“Are you so sure it would be a mistake? Trey loves you. He’s always loved you.”
“Trey loves his idea of me—the girl next door, his buddy, his pal. As long as he can imagine he’s in love with me, he doesn’t have to grow up. But I don’t fit into his life. And he definitely doesn’t fit into mine.”
“You mean, your life in New York.”
“I mean, we don’t want the same things. We’re not like you and John.”
“Sometimes I don’t know what John wants anymore.”
I felt a little flare of alarm, like a moth flying into a bug zapper. “Meg?”
She looked down at her lap in the blue light, where her engagement ring shone like a star. “Did I ever tell you about our first date?”
“You went to a football game, you said. He took you out afterward for ice cream.”
“Not only for ice cream.”
“You mean...”
Her lips curved. “He drove me to Carolina Beach. We checked into a hotel.”
“Shut up. You did not.”
Her smile turned smug. “We didn’t get home until Sunday.”
“You told Mom and Dad you met at the bank. You dated for a year before you moved in together.”
“Because I wanted them to like him. I didn’t want them to think we were rushing into things.”
“You were awfully young when you got married,” I observed.
“I was not.”
“Beth’s age.”
She gave a surprised laugh. “I guess you’re right.” A few late tree frogs peeped from beyond the porch. “I always thought John and I would have more time before we started a family,” she confessed. “Nobody tells you how hard it’s going to be.”
I didn’t know what to say. I squeezed her hand instead.
“He didn’t tell me he was coaching at the high school,” she said. “I found out from Trey.”
A little silence, filled with the wind in the pines.
“Makes me wonder what else he isn’t telling me,” she said in a small voice.
Oh hell.“You think he’s cheating on you?”
“No. No. John’s not a cheater. But he’s not... happy. I love our babies. I love our house. I love our life, most of the time. What if he doesn’t feel the same way?”
“Ask him.”
“Maybe I don’t want to know.”
“Meg.” I bumped her shoulder. “Just talk to him.”
“The way you’re talking to Eric?”
“That’s different. John loves you.”
