Page 65 of This Time Around
“No problem. She’s a sweet kid.”
“She’s pretty excited about the bra shopping.”
“I could tell.” Allie tucked one bare foot up under her on the sofa. “So,” she said, taking a small sip of wine. “Is your sister-in-law always like that?”
Jack sighed and picked up his own wineglass. He spun it around by the stem, but didn’t take a sip. “She’s struggled a lot since Caroline died, but nothing like that.”
“Are she and Paige pretty close?”
“Not really. They live in Chicago, and Caroline’s parents are in Florida, so Paige isn’t super tight with anyone on her mom’s side of the family.”
“Seems kind of funny that Missy would have such a problem with you dating another woman.”
He shook his head. “That’s not it exactly. She doesn’t want to see me with you.”
“Me?” Allie frowned. “But I’ve never even met her.”
“Caroline may have mentioned you once or twice.” Jack cleared his throat and used his thumbnail to rub a spot on his dress slacks. “Sisters talk, I guess.”
“How do you mean?”
“It always bothered Caroline that I was engaged before. I guess when Missy heard you were there, she sort of flipped her lid.”
“How do you know all this?”
He picked up a cracker and smeared it with cheese. “I heard from Gary—her husband—when you were in the shower. Apparently Missy started sobering up on the way back to the hotel. She wanted your address so she could send flowers and an apology note.”
Allie fought the urge to grimace. “Please tell me you didn’t give that woman my address.”
Jack laughed, though it was a sad little laugh. “No. I told her it was the thought that counted, and I’d pass along her apology.”
Allie picked up a cracker and nibbled on the edge. Part of her wanted to know more about Jack’s marriage and family and everything that had happened the last sixteen years. Part of her wanted to bury her head in the sand.
But she’d done plenty of that lately, so she took a deep breath. “How did you meet your wife, anyway?”
He looked at her a moment, assessing. Allie ordered herself not to blink, not to flinch, not to do anything that would prompt him to gloss over the story or give her a half-baked version of it. Jack set his wineglass down.
“You really want to know?”
“Yeah.” Allie held his gaze. “I think I do. You and I were so close for so many years. It seems weird not to know such a big thing about you.”
He nodded, then picked up his glass again. “I wasn’t in a great place after you and I split up,” he said slowly. “Screwed around for a couple years, generally being an asshole.”
“Screwed around, like . . . with your life, or you mean sexually?”
“Yes.”
“Got it.” She gave a tight nod, pleased with herself for not reacting. This was his history, after all. She had no claim to him beyond their engagement sixteen years ago.
“Anyway, I met Caroline in a sandwich shop in Tigard when I tried to pick her up. She totally shot me down.”
Allie grinned and took a sip of wine. “I think I like her already.”
Jack gave a small smile and shoved the whole cracker into his mouth, cheese and all. “Yeah, you probably would have liked her. She didn’t put up with shit from anyone, especially me.”
“So you convinced her to go out with you?”
“Not right away. Actually, I didn’t see her again for three months after that. I went back to the sandwich place every week hoping to bump into her again, and eventually I did.”
