Page 15 of Third Time's the Charm

It wasn’t until after I signed the divorce papers that I started to hear myself.More important.My career was never more important than her, but I sure acted like it.

“Keep going,” I gritted out. As hard as it was to hear, I needed this. I wasn’t the guy I was. Divorce rocked me. Made me stop and take a long hard look at myself. I’d changed, but I also hadn’t had the courage to face what happened.

“Well,” she repeated. As if thewellsomehow softened the blow. “You weren’t very romantic either. Watching your team play is not a date, Jackson. I taught you better than that.”

Also true. You didn’t get to have four sisters and three brothers if your parents weren’t really happy. And trust me, my parents were really happy. They kissed and giggled like teenagers. It was gross but also made me hopeful. I always assumed I’d be just like them. I apparently missed the part where I’d have to act like them to get to the same destination.

“What else?”

“You never did anything Berlin liked to do. You never went to her lectures or her excavations. You never took an interest in her interests. A marriage istwopeople, not one.”

“So basically I was an asshole.”

“Yes. You were the king of the universe. You wouldn’t listen to me or your brothers. You knew everything.”

I knew nothing. That lesson was the hardest of my life, but it was the one I needed most. “Anything else?”

Mom looked away, chewing on her lip. “Maybe just one more thing.” She started fidgeting, her hands twisting in her lap.

“Mom?”

She shrugged her shoulders and sighed. “Fine. I wasn’t going to put my nose in your business or give you any false hope, but I can’t keep this to myself.”

For some ridiculous reason the look of hope in her eye made my heart pound harder and faster. “The two of you were very young when you met, not much older when you got married. It was too fast. Too soon. But,” she took another deep breath, “it was right. You loved each other deeply, understood each other in that special way. You could communicate without speaking, you cared for each other until . . . ”

“Until my head grew fifteen sizes.”

She nodded once, my mom’s way of agreeing to something painful.

“I fucked it up.”

“Watch your mouth.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Says the woman who taught me how to swear.” She smiled. I continued, “I did. I messed everything up.”

“The good news is that you can fix it.”

“She’s getting married.” I was too late.

But mom took my hand in hers and squeezed. “She’s engaged, baby boy. Not married. Not yet. There’s still time.”

* * *

“Aunt Berlin is walking the dog!”Melly pronounced between licks of vanilla froyo from Ho Ho Ho Froyo. The best thing about being the favorite uncle was that it was also incredibly easy to bribe my nieces into telling me anything.

Melly wore a patchwork Christmas pattern sundress that now had a good amount of vanilla froyo down the front. It was eighty-five degrees at six o’clock in the evening, after all.

“She still take the walking path behind the Co-Op?”

Melly nodded, mouth full. I ruffled her dark hair. “Thanks, girl.”

“Anytime Uncle Jack.” She tucked the five dollar bribe into her red purse.

The island had several walking paths that cut around behind the main buildings. They were nice in the summer because of all the shade provided by the towering pines and cypress trees. At this time of night, with the sunset and Christmas lights glowing from every possible direction, it was almost spooky. Shadows everywhere.

I heard a yip I recognized and walked a little faster.

And then stopped dead in my tracks.

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