel so obligated to hate it.
Chad is trying. The evidence is everywhere.
I grin to myself, feeling stupidly happy, and finish up.
Practically bouncing as I walk, I head down the hall and make my way to the kitchen, humming to myself. Maybe I’ll surprise Chad with a little breakfast to wake up to. Wouldn’t that be nice? But first: coffee. I fumble through the cabinets in pursuit of a pot.
“Oh, um …”
I slap shut the cabinet door, spin around, and cover my junk with my hands, wide-eyed. A woman stands there on the other side of the counter holding a plate of fresh-baked cinnamon rolls.
Then recognition hits me. “J-Joanne? Joanne Driscoll??”
Her eyes flash. “Lance Goodwin?”
It’s Chad’s high school girlfriend. His date to prom. His high school sweetheart.
What is she doing here? What am I supposed to say?
She turns away at once. “Shit! I’m sorry! I was just … Wait.” Her back straightens. “What are you doing here?”
“I-I’m just here to, uh …” My heart’s pounding. I’m naked in Chad’s house. Really, for what other possible reason would I be naked in his house? She’s going to figure it out if she hasn’t already. “Wait a sec. What are you doing here?”
“Me? I live here,” she states. “I’m Chad’s wife.”
16
The Big Spruce Secret
My stomach falls out of my butt.
My heart stops.
The planet itself grinds to a halt.
Wife …?
At once, Joanne smacks her forehead. “Shit! Damn it. Force of habit. Ex-wife,” she quickly amends. “I’m … yeah, sorry, I’m Chad’s ex-wife. You didn’t cheat with a married man, I promise you.”
Now I’m doubly confused. “I … I never said I—”
“You’re naked. You’re here. I’m not that clueless, and I know my husband’s secret, and I can put two and two together. Shit!” She stamps her foot. “Did it again. Ex-husband. My ex-husband’s secret. Actually, it’s because of that secret we’re now exes. But we’re still friends. We’re like … platonic spouses? No. That doesn’t sound right either.” She huffs. “Shit, am I messing this whole thing up? I should go, huh? No wonder he wasn’t picking up his phone.”
I blink. I never got to know Joanne back in school, but she sure is a whirlwind of anxiety. I wonder if she was always like this, fretting at a hundred miles an hour. She was two years behind us, a sophomore when we were seniors. I haven’t even given her a second thought since graduation day.
I’m surprised I even remember her name.
“Don’t go,” I blurt out. “I have so many questions.”
“Oh, good. I have so many answers. Is Chad up yet? Oh, never mind it. He sleeps like a rock. We could shatter ten dishes in here and he’d sleep right through it. You can put something on. I’ll put on a pot of coffee. Shit, this is so like me … to just storm right in without a thought. I’m sorry. Are you sure you don’t want me to just go?”
She’s got a hand on her hip with her back still facing me as she stares off toward the living room, her short, messy blonde hair cropped just past her ears—a pixie cut, cute and choppy and all over the place—like her frazzled personality.
“Or we can just have a conversation like this,” she goes on with a shrug. “I mean, I sure ain’t gonna turn around. You’re buck naked. Should I just dive right in? Y’know, Chad is supposed to leave something on the door if he had ‘special company’, so here I am, just bursting right in like I own the place. Well, actually …” She lets out a bubbly laugh. “I do live in the main house, really. This is sort of his man cave. It was the arrangement we came to after we … Shit, I’m going too fast. Shall we start from the beginning?”
My head is already spinning.
“I need a second, please,” I finally manage to say.
“Oh, take a zillion.” She sits down on the couch and sets down her dish of rolls, still facing away. “Phew. What a morning already.”
Still slightly mortified, I slip back down the hall and into Chad’s bedroom, where I quickly close the door.
