Page 66 of Summer with My Sexy Ex
He grabs two more beers from the outdoor fridge, cracks them open, and then hands me one. We’re hanging out on my back deck, my favorite spot in my house, with my dog, Misha. Some guys have man caves, I have my back deck.
He drops back down into the chair next to me before continuing. “Your parents have this amazing marriage, and you’re still fucked up about relationships. Think about Brie and me—our parents hate each other. I think they only stay together to make one another miserable. My mom emasculates the fuck out of my dad, and my dad just tunes out of everything. Is it any wonder I knocked up someone like Taylor and am developing an edibles habit?”
I laugh at that. He does too.
“So, there’s no hope?” I ask.
“Nah, man. There’s no hope for any of us. No matter how good we have it, we’re gonna fuck it up.”
“That’s encouraging, thanks.”
“To me,” he continues. “It’s how you fix the fuck up that’s important.”
He takes a deep breath and sighs.
“Does that conclude the Dr. Blake show?” I ask.
“For now.” He smirks. “I take that back. My sister can be squirrely. I think it comes from fending for herself so much as a kid when I was in the hospital.”
“Weren’t you, like, ten years old? That’d make her, what, two? She wasn’t fending for herself.”
“No, not for food and shelter, but for attention and love. It was all on me. Fuck, my mom still dotes on me. Why did you think moving out after college took me so long?” We both chuckle.
He takes another long draw from his beer. “We’ve never talked about you. Not like you and I are talking about her.”
I nod, not knowing what to say, and drink my beer instead.
“Looking back, I think she’s always had a thing for you. So, I was confused when she was mad at me for not telling her that you were coming to Vegas. She should have known you’d be there.”
“Agreed.”
“At dinner that first night, it was pretty clear she wanted nothing to do with you. But then you guys were laughing and threw Taylor into a tizzy. Thanks a lot for that, by the way.”
“My pleasure.” I take another long drink of my beer, almost finishing it.
“After that, you pretended to be engaged. It was obvious she hated you again the next day. And then that night, you got married. That about sum it up?”
“Pretty much.”
“Yeah, so it’s fucked up.” He pauses, then asks, “You love her?”
“I don’t know, man. I like her. A lot. I’m not even sure I know what love is.”
He scoffs. “That makes two of us.”
My head rears. “What do you mean? You love Taylor, don’t you?”
“Sure.” He sounds sarcastic.
“Everything okay?”
“We are talking about you, not me.”
“Doesn’t mean we can’t also talk about you,” I say.
“One thing at a time.” He takes a long pull on his beer and burps. “You want her back?”
My gut reaction is to say yes. But after I think on it a second, I say, “I don’t want someone who wants to leave.”
