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“Hey, the kids are here,” I teased, gesturing toward them. I wondered if she was teasing me or testing out the bounds of our arrangement.
They were staring at the screen, entranced. I didn’t think they’d stop to listen to us.
“I’m going to make popcorn. Anyone want some?” I asked, already anticipating the resounding cheer.
“I’ll help.” Brooke stood and followed me inside.
I got out the popcorn maker and the kernels. “You still okay with how things are between us?”
“That’s a loaded question.”
I held out my hands. “If you’re having second thoughts—”
“It’s not that. It’s just you don’t know everything, and I didn’t think it mattered because we had boundaries and rules.”
“Ah, yes, boundaries.” I fed the kernels into the machine. I knew how important they were to her.
“I should tell you something. I don’t talk about this—almost ever.” She picked at the bottom of her shirt in a nervous gesture.
I stayed nonchalant, adding more butter. “I’d like to hear about it.”
She nodded. “I think you should know.”
I gestured for her to continue, knowing she was worried about my response. Whatever it was, I knew I’d be nothing but supportive. If a guy hurt her, as I suspected one did, I was one-hundred percent on her side.
Her cheeks colored. “I’m divorced.”
My hand fell away from the machine. That was not what I expected her to say. “You were married?”
How had I not heard that before? Our families weren’t close, but it was a small town.
“It happened when I was away at college. We got married when we were juniors.” Brooke wiped her hands on her jean shorts.
“But you’re divorced now.” I knew how those things worked, and I didn’t want to mess with a woman who was still separated.
“For six years now.”
“Okay.” My attention was solely on her. I got the impression she wasn’t done talking.
“His name was Levi. He was an exchange student from Holland.”
I stayed quiet, not wanting to interrupt when it was obviously important to her to get it out.
“It was intense. We fell in love—or I thought we did. He proposed, and I said yes.”
I was a little surprised. She didn’t seem like someone who was spontaneous. “So, you were twenty or twenty-one?
“Twenty. I wanted to wait until we graduated.”
That sounded more like the woman I knew.
“But he didn’t think we should. He said, ‘When you know, you know.’ It was a whirlwind.”
“What happened?” Brooke didn’t seem like a quitter to me, so something had to have happened for her to be divorced so young.
She laughed, but there was no humor in it.
My heart dropped. Whatever it was—it was bad. “Did he cheat?”
