Page 6 of A Funny Thing Happened…

“No fishing poles?” I inquired as we crossed paths loading the Forester.

“Not this trip.” He offered a wolfish grin. “I think we can find other ways to amuse ourselves.”

“Chess board!” I said brightly. “Almost forgot.”

Scout and Tompkins, their carriers already secured in the back seat, gave each other side looks as I crammed more presents into the SUV.

“You’re going to love this,” I told them. “Unless a coyote gets you.”

They were unamused.

We stopped outside Bakersfield for gas and to stretch our legs. I went inside to get coffee while Jake let Scout run loose for a few minutes. I watched him with the dog—our dog—and reflected again that at one time in my life, I could no more have imaginedthisparticular journey than me flying to the moon.

When we were on our way again, I turned downElla Wishes You a Swinging Christmason the CD player, flicked on my cell phone light, and opened Natalie’s magazine once more.

“What do you say we see if we can pass this quiz?”

“How would we know?” Jake inquired.

“We’re still speaking at the end of the drive?”

Jake snorted.

I flipped a page, began: “If your partner ever… Never mind.”

Not all my ideas are good ideas.

“Go ahead,” he said. “Read it.”

Surely, we were past the awkwardness? But I did feel self-conscious as I read: “If your partner ever cheated on you, would you forgive them?”

Silence.

I sucked in a breath and said, “I guess it depends on the circumstances, but…the odds are in your favor.”

Jake said grimly, “It would never happen. And for me, there’s nothing you could do—or not do—that I wouldn’t forgive.” His tone was surprisingly bleak. Jake still judging himself by the harshest of standards.

I closed the magazine, said, “You know what, let’s hear what Ella has to say…”

Jake made a dismissive sound. “Nah. Don’t lose your nerve. Next question.”

I opened the magazine again, read: “Do you have a healthy relationship with your exes?”

He made a sound of grim amusement. “That would depend on the ex.”

Yeah. Truth.

I was still friendly with my exes. Jake’s relationships were more complicated. He was careful and kind with Kate. He still loved her. She had his loyalty and his respect. I admired him for it. His relationship with Paul Kane? Well, Jake insisted they’d never had a relationship as I understood the termrelationship, but either way, not friendly. Not on Jake’s side. I knew that Paul had written to him from jail several times and that Jake had turned the unopened letters over to authorities.

There was no forgiveness in him for Paul Kane. I can’t say I was sorry about that.

I read: “What is the longest duration you could stay without talking to your partner after a fight?”

“Not long, as it turns out.”

I thought back to two long years of…how to describe that feeling of knowing you will not be with the one person out of all the people in the world you most want to be with? Gnawing loneliness. The kind of pain that, quietly but relentlessly, eats you alive.

I said unemotionally, “It felt like forever to me.”

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