Page 58 of Enough
“Are you ready?” she asks.
“Are you kidding? It’s all I thought about during my entire shift.” I make my way toward the front door and stop to pull a weed out of the ground by the step.
“So I met him at McNally’s. He was already inside when I got there. I didn’t realize how tall he is until I was standing next to him. He’s got to be over six feet. Even with my heels I still had to reach up to hug him.”
I pause at the door with the weed in my hand. “You hugged him?”
She laughs. “Yeah. He was waiting at the bar and theminute he saw me he stood up. Did you know he was in the Marines for eight years?”
“He mentioned that when I texted him last night,” I say with a giggle. “He must have enlisted after Nick and I broke up. I didn’t know. Speaking of his muscles… my gosh!”
“I know, right? He works out every day. I told him I was up to a five-mile run and he said he’d love to run with me sometime.”
I close the door behind me and make my way toward the kitchen to dispose of the weed I’m still clutching in my hand. “Wait, does that mean there’s going to be a second date?” I ask excitedly.
“This wasn’t a date, Ev. I told you that.”
“Did he buy your dinner?”
“Well… yeah, but only after I told him no ten times. He insisted.”
“That’s because he wanted it to be a date.”
“I’m telling you it wasn’t a date! Why can’t you let it go?”
I can sense she’s incredibly sensitive about the idea, so I drop it. “Okay, so what happened after he saw you?”
“We sat at the bar for a bit while we waited for our table to be ready. He told me he was divorced six years ago.”
“Wow. He’s divorced?” That’s news I didn’t expect. I try to picture who he might have married and Amy comes to mind. “Please tell me it wasn’t Amy.”
Gwen laughs. “No, he told me he hasn’t spoken to her in over fourteen years. He said he has no interest in ever seeing her again. She was toxic.”
I laugh lightly as I open the fridge and look for something I can eat that will make me complete. I immediately close thedoor when I realize how old habits die hard. I’ve lost twenty-five pounds and I have no interest in putting them back on. I still have twenty to lose before I get to where I want to be.
“I guess she was someone he met when he was stationed on the West Coast. He tried living there for a year after his service ended, but he hated it. Cooper wanted to move back home, but she wouldn’t leave. He tried to stay to make the marriage work, but after a year they just kept growing further and further apart. Coop said the divorce was best for both of them. So he moved home and that was the end.”
“I get that. I really do.”
“Yeah, I told him you and I were divorced too.”
“You told him?” My voice elevates more than I intended.
“It’s all I said. He wanted to know more, but he said he understood when I told him your story wasn’t mine to tell.”
I feel an immediate sense of relief. “Thanks. Sorry I freaked out,” I say somberly.
“It’s okay. I know you didn’t want him running off and telling Nick anything.”
The minute she says his name, I have to force myself to not think about him. It makes me angry with myself.
“So anyway, we ate dinner and talked.”
I smile to myself as I start a pot of coffee. Gwen sounds really happy, and when she’s happy, I can’t help but feel it too.
“It was nice. I had a nice time.”
I stop midway, reaching for a coffee mug. “Wait, that’s not the end, is it?”
