“Absolutely. I’ll arrange it before I move in. Already ordered the furniture so just need to get the small stuff.”
“Alright, peeps. I am out. I want to check in on Matchbox before heading to bed.” Nate stands up in the water and gets out.
“Or you are going to Matchbox to pick up a girl and then head to bed,” Max clarifies. “But I’m heading out too. I need to see my mom tomorrow morning.” Max follows Nate out.
Quite obviously, I can see Jess talking to Abby through eye language. Leo and I can’t hide it much better either.
“Come on, Jess, let me take you home,” Leo offers and touches her arm that she jerks away.
“Wishful thinking.” Jess gives Leo a steely look. “You can drop me off at the door.”
“You make my chivalry so easy,” he sarcastically says as he follows her out of the hot tub.
Finally. Abby and I are alone.
“Those two really need to sleep together,” I comment.
“I know, right?” Abby shakes her head.
We’re alone in the big tub but don’t move apart and instead stay close together.
“Where are you living, by the way? I never asked.”
“A great rental house on sixth. I was debating to buy, but I want to wait before deciding. The sale of my pre-divorced house went quick, but I didn’t feel ready to commit to a new buy. It worked out okay.”
“Geez. I don’t even want to think about selling houses. Happy that bullshit is finished. My soon-to-be ex didn’t make that a breeze by the slightest.”
Abby studies me and leans against a propped arm on the edge of the tub. “Soon to be? You mentioned going through a divorce. How long has it been since you separated?”
Looking at her, I realize that she may be having an internal freak-out that it’s all new and I’m flirting when I am still very much married. For some reason, I feel a need to reassure her.
“We separated more than a year ago. The divorce is taking forever because we first fought quite a bit over custody of Theo. Now we’re just waiting for the paperwork to be finalized and that should be any day now. But I am happy that she lives far enough away that we don’t invade each other’s space. You know how they say that divorce brings out the worst in people? Unfortunately, I witnessed it firsthand. But at the end of the day, she is Theo’s mother and I need to respect that.”
She touches my thigh under the water. Without thought or intention. Just simply to comfort, but it sends a surge through me.
“I can only imagine how it goes when a child is involved. I am thankful that I didn’t have kids to add to the mix of divorce. It’s already hard, then add a child into that and it must be hell.”
“Why did you divorce?” I ask as I throw an arm behind her to rest on the edge of the tub.
She faintly smiles at me as if she’s been waiting for that question. “We just realized that we grew away from each other. We were living together and enjoyed doing things together, but it was more as two roommates. There was no passion or intimacy that felt like love. We both acknowledged it and realized it was better to part ways. Luckily, the divorce went quick and there were no fights. But I wish it didn’t have to happen… as in getting married to begin with.”
I’m taken aback by her statement and drink from my beer bottle. “Why is that?”
“I think I always knew… I always knew Scott wasn’t the one. He checked a lot of boxes and maybe I was in love with the idea, but I don’t think I was in love with him. I knew it deep down but didn’t want to admit it. You?”
A sigh escapes me. “I thought it was love, but we grew apart. Isabella didn’t take to motherhood the way I’d hoped. At first, I thought it was post-partum depression, but then I realized that she almost regretted having a child. It wasn’t what Instagram told her it would be. She wanted to go out with friends and travel. A child can block those plans sometimes.
“Anyhow, I’m sure I wasn’t a saint. Maybe I put too much pressure on her to be a good mother or connect with Theo. Don’t get me wrong, now she’s great with him. It took time, but now they have a better relationship. He wasn’t a great sleeper as a baby so maybe that played a role too. But when their relationship got better, ours disintegrated. It seemed like she couldn’t balance the both of us, it was either being a mom or wife. I wasn’t feeling great about a future with her, and when she said she was developing feelings for her trainer, then I said we should separate. We could have tried counseling, but she didn’t want to. Instead she even suggested an open marriage. So, I answered with I wanted a divorce, and she didn’t seem to bend out of shape with that request.”
I’ve never told anyone how it went down, but with Abby I feel an overwhelming openness and want to be honest with her. It feels safe, and she maybe understands it. There’s no judgment.
She takes a drink of her remaining cocktail that Max made. “Wow. That’s, well… understandable and crazy. I mean, I never understood why someone would want an open marriage until I saw in my own marriage that I wouldn’t have minded if Scott was with someone else. It was the red flag for me that it wasn’t the real deal. But wow… do you think she cheated?”
I adjust my neck and think about it. “I don’t think so, definitely she had a flirtation with someone. She is a lot of things, but she didn’t cheat physically. Anyhow, any day now and then it’s all finalized.” I keep reminding myself of that fact.
Abby offers me a reassuring smile. “It was in a way liberating when mine was finalized. You’ll hopefully get some closure.”
I nod gently as she begins to get out of the water.
“Where are you going?”
“Sorry, but I’m turning into a prune.” She wraps a towel around herself like a blanket around her shoulders.
I also get out of the tub, grab a towel, and wrap it around myself in a similar fashion.
We look at each other and my hands reach out to rub some warmth into her arms. “Get dressed and I can take you home.” She looks at me surprised. “If you want, I mean,” I add.
A knowing smile forms on her face as she goes to grab her phone. “What I want doesn’t matter right now. There’s a guy in my life, Lucas, and I need to see him tonight.”
My stomach sinks and my heart drops. It’s a little dry in my mouth too. I don’t like this news, which is fucking insane as I really should only be thinking about some rebound fun. Her relationship status shouldn’t matter so much to me. But, didn’t she mention she didn’t have a boyfriend? I guess I didn’t really ask if she was dating.
She grins as she shows me her phone. “Romeo is waiting for me at home.”
The photo on her screen is of a rather large yellow Labrador sitting in a park. Those eyes of his draw you in and even I am tempted to buy him a steak.
Geez, relief hits me. That was a close call.
My face eases into a grin. “It never crossed my mind that a vet would actually own a dog.”
Abby laughs. “Yeah, and he is everything to me. Needs a walk before he passes out in my bed for the night. And it’s okay, I didn’t drink too much so I can drive.”
I make a mental note that this dog may be a potential cockblocker if I ever go down this road with Abby. Because right now, I’m not disappointed that she doesn’t stay. Which makes me almost certifiably insane. I’m at a place in my life where I should only want a quick hook-up, a little rebound fun to welcome me back into singlehood. She seems up for that, and maybe we’re meant to be each other’s rebound fun to bounce into post-divorced life.