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“Divorced a long time ago. I got married when I was eighteen, right before I went into the Air Force.”
“Why’d you do that?”
“I didn’t have the money to go to college, and I didn’t feel like spending two years going to a community college that was like being in high school again. I was in the Air Force for four years; we had two kids, and then when I got out, she was ready for me to get a job and give her a break, but by then I was ready for college.”
“I’m so sorry. It sounds like you were just two people who were on different paths.”
“That’s exactly what it was. She got married again the following year, and we shared custody of our boys. Now they are in college.”
Annie looked down at Stevie, who was nodding off. “I can’t imagine him in eighteen years.”
“It will go by so fast. Before you know it.”
She switched Stevie to her other hip.
“Can I take him for you?” Chris asked.
“If you don’t mind. I should have brought a stroller.”
He took the baby, who fell back to sleep, his head on Chris’s shoulder.
“What about you? I heard you mention your ex to the redhead.”
“That’s Katrina. I’ll introduce you. She’s sensitive about the hair.”
“Oops, sorry. It’s not appropriate to define someone by their hair color.”
Annie giggled. “She was bullied as a kid because of it.”
“Oh, how awful. I promise not to call her the redhead to her face, then.”
“Yes, best not to,” Annie said, laughing. “Anyway, my soon-to-be ex, Steve, left when the baby was six months old. It’s not really his fault. Do you want the ugly details?”
“If you want to give them to me,” Chris said.
“We had sex the first day we met. Yep, not proud of it, but there’s something about this area that promotes promiscuity. They call it testosterone here. It’s a convenient explanation.”
Chris barked out a laugh, nodding. “Believe it or not, I’ve heard this story already. It’s no secret; the bayou is known for the passion.”
“Well, that’s my excuse, then. We got caught up in the passion, and like a dumbass, because I wasn’t sexually active, I didn’t take the pill, and he didn’t use a condom, and I got pregnant. We had about a three-month passionate courtship, and then it went quickly downhill.
“While I was pregnant, he had an affair, at least one that I know of, and then he met someone else last year. She’s really a lovely girl, but she’s so young, not twenty. He doesn’t like to take the baby, thank God, so we are sort of coasting along right now. I have full custody, and he plays house with his girlfriend.”
“Do you work?” he asked, interested.
“I work part-time at the animal rescue on Maggie’s property. The rest of the time, I’m in an accelerated Master’s in Social Work program. I hope to be done in a year if I keep my nose to the grindstone.”
“Wow, I’m impressed.”
“Don’t be,” she said. “Maggie is paying for everything. It practically fell in my lap.”
“You’ll have to give me some background,” he said. “Now I’m really curious.”
“Do you want to turn around? We can sit on the dock with him.”
“Sure,” Chris said.
They walked back to the dock and sat with their feet in the water, Stevie sleeping on Annie’s lap. She gave Chris the public version of Maggie’s wealth, that it was mostly a divorce settlement and that she had a graphic design business that did well. Nothing more than that for now.
