"What would that look like?" she asked.
"Well, I thought maybe we should move," he said.
"Move?" she asked in a shocked voice. Somehow that wasn't even on the list of what she had expected him to say. "Why would we move? We love our house!"
"Oh, the house is nice," he agreed. "I don't mean change houses, I mean move to another city."
"What city? Why?" she asked.
"We've talked about eventually moving back to my hometown," he pointed out. "When we were dating you said it was something you would consider."
She sat in stupefied silence. She vaguely recalled conversations when they were dating about his desire to go back home, but it had never been anything more than talk. Until now.
"You seriously want to move across the country?" she asked.
"It would be an adventure!" he exclaimed. "As you said, I can find work just about anywhere, and it just might be the boost we need."
He reached out and placed his hand over hers. Looking earnestly into her eyes he said,
"Don't you want to go on an adventure with me?"
She gazed off into space, completely oblivious to her surroundings and the persistent ringing of the phone on her desk. Wanda was walking by and noticed the vacant look on her face and heard the phone. She popped her head in and waved her hands to attract her attention.
"Where were you?" Wanda asked with a laugh.
"What?" she asked, her reverie broken. "Oh, nowhere important."
"Well it must be important for you to not hear your phone ringing," Wanda pointed out just as the ringing stopped.
"Oh crap!" she exclaimed. "That was probably a supplier I've been waiting to hear
from!"
After finishing her work for the day, she sat in her car in the parking lot, once again staring out into space. The bombshell her husband had dropped the other night was still on her mind. What was he thinking? Running away wasn't going to solve any of their problems, was it? It was crazy to even consider it. But he had made it sound so logical, so normal. As though people just up and moved across the country every day. He had seemed so surprised that she wasn't on board.
And it wasn't that she wasn't on board, she had just been blindsided. She didn't know if she was on board or not.
While moving seemed impulsive, part of her couldn't help wondering if it was a good idea to start all over again. To get away from everything and everybody. If she was a hundred percent honest with herself, she had suspected for a while that there just might be somebody in his life they should be running away from, but she didn't want her thoughts to go there.
However, starting all over again? In a different town? A new job? New friends? Although, she had to acknowledge to herself that she didn't have many friends to lose at this point. Once they had married, she had drifted away from her girlfriends. Either he didn't like them, or they didn't like him; either way, it was easier to just move on.
She wasn't concerned about a new house or a new town - that she did see as exciting and a bit of an adventure. But what about her family? What about her kids? Her husband seemed to have forgotten that she had children from a previous marriage. Certainly, they were living their own lives and seemed to be happy with their father, and perhaps they weren't as close to her as they had been when they were younger, but did he expect her to just leave them and move hundreds of miles away?
She shook her head in frustration. No matter which way she looked at it, she just couldn't see this as being the answer to anything.
Chapter Twenty-One
Olivia
O livia floated through the next week as though she didn't have a care in the world. Things that used to bother her and cause her stress didn't seem so important. Life seemed so much sweeter now that she had someone who doted on her and who made her feel so special. They had only been dating for a couple of months, but it had been a whirlwind of emotions. It was so new that there were still times when she would look over at him when they were out for dinner or out for a walk, utterly amazed that he was there with her. She could hardly believe that her single days might be over for good.
Sitting in her living room on a Monday night, they talked more about their histories and past relationships. She was surprised to learn that he had been in quite a few and yet had never settled down.
"The closest I came to it was my last girlfriend," Luke explained to her. "But in the end, I'm glad we only lived together because she was a disaster."
"What do you mean by disaster?" Olivia probed. "What was wrong?"
"She drank too much, she would get drunk and yell and scream," he said. "One time she insisted I drop her off on the side of the road because she was so upset about an argument we were having."
"Wow, that doesn't sound very good," Olivia responded. "How did things end with you two?"
"Oh, I ended up leaving," he said. "But tell me more about you - I can't believe you have only had one serious relationship and that was your ex-husband."
Olivia was disappointed that he had changed the subject, as she was interested in learning more about his past relationship, but she was also trying to respect the signals he was sending her that made it clear he didn't want to re-visit that time of his life.
"Well, you know, I'm a bit picky," Olivia said teasingly. "I only want the best."
"Then what are you doing with me?" Luke responded in kind.
Later that evening, after her sons had returned from their friend's house, they all sat around the table and nibbled on a pizza Olivia had ordered.
"You aren't a real talkative bunch, are you?" Olivia asked, after long moments of silent chewing. Luke smiled slightly, and her boys simply shrugged. No matter how much time the three of them spent together, they didn't seem able to connect. Luke was awkward and tongue-tied, and the boys acted uncertain of what to say. Luke was convinced they didn't like him, but Olivia always reassured him that it was more about the fact they didn't know how to handle their mother dating. After all, he was the first male she had brought into their lives since her divorce.
"What's happening at school these days," Olivia asked, hoping to fill the silence somehow.
"Not much," Adam said as he helped himself to another slice of pizza. "Same ole, same ole"
"Well, I'm glad you feel able to confide in me," Olivia teased.
"Well, I don't know," Adam mumbled in a tone in his voice that told Olivia he didn't appreciate being put on the spot.
"Do you have any homework tonight?" Olivia tried another angle.
"I don't" replied Jonathon.
"I have a little," said Adam.
"Then when you're finished here, head up to your room and get it done Adam," Olivia instructed before turning to Jonathon. "Can you give me a hand putting things away in the kitchen?"
"I can help do that," Luke insisted. "You relax and let Jonathon and I take care of it."
Olivia was pleased that Luke seemed to be making an attempt to spend some time with her son and so she smiled gratefully and thanked him.