* * *
After our private rendezvous, we’re forty minutes late to Pittsburgh. The good news is, so are the movers.
“I’m impressed by how organized everything is,” I say to Jenson as I help him take a few of the boxes out of his townhouse and into his truck. “You’ve labeled the stuff you want to take back so you’re not fishing around for it all afternoon like I would be.”
“The moving company said they’d get the furniture to my house next week. But Kyle and Connor had a few things they don’t want to wait for.” He gives me a kiss. “The landlord’s on his way now so I can hand over the keys. We’ll sit tight until he shows, and then we can get food downtown if you want. There’s a good pizza and ice-cream place. It’s called Pitts Stop.”
“That sounds perfect. So, how far away from here does Meghan live? You know, your old house?” I ask him. Mentioning the elephant in the room doesn’t feel great, but I’m curious where they lived together.
“She and Andy are away with the kids,” Jenson reminds me. “We won’t run into them.”
“I know,” I say. “That’s not why I asked.”
“Oh. Why did you ask?”
I put my hand on one of the belt loops on his jeans and slip my fingers inside it. “I think I want to see where you lived when you were out here and I was in Liberty Falls.”
He doesn’t ask me why I need to see it, and I love him for that. He puts his hand around mine, which is still clinging tightly to his belt loop. “We can drive there before we get food. It’s about ten minutes away.”
* * *
“That’s it.” Jenson slows the truck and points across the street.
I look past him at the bluish grey two-story house he and Meghan lived in for their brief marriage. It looks surprisingly normal in a normal suburban neighborhood. Doesn’t look like a place where divorces happen.
I nod at him and don’t say anything. Jenson pulls away from the curb and drives off. Neither of us speaks until he parks outside Pitts Stop.
“I was living my life wrong,” Jenson says to me as we sit in the truck outside the ice-cream parlor. “I remember sitting in Pitts Stop with Kyle and Connor after Meghan and I agreed to try again after our separation. They couldn’t even talk yet, but I was sitting there trying to explain to my two babies how Mommy and Daddy were going to live together again. And I’m ashamed to admit it, but part of me wanted to jump in the truck and run like hell.” He looks at me. “Things were never good between Meghan and me, and all it took was a few months of living in the same house again for us both to fully accept that we were never supposed to be together. We went forward with the divorce, and that was it.”
I exhale, feeling past pain that I’ve been holding onto finally disappear. “Thanks for showing me the house, and I truly appreciate your honesty. But I don’t need to talk about it anymore. I’m just so grateful we have a second chance, Jenson.”
He brings me into his chest. “Me too.”
