“Uh, tough.”
“Oh no.” I knew his tone. “Something bad happened.”
“Yeah.” He didn’t say anything else. Jack was not usually very quiet. He liked to talk and silence meant something was wrong.
After a few moments, I asked, “Want to talk about it?”
He scrubbed a hand up the side of his face. “I’m—not sure I honestly can.”
My voice was soft, almost drowned out by the crickets coming to life. “I’m sorry, Jack.”
“That’s okay. I’d rather focus on you anyway.” He flashed me an assured smile. “Tell me aboutyour day.”
I told him what we did and about a couple silly things Kacey said. But our day wasn’t very eventful, so in a few moments’ time, the conversation lagged again. Jack knelt on the opposite side of the garden and began pulling some weeds, too.
Finally, he said, “Tell me something.”
“Like what?”
“Something about you.”
I gave him a surprised frown. “That’s pretty vague. What do you want to know?”
“How about pregnancy? Or birth or something? That’s an entire part of you I know nothing about.”
I felt hesitant to discuss something that personal. Jack should’ve been a part of the whole process, so it was awkward. But, I mean, Kacey was his son. It made sense he’d want to know all the things. I tried to keep my response light. “Oh boy. What a topic.”
“Maybe keep the details of Chris out. I’ve had a bad day as it is.”
“Well, it would please you to know that Chris was in the waiting room as my friend during Kacey’s birth. Along with a co-worker of mine I was close to. I did the actual birth alone.”
His gaze drilled into me as he took a deep, quiet breath—the only evidence was the expansion of his chest. “Were you afraid?”
A sting in my eyes pushed in unwelcomed. “Yeah. I was terrified.” I cleared my tightening throat. “Jack, this is a big conversation. I might—it could make me really emotional.”
He reached for a weed inside the squash plants. “Unless you object to sharing, I’m all ears.”
He might change his mind in a few minutes when I started blubbering, but how long had I wanted to have this conversation with Jack, anyway?
“Pregnancy was hard. When the doctor told me it was viable and the baby looked healthy, he ordered bed rest. Which was a problem because I was a waitress. That’s when I came home and…we know how that went. Anyway—I didn’t want to take chances of losing Kacey, so I went to quit my job. Chris was my boss at the time. He—well, never mind, I can skip that part…”
“Wait. Don’t skip it.”
“You said no details about Chris.”
“I’m curious now. Go on.”
“Okay.” I tried to remember where I was. Jack hadn’t pressed for too many details about Chris. Probably because he knew he’d blow a gasket. I’d been careful not to say too much—but it was time he knew some things. “He had a duplex he owned and allowed me to move into it for a really cheap rate. He knocked the normal rent way down.”
“I thought you lived with your college friend at that point.”
“I did, but she got engaged and moved literally a few months after I got there. Left me high and dry. Obviously, I couldn’t afford rent by myself.”
He grunted.
“So I moved into Chris’ duplex and lived there while I did some kind of remote tech work on my phone. It wasn’t much pay, but it was enough to make the low rent.”
“Were you sick?”
