I stared at Landon, still scanning the laminated sheet in his hand.
“Do you ever hear from Shayla?”
He shook his head. “I ran into her once or twice. It was fine. We were so young when we got married. What she did sucked, don’t get me wrong. But both of us were swept up in something we weren’t ready for. I wish her the best.”
“I’ll never forgive her for what she did to you, but you have the right attitude. I tried to connect with her the few times I met her, but I always got the impression she didn’t like me very much.”
“She didn’t,” Landon said, not lifting his head.
“Not that it matters now, but did I do something to offend her?”
“It wasn’t you. Well, it was,” he said, chuckling to himself.
“Are you speaking in code? I don’t know what that means.”
“It means, it wasn’t what you did, but it was you. She never understood or liked how close we were, and she even threw it in my face when I found out she was cheating on me. That I had something going on with you all along.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what that’s like.” I scoffed with a good amount of sarcasm as I searched for the waitress over his shoulder.
“Nate thought we were having an affair?” he asked, arching his brow.
“If I had a dollar for every fight we had because of you.” I laughed. “He didn’t get it either.”
“Shayla and I didn’t fight, but when you’d call, I’d get a look. She’d shoot daggers at me with her eyes until we’d hang up.”
“No one understands us, do they?” I said, my chuckle dying on my lips when he lifted his head, his eyes boring into mine with an intensity that sucked all the mirth out of the conversation.
“No one has to. Anyone in my life who has a problem with how much you mean to me doesn’t need to be there.” He fell back in his seat, his expression turned wistful. “You’re before everyone, Jules, and you should know that.”
“I do, and same for you.” I smiled despite the burn in my nose.
The waitress came to take our order, and we went back to normal, or normal as it could be for us now that this undercurrent pulsed between us.
After lunch, we settled onto a bench in Madison Square Park near the fountains. The park was full of dog walkers and, now that it was after three p.m., kids running back and forth in the playground.
“I used to like to eat lunch here, although not as often as I would have liked as the day always got away from me and I’d end up eating at my desk.” I sat back and slurped the iced coffee we’d picked up on our way back from Eataly.
“And you talk about me.”
“Yes, I was guilty of working too much sometimes as well, but I drew the line at weekends and late nights.” I shrugged, scanning the park and remembering much simpler times. “I used to people watch and make up stories in my head about who they were.” I slid closer to Landon on the bench. “Like, see those two?” I motioned to the young couple across from us, backpacks slung over their shoulders as they searched for a place to sit. There were several colleges in the area, so I guessed they were students.
“What do you think their story is?” I asked Landon.
“I think he likes her and wants to ask her out, but he’s afraid she’ll say no.”
I whipped my head to Landon.
“That’s awfully specific.” I squinted back at him. “How do you know that?”
He scooted closer to whisper in my ear. “See how he’s staring at her when she’s not looking. It’s like something is on the tip of his tongue, and he doesn’t know how to say it.”
“Not bad. Maybe he wants to tell her to back off, but he’s trying to be nice about it.”
He shook his head. “That’s not it at all. Watch when she turns around and smiles at him. His whole face lights up as if he just won the lottery.”
Sure enough, the girl turned around, giggling at something, and a wide smile spread on the boy’s face.
“You’re good.”
