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“Do you regret it?”
“Fuck no.”
“I love that you’re so sure about that.”
I scrubbed my hand through my hair. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s overwhelming and exhausting and so fucking confusing, but I wouldn’t trade Jesse for anything. My biggest regret is only finding out about him now, when any Sandra damage is harder to undo.”
“You’re undoing it, though. Today was so great. He totally freaked out when he dropped the F bomb and I could see he thought he was going to get into a pile of trouble, but you were calm and in control about it. At the same time, you didn’t let him get away with it. That’s exactly what he needs.”
“What would Bruce Cooper do?”
“Huh?”
“That’s what I ask myself whenever something comes up I’m not sure how to handle.”
“That makes sense,” she chuckled.
“Yeah, it helps a lot, let me tell you.”
We lapsed into quiet again. There was something I wanted to know about her, too, and I figured this was probably going to be my best chance. Sitting in the shadows of my living room, the wash of light from the kitchen barely reaching us, it seemed like the right time. “Can I ask you something in return?”
“I guess.” Instantly wary.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s okay.” I backed off.
She took a sip of tea, looking at me over the rim, her expression carefully neutral. “You can ask. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer.”
That was fair. “No serious relationships in your past?” I saw the flicker of pain in her eyes before it was quickly masked.
“There was one guy, yeah. Josh.”
Her voice was so low I had to strain to hear her. “How old were you?”
“Um, about twenty-two.”
“What happened?”
“I was running a catering gig in Charlotte. My first job after culinary school. I mean, it was through my parents’ restaurant, and I was already working for them. But it was a big deal to me, because they’d trusted me to do it solo and I had people reporting to me, you know? I was the boss of everyone and everything. It was a three-day event. At a yacht club, during a regatta. It was exhausting, but I loved it. Maybe I let it go to my head.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged, looking down at her tea so she didn’t have to meet my eyes. “I liked guys, okay, and I liked to flirt.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Josh would disagree. He thought I needed to be taught a lesson, I guess. Brought down a peg or two.”
“What the fuck?”
Another shrug. “I didn’t know any of that at the time, obviously. I honestly thought he was just as attracted to me as I was to him. I mean, I thought he was everything. Wealthy, handsome, charming, super into me. I fell. Hard. We were together every chance we got. Whenever I didn’t have a shift at the restaurant, I was with him. He was a stockbroker, apparently, although now I wonder if he even worked at all. He did seem to have a lot of free time to fuck around.” Bitterness laced her tone, angry and harsh. It was so out of character for her, which made me guess exactly how much damage this asshole had done.
“Anyway, we saw each other, in secret, for a little while. I thought it was cute, you know, because he said he just wanted to have me all to himself. Then he proposed.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, pretty much. I was delirious with happiness. My life was bliss. He said let’s not tell our families, because how much fun would it be to throw a surprise wedding? And I bought into it. I never even told my parents. I hid the engagement ring he got me when I was with them, but I wore it whenever we were together just us two.”
“Then what happened?”
