Page 92 of First Date: Divorce
He groaned again.
K.D.turned to Melody.“See what he does?He belittles my choices.He’s belittled my profession because it doesn’t pay like his does — or how it did when he wasn’t out here, pretending he’s a cowboy.”
“Let’s look at this one element at a time.Eric, did you talk to people in town about K.D.?”
“Sure.I live here.I’ve talked about the breakup.It’s natural.”
A voice knocking at the inside of his head acknowledged hehadn’ttalked about his breakup with Hilary … which wasn’t natural, as his friends pointed out.
Except hehadtalked about it with K.D.As required background for this effort?Not entirely.
“How might that affect K.D.’s feelings about moving here to Bardville?”Melody asked him evenly.
“It’s not—”
Melody held up a hand.“Hold on, K.D.I want to hear Eric’s thoughts.”
“They know I was letting off steam.Guys do that.”
The two women looked at him and he could practically see thought bubbles over their heads with their opinions of that explanation.
“He’s always making himself out to be more stable, from a stable family.”K.D.made it mockingly sing-song.“They all get along, like some fairy tale.”
“I like my parents.And respect them,” Eric said equably.
Melody looked from her to him and back.“K.D., do you hear significance in Eric’s statement?”
“Significance?Not sure about that.Innuendo, yes.”
“Concerning…?”
Stay as close to the truth as possible because it makes things easier, Tal Bennett had said.
Easier to remember.Not necessarily easier in other ways.
“He’s contrasting his relationship with his parents to mine with my mother.”
“Tell me about that relationship.”
She shrugged.“You’ve already asked and I’ve already answered.It’s not like we’re estranged.I love her.I’m grateful she raised me after the weasel masquerading as a man impregnated and deserted her.I respect her for that.”
Eric made a faint sound.
“Eric?Do you have something to say to K.D.?”
“You wanted to protect your mother, that’s natural.But—”
“I had to.Nobody else did, including her.She never saw that the guys she let into her life were going to hurt her.She went in with all these hopes and dreams and got her heart broken time after time.”
“But,” he repeated, “you were also trying to protect yourself.And maybe blaming her because you got hurt.”
“I never got hurt.I never expected or hoped for anything from those guys.”
“You hurt because your mother got hurt.”The flat words quelled argument.“But she moved on, K.D.She found someone to love.Just because her way isn’t what you’d choose, you don’t have to swing to the opposite.To fear so much that you might be like her inanyway that you run—”
“I’mnotlike her.I don’t kowtow to a man.I have a career that I—”
She broke off because Eric stood abruptly, pushed back his chair, and paced away.
