“Nothing like getting love advice from your ex-wife.”
-Ryker
Cat fell asleep in the car on the way back to the guest house. She didn’t wake up when we arrived, so I carried her upstairs to her bedroom and tucked her in.
I watched her like a creeper for a few minutes before I pried myself away from her side.
Ev was waiting for me downstairs, grinning ear-to-ear.
“What is that look for?” I point in her general direction then head to the kitchen for a glass of water.
She smiles brighter. “I’ve never seen you like this before.”
I grunt.
She laughs. “Deny it all you want. I’ve seen that look on someone else before, though.”
I arch an eyebrow.
“In the mirror when I met Dylan.”
I pause. “That so?”
“Oh yeah,” Ev settles on a stool next to me. “It took me a while to realize he was it for me.”
I sit next to her. “You never told me about that.”
She gives me a guarded look. “I wasn’t sure how you’d take the story.”
“Ev, just because we didn’t work out doesn’t mean I don’t want you to be happy,” I shrug. “I’m glad you met him. I’m happy you married him.”
She smiles. “I fought it, though.”
“You did?”
“Hell, yeah,” she laughs. “When you and I broke up, I had the kids to think about. I barely had time to take them to school, much less to date.”
A pang of regret hits me in the chest. “I’m sorry.”
“No,” she touches my arm. “You were overseas, not some sort of deadbeat dad. And we weren’t meant to be together. This was for the best. I made my peace with that long ago, Ryker.”
I look at my hands.
“I love you, and I know you love me, but not the way I needed and deserved,” Ev forces me to look at her. “I had to learn that to be ready for Dylan. Not that I was ready for the whirlwind that he was, blowing into my nice and tidy life. He was like a freaking hurricane, tossing everything out the window, including all of my plans to never date again.”
I chuckle at that. It’s a good description of her second husband.
“Thing is, his persistence is what got me out of my head and gave him a chance,” Ev continues. “We clicked almost immediately. He could get my pulse racing like nothing else. And it terrified me. I was so worried about all of the things that could go wrong. I wasn’t thinking about what could go right. Dylan did everything in his power to get me to see that, and there was a time when we almost broke up for good.”
My jaw drops.
She nods. “I tried to push Dylan away. Then he became quiet. That’s when I knew shit was about to hit the fan. He was so calm. He told me that he loved me. He knew I was the one for him. There would be no other. He didn’t threaten. He didn’t push. He simply asked me to give us a chance. A real chance. Ninety days.”
“Why ninety days?”
“Because there’s some sort of study that found people can’t keep up pretenses for more than three months,” Ev smiles. “It’s too much trouble.”
“Makes sense.”
