She turns around to face me directly. “So... Zack will still move here, right?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Youthink? Give me a percentage.”
I’ve dealt in percentages since junior high. “Seventy percent. No, maybe sixty-five.”
“Jesus, Jess! Those aren’t the greatest odds.”
“Well, he’s big on keeping his word, and he accepted the job out here.”
“So why only sixty-five percent?”
I put down my brush, lean forward into the mirror, and smooth an eyebrow. “He said he didn’t know about Lily when he agreed to the move, and that having a child changes things. And that worries me.”
“It worries me, too.”
“Lily was bad enough, but the baby... Well, it feels like everything’s been turned upside down.”
“It kind of has.” She gives me a direct, sisterly, no-BS kind of look. “If he insists on staying in New Orleans, would you reconsider staying there, too?”
I shake my head. “I don’t want to watch him play Daddy to another woman’s baby. It makes me sick to even think about it.” My phone dings. I pick it up and read the text. “Brett’s downstairs.”
“Wait a moment, Jessie,” Erin says. “So... would you divorce Zack?”
The thought of divorce makes me sick, too. “I might threaten to, just to get him to move.” I pull my purse onto my shoulder and head for the door. “Will I see you tomorrow night at Mom’s?”
“Of course. We’ll all be there.” She puts the lid back on my facecream, heads back to the bed, and flops on it. “Would you mind if I stay here in your room for a while and just enjoy the peace and quiet, without being reminded of the laundry I need to do?”
“Knock your bad self out.”
She picks up the TV remote and gives a blissful sigh. “Love you, sis.”
—
I OPEN THEpassenger door of Brett’s SUV and lean in. “I feel like I’ve taken up too much of your time,” I tell him. “And the way things are with Zack and me right now, I’m not sure we’re ready to put in an offer on a house.”
“I’m going to see this new property anyway,” he says. “And I’d enjoy your company.”
I smile and climb in. We’d talked last night when he picked me up at the airport, so he knows the whole story about Zack. I think he’s just being polite, but I’m glad to have an excuse to be out of the hotel. My meetings don’t start until Monday.
As he drives, I ask Brett about his work. He tells me about a renovation he’s working on, and then the conversation wends its way back to personal topics.
“I’m starting to feel like a third party in my own marriage,” I tell him.
“I totally get that,” he says.
“You do, don’t you?” His ex-wife and child are living with another man—a man she plans to marry and have another child with. “It’s good to have someone who understands.”
“I’m pretty much over it now,” he says, “but at first it seemed like James had replaced me in my own life.”
“That’s exactly how I feel about this—this Quinn person.” I have trouble even saying her name. I look at him. “You don’t feel that way now?”
“No. At first all I could feel was loss and hurt and anger. But thetruth was, I hadn’t felt all that connected to Sue Anne in a long time.”
“Things haven’t been very close between Zack and me for a while now,” I admit.
“Marriages can go through rough spots and still make it.” He brakes for a light and looks over at me. “It all kind of comes down to why you got married in the first place, and if those reasons still hold. Why did you marry him?”
