AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why so shy, Tuck?” I teased. “It’s practically tradition that every new couple be initiated with a dildo from Paula.”
Behind me, Logan laughed. “What?”
I glanced over my shoulder. “I forget you’re new here. It’s a very…intimate sort of community.”
Paula wasn’t above accosting people in public to extol the great virtues of using a sex toy to spice up their love lives. It made her husband absolutely bonkers, which I think was half of the appeal to her. Paula and Dirk’s marriage hadn’t been the smoothest. Rumor had it she’d once brained him with a frying pan for cheating on her.
Tucker’s phone rang, cutting through the peaceful sound of water rippling and birds chirping, the construction work at the adjacent Dix neighborhood distant enough from this area of the park to be only faintly heard.
“Oh thank god,” Tucker said as he pulled his phone from his pocket. “I have to take this call.”
He took a few paces away to talk privately, and Laurie turned to me. “Can we talk?”
There was a serious tone to his voice that made me think we needed a little privacy too. “Sure. Why don’t I give you a tour?”
I left Logan working with the dogwood, while Colt and Luke hauled and placed coarse stones around the edges where we weren’t planting. My sister’s ex had looked as if he wanted to murder me when I gave him that job, and it’s true, I did get a little vindictive thrill from it, but it’d do Colt good to toughen up.
“We’re actually planning a lot more landscaping around the gazebo,” I said, “as well as more trees in the large open swath around the picnic area. We want more shade there.”
Laurie nodded. “Uh-huh. Sounds good. So, how are you doing?”
“With the project?”
“With what happened in Vegas between you and Wes.”
I glanced around uneasily, but we’d distanced ourselves from anyone who could overhear. “There’s no easy answer to that.”
He bumped me with his shoulder. “I’m not trying to pry. You seemed pretty overwhelmed the last time I saw you, and I just wanted to know you were doing okay.”
I blew out a breath. “We’re getting a divorce.”
He pulled me to a stop, forehead creasing as he frowned. “Do you mean—Are you two…”
I caught on to his meaning and shook my head quickly. “No, we’re good. We’re fine. It just needs to be done. I mean…” I laughed nervously. “It’s not like we can just stay married.”
Laurie tilted his head. “Can’t you?”
I huffed. “No. There’s way too much on the line. I told you before—”
“You’re worried about your family,” he said. “That’s understandable. But, Beck… I’ve traveled this path you’re on.”
I squinted. “You fell in love with a member of your family?”
He chuckled. “No, but I fell in love with someone they didn’t approve of, and I can tell you that giving up on what we had was not easy to live with.”
“It’s not the same situation.”
“It’s not,” he agreed.
“It’s been so tense and confusing,” I admitted. “My sister crashed with us, so we have to sleep in the same bed. I should find a new place to go, put some distance between us because my willpower is only so strong, but that would only start gossip Andi doesn’t want.” I took off my hat and scrubbed a hand through my sweaty hair. “Fuck, but it’s all a mess. I don’t know how to turn off the feelings, but the divorce, that I can do. It feels weird, but being married is weirder, so I can’t win.”
Laurie let me vent my feelings, patiently waiting until I ran out of steam and heaved a heavy sigh.
“You know, Tucker and I shared a bed for a while too. Before we got intimate again.”
I raised my eyebrows. “That must have been frustrating.”
He laughed. “It was. I called Elle, his dog, my official cockblocker. The truth is, though, nothing was going to happen unless we both wanted it to happen. If staying platonic with Wes is so hard, I think you need to consider that there’s a reason for that. Maybe a reason worth exploring.”
