“She dumped me.”
“What did you do?” Of course his sister blamed it on him. She was so far up her own ass about her breakup with Chris that even her own brother wouldn’t get the benefit of the doubt. Not that he deserved it.
And he didn’t know exactly how to explain what had gone down with Hannah. Sure, she’d gotten the last word and broken up with him. The fact that she’d threatened him with an ice pick indicated that there’d been some feelings on her end. But she’d used him, too.
When her boss had gotten him a towel, she’d said, “I’m sorry you got pulled into this. I was merely being facetious when I suggested that she find a boyfriend if she wanted to plan weddings.”
Even after the very public dumping, hearing that her boss had made a joke at Hannah’s expense pissed him off. It pissed him off now, even in the very sober aftermath. In a stroke of amazing timing, the waitress came to take their drink orders.
His sister and mother ordered bottomless mimosas, the better to grill him with, he guessed. And he decided to join them in their inevitable afternoon hangover. “Me too.”
“It must be bad if you’re forgoing the Bloody Mary.”
“She dumped me.”
“We know that,” his mother said. “The question is, what did you do?”
“I was using her for an article about how to lose a girl like all my idiot friends do, and she found out.”
“You what?” His female relatives shrieked in unison, turning every head in the restaurant their way. He was apparently destined to be a spectacle this weekend.
“Yeah, I know it’s stupid.”
Bridget snorted. “I mean, at least you sped things up this time.”
“What do you mean?” Jack had always been the perfect boyfriend. None of his previous breakups had ever been even a little bit his fault.
“You usually just smother a woman with your shtick until she gets sick of it.”
“That’s not fair.”
His mother piped in. “You are—kind of aggressive in your affections.”
“So, paying attention and doing what my lady likes is a bad thing now?”
Bridget rolled her eyes. “So defensive, big brother.”
“I’m not being defensive.” He definitely sounded defensive. “Mom, wouldn’t you have stayed with Dad had he paid attention to you? If he had known you wanted to go back to school and offered to make that work?”
His mother sighed deeply and looked down at the table. “Is that what you think?”
“Yeah.” They hadn’t ever really talked about their reasons for getting a divorce. It had kind of just happened and then his mom wasn’t around after school anymore.
“That’s not what happened at all.” His mother looked gutted. For once, Jack didn’t have the energy to manage her emotions.
“News to me.” Bridget took a swig of her newly delivered beverage.
“Your father and I . . . we just . . . didn’t work anymore.”
“That’s because you stopped working.” Jack had no idea where that angry declaration had come from. “Relationships are work. You left Dad because the only thing he had time to put work into was his business.”
“I married your father when I was eighteen years old.” She shook her head with a faint smile on her face. “We were so in love, but we didn’t know what we were doing . . . what we really wanted out of life. And after the three of you were born in four years and were such holy terrors, it just got so hard. We forgot that we were in love with each other.”
“But why did you leave us with Dad?” This had been a source of pain for Bridget for a long time. As the only girl, she’d often felt isolated and especially affected by their mother’s absence.
“Your father could provide you with a stable home, and he didn’t have the need to get out.” She made a circular motion with her hands. “Sean never wanted to see the world the way that I did. Not back then.”
“It’s still selfish.” Jack had never said that out loud, but he’d thought it for a long time, wondered if that was why he was hopelessly attracted to women who would leave him without looking back. “You had kids. You don’t get to travel the world when you have kids.”
“Not unless they have a father like Sean.” He’d never heard his mother talk this way about his father. Almost as though she—admired him. “I mean, if you’re honest with yourselves, who is the more nurturing one of the two of us?”
His father had always done most of the cooking, the cleaning, and the school drops—even before his mom had left. She was always ready after school with art projects and unique and sometimes not-kid-friendly snacks she’d picked up at some international grocery store after school, but his mother had never been like the other moms. She hadn’t noticed when piles of laundry collected in their rooms. She’d always been off in her little dream world.
If he was truly honest with himself, it had been sort of a relief when she’d left. His life had become much more predictable.
“And I stayed in touch. Saw you all every week.”
“But that’s not parenting.”
“For men it is. Why should it have been any different for me?” She made a dismissive gesture with her hand that made Bridget roll her eyes.
“Because you’re our mother.” Jack felt himself getting angry, but he didn’t know what for. They hadn’t had this argument before, and for some reason it felt important to have it now.
“Yes, and your father was a better mother than I ever was.”
Bridget’s gaze narrowed on their mother. “You sound like you’re still in love with him.”
“We’ve been seeing each other again.” His mother just dropped that on the brunch table as though it was her AmEx card to pay the check. Without a thought or hesitation.
Jack wished he could have prepared himself for that, because it shook him to his very core. Everything he knew about his bitterly divorced parents falling apart around his ears. On the one hand, it made more sense that they were talking on the phone again. On the other hand, they’d been apart so long that it was kind of gross. For the past fifteen years, his parents had acted like they hated each other. And now they were dating? Yuck!
“You’re dating Dad!” Bridget was clearly as perturbed by this as Jack was. But where he was speechless, Bridget was livid. “How? Why?”
“Since my divorce was finalized. And I wouldn’t call it dating, dear.” Their mother smoothed her gray hair out over one ear. “We’re too old to call what we’re doing dating.”