“It can’t be easy having your parents write you off because of a youthful mistake.”
“I have Josie and Eric in my corner. The way I see it, they’re my parents.”
She nodded even though he couldn’t see her sympathy. “My mother and sisters are supportive of everything I do. Even though they thought I was crazy for telling my fiancé to take a hike, they stood at my side.”
“What did he do?”
“Slept with my best friend. They got married and divorced about a year after their wedding.”
“Sounds as if you were well rid of him.”
“Yeah. What about your wife?”
Tyler’s voice drifted in and out, as if he were resettling his pillows. “Rebecca didn’t like living in Clare. She wanted to move back to Auckland after Katey was born but didn’t handle the responsibilities of having a baby well. She cried a lot and left me and Josie to deal with Katey. I knew it was best to stay here even though it wasn’t our original plan. Our marriage…”
“We don’t have to talk about it,” Susan said.She wanted to live in Auckland too.
“No, Suzy. I want you to know.”
“Suzy?” She laughed at the nickname. No one had ever given her one before.
“Suzy is the part of you who is brave and funny and strives for what she wants.”
“Thanks.” His words sent pleasure swirling, made her realize how far she’d come in the last year. Heck, she actually liked herself.
“You’re welcome. Our marriage didn’t have a chance after Katey came along. We argued about leaving Clare. Katey mightn’t have been planned but I fell in love with her pretty quickly. For her sake, we needed to stay with Eric and Josie. We needed their support.”
“What happened?”
“Rebecca stayed. We argued a lot and were both miserable. Rebecca seemed to be depressed and lost a lot of weight. Josie and I finally persuaded her to see a doctor. They did a heap of tests and diagnosed cancer.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” he said. “She was so young.”
And so was he to go through a tragedy like that. His words also cemented his bond with Josie and Eric in her mind, the painful path of her thoughts stripping away some of her good mood. “It’s getting late.”
“Yeah, I have an early start tomorrow. Will you meet me by the dam?”
“I’ll text you once I know if I can get away.”
“I look forward to it,” he said. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”
“Goodnight.” Susan forced herself to cut the connection and switch off the light. If only it were that easy to stop her mind and heart from conjuring a bright, shiny future with the wrong man.
