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Lauren reached forward and picked out three notes on the keyboard. DJ followed suit and mimicked them. She played a few more and he repeated those. Lauren’s next set was more complicated and faster. He matched it perfectly, and another tiny smile cracked her downcast expression. A moment later they were furiously playing simultaneous versions of “Chopsticks,” increasing the tempo until they couldn’t go faster, and both dissolved into laughter.
After, Lauren rested her head on DJ’s shoulder. “Thanks, man.”
“I’ve always got your back, Lauren. You’re my girl.”
He meant every word.
While DJ and Lauren dueled at the piano, Danny sat glumly at his kitchen table, exhausted and defeated. He’d hardly slept after breaking off his relationship with Lauren, and it had taken all his willpower to resist calling her. He’d dozed a few times, but the sleep was always fitful. On Sunday, Joey and Maggie had both called to check on him when he didn’t show up for church or dinner. He’d lied and told them he was sick, then used the same excuse that morning when he called his lieutenant.
Ending things was the right call. At least, that’s what he told himself. When he’d gone to Lauren, he thought that knowledge would somehow spare him some suffering. He was a fool to think that. The memory of her hurt, haunted face was all he could see when he closed his eyes.
When Lauren left him behind all those years ago, he’d wondered how she could just go so easily. Care so little that she could leave and not look back. Now that he was the one leaving, he realized it might not have been so easy after all. Back then he’d thought he was so grown up, but he was only an immature boy. That small epiphany didn’t help, though. All it did was carve the canyons of his sorrow a little deeper.
He wanted to apologize, tell Lauren he was sorry. He picked up his phone to call her and put it down. What was he doing? Lauren wasn’t the woman he should be calling. He pushed another number.
Heather didn’t even say hello. “What do you want?”
He almost snapped at her but stopped. He’d earned that.
“Can we talk for a minute?”
“I suppose.”
That short reply was heavy with weariness and suspicion. She was bracing for the worst, expecting him to say he was leaving her for good.
“I… I think… We…” He sighed and looked down. There was a round stain on the table from a coffee cup. It was the kind of thing that made Heather crazy.
“Say what you have to say.”
“I ended things with Lauren.”
There was a sharp intake of breath and then silence on the other end of the phone.
“I told her I had to try making our marriage work,” Danny said. “That I had to put my family—our family—first.” He knew he’d done the right thing, but Danny felt like a shell of a man. Hollow, empty, aching.
“You still want to be married to me?”
“Yes.”
There was more silence and his chest got tight. Shouldn’t she be happier about this? It was what she wanted—at least what she said she wanted.
“Heather?”
“Why?”
“Why? Why what?”
“Why do you want to stay married to me?” she asked.
Oh, for the love of Christ.“You’re my wife.”
“That’s not a reason. And after this summer, being ‘your wife’ doesn’t mean much.”
Danny could feel anger starting to roil in his gut. He was trying to do the right thing. Taking the first step at making amends. But he checked himself. It would take more than a phone call for Heather to believe him.
“I still love you,” he said.
“I see.” There was a softening in her voice, so slight it was nearly imperceptible, but it was there.
