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“My wife, Noelle, died two years ago,” he said quickly. It was best to get it out there fast. Then he took a bite of his sandwich and let her think about that.
“You loved her very much,” she said. “Proof is the ring just came off.”
He didn’t expect her to say that. “I did. We were married twelve years.”
“Wow,” she said. “Either you got married young or you’re older than I thought.”
He caught the smirk on her lips. “I know your age. Would it bother you that I was ten years older?”
“Nah,” she said. “If you were twenty years older, I might have an issue with that. I don’t want a guy that could be my father. Ten years is kind of my limit, so you’re good.”
He laughed. He needed that. She really did have a good sense of humor. “It’s been hard,” he said. “It was so sudden. Noelle was a project manager in a lab. She had a science background. She was working late one night in her office and a fire started in one of the labs. No one knew she was in the building. The alarms went off and the elevator locked down, which was fine. As it should. She went to the stairs to get out and for some reason the fire doors wouldn’t open.”
“Oh god,” she said. “She was trapped?”
“She was,” he said, eating some more. “Three people died in the fire. Two of the lab techs that couldn’t get out and Noelle. They were in a part of the building where the doors had been sealed. The building filled with smoke and chemicals and according to the investigation afterward, they wouldn’t have been able to see where they were and it would have been burning their lungs.”
She reached her hand out and laid it on his. “I’m so sorry, Wesley.”
“Worst day of my life,” he said. “I was at work and didn’t know she was too. It was hours before I even knew what happened. Again, no one knew she was there and they had to ID her.”
He wasn’t sure why he was saying that much, but he just felt like he had to get it out. “It had to be horrible. I can understand why you needed to leave the area.”
“I did. It wasn’t just that. My mother, you know what she did for a living.”
“She sued the company?” she asked.
“She did. On behalf of Noelle for me and the other two employees. I wanted no part of it, but she told me it was the right thing to do. I’d get closure. I’m not sure that happened. I think it caused more problems between my mother and me. Some felt she was greedy. Others knew this was my mother’s way to grieve too. Like she had to get justice for her daughter-in-law.”
“I suppose I could see both sides of it.”
“We won. It was my mother’s biggest win and her last. She walked away after that. She said it took everything she had out of her, and I was just done. I wanted to settle so many times. I couldn’t take it, but the other two families didn’t and we were tied together.”
He didn’t want to think of those things when he was trying to keep memories of Noelle alive and here the lawsuit had dragged them into the horrible ones. The details that neither he nor his mother wanted to know.
Things that would never leave his mind.
“When it was over you decided it was time to leave?” she asked.
“Yes.” He wasn’t going to tell her why he ended up here. Or how. That didn’t matter at this point.
“I think it’s a brave thing to do. To pick up your life and start over in a new place.”
“You’ve done it a lot,” he said. “Without it being your choice and then sometimes when it was your choice.”
Maybe that was why he was so drawn to her. That he felt that connection.
“I have. It’s not an easy decision. But staying stuck isn’t easy either. Sometimes that’s worse.”
“That’s where my mother and I were. We’ve always had each other and thought why not? If our venture here flops then I’ll figure something else out.”
“I don’t think it will flop. Something tells me you won’t want it to.”
“No,” he said. “I don’t and it won’t. But I wanted you to know why it’s so hard for me. There is no ex to come back into the picture. Nothing like that. No drama there.”
Only the memory of losing the woman he’d loved.
“We all have drama in our lives, Wesley. I’m glad you told me. That you felt like you could. As I said before, conversation doesn’t have to be complicated. If you’re just looking for a friend. That’s fine. Not one with benefits though. Sorry. That isn’t me.”
