Page 13 of Memories By the Shore
I sigh, feeling the weight of keeping this from my friends for so long. “It’s a very long and emotional story, but the most important thing is that it was hard to keep from you guys.”
Bailey stands in my kitchen with a bottle of wine in one hand and her eyes as wide as saucers. “I can’t believe you kept this from us.” She pauses. “From me.”
I nod. “I’m sorry. You know how I am about opening up.”
“Hyperindependence is not always a good thing, Avery,” Lina adds thoughtfully. “I’ve heard it’s a trauma response.”
Piper pauses, gliding her hand over her growing belly. “We can spend time grilling Avery at a different time.” She shoots me a side-eye, telling me she’s not going to let me get away without a better explanation. “The important thing to address right now is why are you two still married?”
“Dave the Dentist proposed?” Lina laughs, interrupting my train of thought and breaking the intensity of the situation.I roll my eyes. “Yes, he did.”
Lina chuckles under her breath, stifling a laugh.
I jerk my head around. “Seriously?”
She senses my frustration and calms her amusement. “I’m sorry. You know we think he’s a nice guy, but is he foryou?”
I roll my eyes again, more drastically this time, and flip my hair in her direction. “He’s a good match for me. I’m not willing to discuss that with you all right now.”
“Fair enough. But the question still stands,” Bailey asks,gripping the neck of the bottle in one hand. “Why didn’t you and Jasper ever divorce?”
I stare at the floor with my mind completely blank. I’m still unsure. I don’t know how to answer her question, so I respond in the most honest way I can. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean youdon’t know?” Piper challenges.
Lina arches a brow. “This is why.” Then she grabs my wrist and flips it around. “She’s still in love with him.”
“I forgot about your tattoo.” Piper rests her chin on her palm.
I jerk my hand away and stand. “I get that you guys want to go all therapy session on me, but I just need to talk this out.”
Lina walks over to Bailey, removes the wine bottle from her hand, and takes a drink. “Sorry, Avery. We get it.”
“What do you need right now? Advice or love?” Piper asks sympathetically.
I exhale. “Thank you. I have every intention of marrying Dave. But I need to fly to Coconut Grove to see Jasper. I need a divorce.”
Piper grimaces. “Are you even ready for that?”
“You haven’t seen him in what, like seven years or so?” Bailey adds.
“Eight,” I mutter.
Lina’s back behind me. She rubs my shoulder comfortingly. “Do you want me to go with you?”
I shake my head. “This is something I need to do by myself,” I say, then bend and rest my hands on my knees. “I’m just incredibly nervous about it.”
Bailey rests a warm hand on my back, too, just as a glass of whiskey comes into my view. I take it from her hand and gulpthe rest of the two ounces.
Piper shuffles over and places her comforting hand on my back as well. “We’ll be here for you, whatever you need.”
“You’rereallygoing to marry Dave the Dentist?” Lina smirks. Bailey, Piper, and I all shoot Lina with the same side-eye. “Okay, okay, one thing at a time. No matter what, you need that divorce.”
“And you both have never tried to contact each other this whole time?” Bailey asks, trying to make sense in her own head why Jasper and I would have let this go on for so long.
I shrug my shoulders. “I’ve never been ready to face him, I guess. It was easier to pretend like it never happened.”
Lina nods. “I get that. Especially since it seems he hasn’t initiated anything either.”
