Page 91 of Seasoned
“It hasn’t been that long.”
“You were supposed to call me in Texas.”
On the way to San Diego, he had stopped in Texas for a few days to spend time with an old friend. His flight here had arrived in the afternoon, at which point he checked into a hotel and called Kendrick.
“I forgot. You know I have shit for brains. Anyway, how are you doing?”
Post-divorce, they’d become best friends. During the course of their marriage, they both realized that they shouldn’t have gotten married in the first place. But even after that realization, it had been hard to walk away from the security blanket their life together had become. Financially, they had needed each other as well. But they were both seeing other people without actually coming right out and saying they were, and they finally divorced when Yvonne admitted she had fallen in love with Patrick, the man she was married to now.
Yvonne yawned. “Doing fine. Long day, but I have my mandatory glass of wine before I go to bed.”
“Uh-oh, you’ll be sleeping real good in a little bit.”
Yvonne giggled. “I sure will.”
“Where’s Patrick?”
“Already asleep. The early morning shift is kicking his butt. I’ll be glad when he goes back to his regular schedule so he can keep me company at night.”
“They still got him going in at the crack of dawn?”
“Yes, unfortunately. He’s the only warehouse supervisor they can depend on, so they’re going to keep him on that schedule until they get that shift straightened out.”
“I won’t keep you since you got your sleeping-pill-in-a-glass already. I just wanted to let you know that I left Kendrick’s a few minutes ago, and we had a good talk. I feel like we finally turned the corner. You were right, I needed to come out here and see him in person.”
“When am I ever wrong?”
He laughed, slowing to a stop at a traffic light. “Never.”
“Thank you.”
“One more thing, I’m paying for his trip to New York and setting him up in an apartment.”
“Whoa, you two had agreattalk.”
“Depends on how you view it.”
Tyson launched into an explanation about Jackie and the agreement he made with Kendrick.
When finished, Yvonne asked, “Is Kendrick okay? Because maybe he’s pretending to be okay about Jackie, but he’s really not.”
“He’s fine, trust me, but I’ll pay attention and make sure he’s not harboring ill feelings or hurt about her.”
“I’ll check on him tomorrow anyway to be sure. Tell me something—is Jackie the woman you told me about years ago, the one you met at the bridal show here?”
“That’s the one.”
“Oh, Ty, that’s wonderful! I mean, the whole thing with Kendrick is a little weird, but I always suspected you still carried a torch, even though you only spoke about her a few times. Don’t screw this up, please.”
Tyson laughed and pulled away from the light. “I won’t. At least I hope not. I’ve got three dates to win her over, and I plan to work harder than I ever have to get her.”
“Good luck. About Kendrick, you’re going to continue to give him the same allowance while he’s in New York?”
“I’m going to increase his support by a couple hundred dollars.”
Although Kendrick wouldn’t accept money from him, Tyson contributed to his lifestyle without his knowledge. Yvonne had agreed to pretend that she and Patrick were the ones who actually subsidized his living expenses.
“You still don’t want me to tell him?” she asked with disapproval in her voice.
