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Fat chance,I thought as I hung up the phone.
Chapter 39
“You need to talk to Kyle,” Sharon said. She poured a jar of salsa into a bowl and placed it on the table in front of me with a bag of chips. Her due date loomed a mere two weeks away, and she looked as if she had swallowed one of those stability balls from the gym. Honestly, I didn’t understand how her rail-thin legs were capable of supporting her bulky midsection and wouldn’t have been surprised if her knees buckled and she crumpled to the kitchen floor.
“What do you want to drink?” she asked.
I pulled a chair away from the table and pointed to it. “Sit. I’ll get it.”
As she eased herself down into the cushion, she winced and placed a hand on the small of her back. She had looked more uncomfortable throughout this entire pregnancy than her others. I wondered if it was because she was older or because she was having a girl this time.
“Just meet him for lunch. Hear what he has to say,” she said.
The scent of curry hung in the air, a dead giveaway that Kyle had been there the night before. The only time Sharon cooked with the Indian spice blend was when he came for dinner. I waited for her to tell me that he’d been to see her and asked her to talk to me, but she said nothing more. We sat without speaking, sipping strawberry-infused water and listening to the whirring sound coming from the window fan. Rick and the boys were at Cameron’s T-ball game. The house didn’t feel like Sharon’s without their little feet running around and their tinyvoices and contagious giggles coming from the next room. It felt barren, like mine.
“You’re still wearing your rings, and you haven’t talked to an attorney about divorce, so a part of you must want to work things out,” Sharon said.
I imagined Kyle with bloodshot eyes and his gray-speckled goatee sitting in the same chair I sat in now. I could see him burying his head in his hands when he talked about Casey and the baby. I had no doubt that he was ashamed of himself and embarrassed by his transgression. It was so not Kyle. He prided himself on being one of the good guys. I bet he’d even had tears rolling down his cheeks when he talked about me.
“Did you have curry-coconut shrimp for supper last night?” I asked.
At the mention of a dish she only made for Kyle, she blinked fast and nodded. “Kyle came for dinner,” she admitted.
“Whose side are you on?”
“Always yours, Nikki, but so is Kyle.”
It hit me then: Sharon’s and Kyle’s babies would be born within a few months of each other. They’d grow up together in this tiny town and become the best of friends. I thought back to all the times through the years that Sharon and I had talked about raising our kids together and joked that if one of us had a boy and the other a girl, we would insist they marry.
“Do you think you and Casey will become friends?” I asked.
Sharon cocked her head. “I’ve never even met her.”
“Yeah, but you’re going to have kids around the same age. I bet she’ll become one of your mom friends.”
“Kyle said she doesn’t want to raise the baby. She’s moving to Nashville right after it’s born.”
“She won’t be able to go through with that.” I’d only spoken to Casey a few times, but I felt certain that once she saw the baby she wouldn’t be able to give it up.
“You need to talk to Kyle. She said she’ll renounce her parental rights.”
I pictured Casey cowering by Elizabeth’s car in the magazine’s parking lot and heard her sorrowful voice sayingI’m sorry. I shook my head. “He can’t let her do that. She’ll regret it.”
“You can’t possibly know that. You’re projecting,” Sharon said.
“She asked me to meet her. To talk.”
Sharon’s eyes doubled in size. “Ballsy. Did you agree?”
I sipped my water, still trying to decide. “I told her I’d think about it. She’s going to be at Castleton Lake tomorrow at one o’clock.” I tapped the toe of my shoe on the floor, imagining Casey sitting on the bench by herself, waiting for me. If I wasn’t going to show up, I had to let her know. “I mean, what are we going to talk about?”
“Compare notes on Kyle?” Sharon laughed, but I glared at her. “Sorry, so not funny,” she said.
“Dana thinks I should talk to an attorney about a divorce. She gave me the name and contact info for one.”
Sharon rolled her eyes. “Dana, please. Since when do you take advice from your sister? She’s a disaster.”
My back muscles stiffened. I was already annoyed with Sharon for hosting Kyle last night for dinner, and now she was throwing shade at my sister. While I had no problem making unflattering remarks about Dana, Sharon had no right to do the same. They weren’t blood. I dunked a chip into the salsa without responding.
