“We need to talk to the kids,” he said.
“About?”
“You.” He gestured between them. “Us. This.”
“What about it? We agreed. You can’t just go back on that.” Jennifer leaned forward, her voice an angry whisper.
“Dakota thinks that I cheated on you and that’s why we split up.”
Jennifer’s mouth twitched.
“Kenzie knows I didn’t,” he went on. “But she knows you did.”
“Weagreed,” she said again.
“I didn’t tell her.” Thomas leaned back, trying to put whatever space between them he could. Had Jennifer always been this selfish and demanding, and he’d never noticed? It couldn’t be. There was no way he could have been this blind for that long. “Your little boyfriend slipped up and said something that sent up the red flags and she figured it out.”
“His name is Jarrod.”
“I don’t care.” He didn’t. “It’s important to me that the kids know the truth. I thought that not talking to them about it was the right thing to do and I was wrong. They’re both adults and they deserve the truth.”
“If you think outing me as an adulterer is going to make Dakota love you, you’re mistaken.”
He’d never thought that at all, but hearing the insult lobbed at him with such an intense ferocity hit him like a knife in the chest.
“I don’t think it’ll change his opinion of me in the least,” he said. “But it might change his opinion of you and that’s not my problem anymore.”
Thomas knew it wouldn’t, though. If Kenzie told him the truth, that Dakota was having an affair behind Trent’s back, he wouldn’t be fazed by his mother’s own infidelity.
“Actually.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t think it will, but it’s important to me that they know the truth. So I can tell them on my own, or you can come along.”
“So I can defend myself?” she balked.
“There is no defense for what you did to me.” Thomas was already tired, and he stood, no longer interested in trying to remain a unified front with his ex. “I know I wasn’t a perfect husband or father, but I don’t deserve this hate. Not from them and not from you.”
“Thomas.” Jennifer slumped in the booth a little, a fraction of the fight going out of her. “I don’t want them to think less of me.”
He wanted to feel sorry for her, he really did, but…
“I know I worked too much when the kids were younger, but I did that for you and I did that for them. You cheating on me was for you. You didn’t think about me and definitely not about them.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, testing the weight of them in his hand. “That’s just something you’ll have to deal with now.”
“When are you going to tell them?”
“Like I said, Kenzie already knows. If you want to talk with her about it, you can. I don’t think it will make a difference to Dakota. My only intent is to stop lying to them about it if and when it comes up, but honestly, Jennifer, I try to not think about you, let alone talk about you.”
With that, he turned on his heel and walked out, leaving Jennifer alone in the booth and for the rest of her life. He was grateful that when his birthday rolled around, it would be like a magic page flip on a calendar. Married one day, divorced the next. He didn’t have to see her ever again if he didn’t want to and, in that moment, he didn’t. She had treated him horribly and he deserved more than her. He understood that now. He didn’t know if someone like Ben was what he deserved, but he was enjoying their time together, and that was enough.
Though… something in the back of his head told him it wasn’t, and on his walk back to the office, Thomas found himself faced with the worry that his relationship with Ben was unfairly imbalanced. Sure they’d talked and agreed what things would be between them, but Ben was on the heels of a nasty break-up and Thomas knew how much it took for him to admit his interest in something serious. Was he as “all in” on things as Ben was?
He stopped at the sandwich cart in front of his building and bought a fruit bowl, but his worries plagued him the whole ride up to his floor. Back in his office, he closed the door behind him and dropped his phone and the fruit on his black leather desk pad. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose and swiped the screen open to text Ben.
Thomas:Talked w/ Jennifer.
Ben:And?
Thomas:She’s honestly horrible.
Ben:But how are you?
