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“That sounds very mature and sensible. How’s it going so far? I seem to recall the word you used earlier was messy?”
“And complicated. And confusing. One minute we’re both spoiling for a fight, and the next we’re falling back into old habits.”
Marie’s eyebrows shot up. “When you say old habits, do you mean…?”
“Nearly.” I took another large drink of wine. “He kissed me the other night.”
“Interesting.”
I snorted. “Interesting like an unexploded land mine. Have you ever been attracted to someone you find completely infuriating?”
A smile curved Marie’s lips as her gaze jumped back to Matt in the kitchen. “I think I can relate.”
“Except Donal and I aren’t perfect for each other the way you and Matt are.”
Marie laughed. “One day I’ll tell you the story of how Matt and I met. Trust me, no one would have called us perfect for each other. And yet, somehow, we figured out a way to make it work.” Her eyes lit up in delight and she smacked me on the leg. “Maybe it’ll be likeThe Parent Trap, and Erin will bring you two back together!”
I smiled wryly as I shook my head. “Yeah, no. Somehow I don’t think that’s in the cards for us.”
Her expression grew serious again. “Did you love him? Back in high school before everything else happened?”
“It doesn’t matter. He didn’t love me.”
“It does matter, because hearts are bastards, always looking for a window.” She shook her head, smiling when I stared at her in confusion. “It’s just something my friend Dan once said. Answer my question. Did you love this guy?”
“I’m not even sure I’d know what love feels like now, and I definitely didn’t when I was eighteen.” I’d feltsomethingfor Donal back then. Something special that I hadn’t felt since and was quite possibly starting to feel again. But was it love? Friendship? Or merely some kind of weird, uncontrollable chemistry?
“Maybe you need to find out,” Marie said.
“What do you mean?”
“Give him a chance. See what happens.” She smiled, her eyes drifting back to Matt again. “Don’t close any doors or windows until you figure out what it is you want.”
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
DONAL
One of the changes I’d made since the divorce was a commitment to keeping my phone silenced and in my pocket on the rare occasions I got to spend time with Maddy and Jack. It was hard enough holding their attention without having to compete with texts from their friends, social media notifications, and the whole of the internet, but I couldn’t very well ask them to put their phones away if I was constantly checking mine.
Which was why I didn’t see Tess’s text until nearly midnight.
It was only as I was heading to bed—two hours after I’d gotten home from dropping the kids back at Wendy’s, sat down at my laptop, and gotten sucked into responding to work emails—that I belatedly remembered to turn my phone off Do Not Disturb.
My heart gave a kick of…something at the sight of the text from Tess.
How did it go with Maddy and Jack tonight?
So we were pretending the other night hadn’t happened, I guess? Was that really how she wanted to play it?
I reached up to unbutton my shirt as I stared at the text, trying to decide how to respond. Tess was probably asleep by now, but I figured I should text her back anyway so she wouldn’t think I was ignoring her.
I think it went okay? Jack seemed mostly happy about it, but Maddy was harder to read.
I tossed my phone onto the bed and went to change out of my work clothes. When I came back into the bedroom after brushing my teeth, I was surprised to see Tess had responded.
I’m glad to hear it. Hopefully Maddy just needs time.
Apparently Tess was still up. I cradled my phone in my hands as I sank down on the foot of the bed.
