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“Not surprising.”
“But... that’s what I came to talk about.”
“Your woman problems?”
“My anger problems. And the problems that broke us apart.”
“We’re not getting back together.”
I nodded. “I know. I don’t want to. That’s not why I’m here.”
“Okay.”
I could tell she was holding back, but so had I. Then, I saw the weight of exhaustion drawing lines under her eyes, dragging down the weight of her shoulders until she looked tired, more tired than I ever remembered her being.
“Are you okay, Darlene?”
“What’s that mean?”
I gestured to her as if that would explain my question. When she just shrugged and shook her head in confusion, I decided that this workaround thing wasn’t working.
“It feels like you’re trying to take James away from me.” The words came out strong and bordered on angry, but I sucked in a breath and tried to imagine James on the other side of the front door. I’d always tried not to let him see the uglier side of me, and at one time, I swore to Darlene that I’d show him how he should treat a woman. My dad had never treated my mom the right way, and here I was, making the same mistakes. It was time to take responsibility for them. Christie was right.
“I saw you at someone’s house. I know you wouldn’t want the messy details of your life coming out, and what you do is your business. I get that. But—”
“Wait,” she said with a sweep of her hand. “You saw what now? Ryan, you need to back the hell up and tell me what you’re talking about because if you keep going this route, neither of us will keep this peace between us. And James is in the living room.”
That was why she hadn’t laid into me yet. James reallywason the other side of a wall. “Were you just baiting me so he would hearmeget angry then?”
She rolled her eyes. “Please don’t be stupid. You can either bait yourself by thinking that or tell me why you’re choosing to be so righteous now by not taking me to court.”
“What?” I’d been working up to that, but she already knew? Did Christie call her?
“I got a letter from your lawyer’s office.”
“But I hadn’t even signed anything yet.”
“The point is that you were going to sue me, Ryan. Want to tell me why, or do we need to raise the volume so you’ll hear the question?”
I wasn’t sure what to say. I’d hoped to get it all figured out long before I had to tell her about the lawsuit. If everything I’d assumed was wrong, maybe I wouldn’t even have had to.
“You know I can’t afford to fight this, Ryan.” Tears glistened in the porch light behind us, and Darlene’s hardened exterior crumbled as she tried to force them back in. “Are you going to take away my baby? Because I cheated on Duke? You have no idea...” She sniffled, her voice cracking. “What I’ve been going through.”
I nodded slowly. She was right. This woman before me, my son’s mother, was breaking before my eyes. Even when we were married, she didn’t fall apart like this. I couldn’t imagine how terrified she must have been to receive a letter like that in the mail, and I wondered if she was truly as confused as she sounded.
“I heard you were talking about moving. Is that true?”
A breath escaped almost like it was meant to be a laugh, but she shook her head, her tears sending streaks down her face. “Duke wants us to move, yes.”
“You can’t take him away from me, Darlene.”
“I know that.” The words halted anything else that may have come out of my mouth. She met my gaze with a hard, glassy stare. “I didn’t tell you because I’m not moving.”
I didn’t want to throw Elroy under the bus, but I really wanted to believe her. It was so hard to believe her.
“Duke wants to move. He doesn’t like that we’re living under your dime. He tried to get me to close our account.”
I perked up, hoping I could find my answer in that comment. “The one I put your money in?”
