I widen my smile. “Great to meet you, too.”
Brett makes sure Pete’s seat belt is fastened, then rebuckles his own and puts the car in drive. “Mrs. Bradley is moving here with her husband, and I’m helping her find a house.”
“Oh.” His eyes brighten considerably. “So you’re not on a date with Dad?”
“No,” I say with a smile.
“My mom is dating.” His brow crumples in a dark frown. “She says she’s going to marry Mr. James and have a baby with him, but I don’t like him.”
“He’s a nice guy,” Brett says.
This is very generous of him, to speak well of the man who, I assume, broke up his marriage.He loves his son very much, I think.
“He’s a dork,” Pete says. “Besides, I want you and Mom to get back together.”
“I told you, sport. That’s not going to happen.”
“It could.”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“We’ve been over this a million times. The marriage is over.”
“But it doesn’t have to be,” Petey insists.
“Yes, it does. Sometimes marriages are like Sammy. They get sick and die.”
“Who was Sammy?” I ask.
“My goldfish,” Petey says solemnly.
“Oh,” I say. “Sorry for your loss.”
Brett gives me a sidewise grin.
“You and Mom aren’t even sick,” Petey tells his father. “You could get back together if you wanted to.”
“Marriage isn’t just one person’s decision.”
“I’m working on Mom, too. If she gets rid of Mr. James, I know she’ll love you again.”
“Petey, married people need to have certain feelings for each other. If the feelings aren’t there, the marriage can’t work.”
“Why not?”
“Because marriage is supposed to be a heart connection. If you don’t have that, it’s not really a marriage, and both people get more and more unhappy. It’s bad for children to be raised in a miserable environment.”
“I didn’t think it was miserable.”
“That’s because we divorced before it got so bad that it affected you.”
“But thedivorceis affecting me!”
“I know, son.” He glances at Petey’s distraught little face in the rearview mirror. Brett’s eyes are dark and somber. “And I’m sorry about that. But the divorce is a done deal and it’s time to move on.”
He steers the car into a neighborhood by the Puget Sound. “And speaking of moving on, I have your tablet and headset with me. Want to play a game?”
