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“Boys who adored me?” She laughed. “Like who? Every date I went on in high school was a double date. I was the friend people brought along so their parents would let them go out with their boyfriends. Trust me when I tell you that my date was never interested in being anything more than friends.”
“Jimmy would’ve loved to go out with you. He asked you several times. The poor boy was always at the house, but you never saw him as anything but a friend.”
“Because Jimmy was a friend, nothing else, and he never asked me out.”
“The two of you went to the movies on several occasions.”
“With a group of people.” She wanted to pull out her hair. This was all such a waste of time.
“Jimmy asked you to go to the movies. You called everyone else.” Mom laughed. “Poor Jimmy. I can still remember the look of shock when you invited all those other people on what he’d hoped was going to be a date.”
“He never hoped that. We were just friends.”
“Because you wouldn't give him the chance to be anything else.”
“No, because he only liked me as a friend. Jimmy dated some of the most popular girls in high school.”
“Oh, Alison,” said Aunt Tiff. “Do you really think a sixteen-year-old boy hangs out at a girl's house all the time because he likes her as a friend?”
“Uh…” Had she been wrong about Jimmy? He had tried to kiss her once, but she’d thought he was making fun of her. She’d laughed and… “Oh, my god. I’ve been doing this forever.”
“You have.” Mom squeezed her hand. “And it’s time to stop.”
“What? No. This has nothing to do with my marriage. I can't forgive Harker for what he did.”
“What did he do that is unforgiveable?” asked Mom.
She wasn’t ready to tell her mother about how he’d manipulated her and all his addendums to the contract. She hated looking stupid. “He almost cheated on me on our wedding night.” She didn't have to mention that she’d laughed him out of their bed.
“Almost cheated?” Mom rolled her eyes before looking at Aunt Tiff. “How can someone with her IQ be so dumb?”
“Hey.” She didn’t need the insults.
“Almost cheating is not cheating,” said Aunt Tiff.
“It is when the only reason he didn't was because a friend stopped him.”
“Honey, there are going to be many times in your life when you're going to have second thoughts about your marriage, but second thoughts are not actions,” said Aunt Tiff. “He didn't cheat. I agree that the reason he didn’t isn't the best, but in the end he didn't cheat.”
“He planned to.”
“Are you telling me that his friend tied him up to stop him from cheating?” asked her aunt.
“No. Of course not.”
“Then he still could’ve cheated,” said Mom. “Trust us on this. If a man or woman wants to be unfaithful, they'll find somebody. So is that all he did?”
“No.”
The door opened and Harker stepped into the room, his dark eyes cautious as if he were walking into a war zone.
Mom glanced at him and then back at Alison. “So what else has he done?”
Her eyes met his. “There were things in the contract that would’ve taken…everything from me.”
There was a slight bit of relief in Harker's eyes at her choice of words. No matter how mad she was at him, she didn’t want her mother and aunt to hate him. He didn’t deserve that.
“The contract,” scoffed her mother. “The only contract that matters is the one that you agreed to in front of God.”
