But Britt was only in the back of his mind. Right now, his senses were filled with salty popcorn and Amy’s vanilla-scented perfume. He kept looking at her, smiling when she chuckled at a dumb joke. Ironically, for an intelligent woman, she’d always enjoyed lousy comedy, which made him think her apology was for his benefit more than hers.
Suddenly the film shut off, and the lights came on. An usher jogged to the front. “Excuse me,” he yelled to the six people in the theater. “We’re having projector problems, but we’ll have them fixed real soon. Just hang tight, y’all.” He ran back up the outer aisle.
“Now what?” Amy slumped in the chair. “I was actually enjoying the show.”
“I know.” He grinned.
She turned to him. “I bet you’re hating every minute of it.”
“Pretty much.” But he liked watching her having fun.
“How do you think Britt is doing?” She reached for her purse. “I should text her—”
He took her hand and threaded his fingers through it. Yeah, he was taking advantage of the moment, but he was also trying to keep her from bothering Britt.
Amy glanced at their clasped hands. “Point taken. You can let go now.”
Daniel angled his body toward her. “Do I have to?”
She didn’t move, her luminous eyes on his. Then she disengaged her hand. “I can’t, Daniel.”
“Can’t what?”
“Let down my guard with you.” She stared at the blank screen.
He faced the front. Neither one of them spoke or touched their food. Minutes ticked by and the four other people left the theater, leaving the two of them alone.
“Amy?”
After a moment she said, “Yes?”
He had to tread carefully with his next question, but he couldn’t hold back from asking it. “Why didn’t you get married again?”
***
Amy kept her gaze on the screen, unable to look at Daniel. She supposed this question would have come up eventually, especially if he ended up being true to his word and stayed sober, engaged, and dependable. But she didn’t believe he would. He’d made so many promises, had let her down so many times. What made this time any different?
He’s different.She couldn’t deny that. He wasn’t the unsettled, insecure, and at times fearful man she’d married. To be fair, he hadn’t been any of those things before they tied the knot. They were young, but he had confidence back then. Swagger even, but in a good way.A sexy way.Then he changed, and everything went careening downhill.
“It was never enough. I never made enoughmoney,I didn’t do enough around the house...”
His words slammed into her as they resurfaced. They got married when she was in college, and he was working part-time as a mechanic, learning on the job. Then she was pregnant with Britt and trying to make straight As, like she had all her life. She was exhausted and working so hard, while he seemed to barely do the minimum.
The fighting started. The hurtful words said in anger on both sides. The visits to the bar, the cases of beer and bottles of liquor that kept appearing... and disappearing.
But when Britt was born, he was a new man. So attentive, so sweet. She still had a picture of their tiny girl lying on his bare chest while they both slept on the couch. Why she kept it, she didn’t know. Those were the good times. But they didn’t last.
More memories surfaced. Her working on her master’s while she was teaching full time. Britt going to daycare. Daniel still in a dead-end job and drinking again. The fights were epic back then. Eventually the only thing keeping their marriage together werethe sizzling ways they would make up, and even that had ground to a halt by the time Britt was in kindergarten.
“Never mind,” he mumbled, breaking into her thoughts. “I shouldn’t have asked.”
She looked at him. He was fiddling with the popcorn kernels in the box on his lap but not eating any of them. All these years she had blamed him for failing her and Britt. But she’d never taken responsibility for her part in the destruction of their marriage. She never gave him enough credit or encouragement. But she sure was generous with the criticism.
“No,” she said softly. “I’m the one who’s sorry, Daniel.” His eyes widened so fast she almost smiled. “I made a lot of mistakes too.”
“Amy—”
“I contributed to our problems, but made you out to be the sole villain. I shouldn’t have done that.”
