Page 69 of First Date: Divorce
Discord over differing views on having kids as they’d discussed?She shouldn’t blurt that out when they’d decided to let the counselor “find” that issue.
Stick as close to the truth as possible, Tal said.There was no truth between her and Eric to stick to and she had no direct experience of marriage, so, she drew from what she did know.
“Marriage turns the woman into a drudge and the man into a supervisor.”
“Does it have to?”Melody’s pleasant voice asked.
“Have to?Maybe not.But it does.”
Melody paused a beat.K.D.had the idea she wanted to argue.If so, she substituted another question.
“What attracted you to Eric at the start?”
Worse than going blank — bad enough — in the first micro-second something unconnected to K.D.’s brain suggested a few things.It stalled her effort to dredge up words for a noticeably long time.
Melody’s attention remained even, unstressed.
K.D.knew how to do that, too, when questioning a suspect.
She also knew that as the questioner, bells and whistles would be going off saying she’d hit something significant.
“You mean when I first saw him — met him — or when we started dating?”
If she’d been on the other side of this questioning, she’d immediately put that down to a delaying tactic.
Not good.Not good at all.
“Let’s start with when you met him.What did his assistant say about him that got you to agree to meet him.”
“You haven’t met his assistant if you think I had a choice.”
Melody smiled dutifully, but kept her look expectant, conveying that didn’t get K.D.out of answering the question.
What attracted you to Eric at the start?
Memories fired off fast.Seeing him in Cully Grainger’s office, his face as he looked toward the mountains during their drive to Casper to find wedding rings, his feel and taste during their wedding kiss.Kisses, plural, for stills and video.
She shoved them aside with discipline.What could Pauline have said to the fictional her that would have ensured she’d meet him?Sure as heck none of those memories.
Probably nothing.She’d have turned down Pauline flat.The way she turned down every other person’s effort to get her to meet some man.Firmly enough that they didn’t try anymore.
Casting around for another approach, she thought of Hilary.How would she answer this question … under the influence of truth serum?
“He had a steady job.”
God, she should have gone with broad shoulders, tight butt, and strong jaw.
“What was the state of your job at that time, K.D.?”
“Rock solid.At a library.”
Mistake.She should have said shaky.Let the counselor think she was a gold digger, after Eric for his career.That would make her a strong candidate for the divorce lawyer, if Melody was the one feeding information to—
“What about Eric’s job being steady appealed to you.”
Second chance.
“Being a lawyer’s a career, isn’t it?Working for one of those big corporations, he’d make a lot of money.”She’d channel Eric’s ex.A lousy person, but a great role model for this.
