Page 83 of Wild Ever After
“Bye.”
He waits a few beats, like maybe he’s hoping I’ll say more, then says, “Night, Jade.”
* * *
The next afternoon, while we’re repainting my mom’s bedroom, I decide to broach the subject of my marriage.
“How come you never got married again after Pat?” I ask her. Pat was husband number three. It lasted a month.
While I wait for her answer, I keep my gaze on the paint roller. She decided on a soft white for all the walls, except one, which is, of course, pink. She chose a dusty, light pink, and it actually turned out really nice. It turns out, pink has no age limit.
“You wish I’d gotten married again?” she asks, disbelief making her voice lift several octaves. “To which guy? I thought you hated them all.”
“I didn’t hate all of them.” I finally look over at her. She’s stopped painting and is arching a brow at me. “Okay, I didn’t really like any of them either. But you did. Some of them you even dated for a year or more.”
“None of them asked,” she says. “And even if they had, I’m not sure I really saw myself saying yes.”
“You don’t want to get married again?”
“No, I guess I don’t. Maybe if I meet the right guy. Someone I can see myself with forever. It’s been a while since I felt like that. Like with you and Declan. You must have known pretty fast that he was the one.”
I know this is my opening to tell her the truth, but I grapple for the right words. “Not exactly.”
Her mouth pulls into a frown. “You couldn’t have dated for more than a month before you got married.”
I set my roller down in the paint tray. “We didn’t date at all.”
My pulse quickens and I take several quick breaths before adding, “Sam called off our engagement the week of the wedding and Declan stepped in to save my job.”
I think I’ve stunned her. She just looks at me with wide eyes, her mouth opening and closing, but no words come out.
“I know it sounds bad.”
“How could you do something like this?”
“It isn’t that big of a deal. And now we really are dating, so it isn’t a complete lie.”
“But you’re not dating, Jade. You’re married. Marriage is a beautiful, sacred thing.”
“That ends in divorce half the time.”
“So that’s your plan?”
I nod. “Melody said we needed to give it at least a year and that works for Declan too because he’ll be in the off-season next July. It’ll give things a month or two to quiet down before hockey starts again.”
“I cannot believe this.” She shakes her head and looks down at the floor. “I’m really disappointed in you.”
“That’s rich, Mom. You’ve dated a dozen or more guys over the years, moving them into this house, into our lives, like they were going to be around forever when you admittedly knew they weren’t, and you’re disappointed inme?”
“You are deceiving people. It’s wrong.”
“We’re really together now. I like him a lot.”
“You can’t start a relationship like this.”
“Says who?”
“It isn’t right. This isn’t healthy for you or him. How do you expect him to respect you after the choices you’ve made? You can’t really think he’ll want to be with you after this is all over?”
