The truth is, I’m not so sure theyarejealous. I know Greg’s not. It’s not long, however, before Trish is casting nasty glares in my direction. She is definitely jealous.
The satisfaction I get from that is short-lived. What if Trish decides to go back to Beau? He’d probably take her back in a heartbeat. They have history, they have a family, and let’s face it, Trish is exactly his type. I’m not even in the same ballpark. I’m in a different park completely.
But for the first time in a long time, I don’t feel like one is better than the other. I don’t feel less than, just different, and that’s fine by me. If Beau likes me as I am, and so far, he seems to, great. If not, then I guess this won’t last.
Paige plays a song on her flute, making little to no mistakes. Beau whistles like he’s at a ballgame while the rest of us clap. Trish shoots eye-daggers at him over it, but Beau doesn’t pay any mind.
After the recital, Beau and I make niceties with Greg and Trish while we wait for Paige and the boys to finish their refreshments.
“So,” Greg says, eyeing me from bottom to top. Compared to Trish, I’m incredibly under-dressed. Good thing the other guests are in casual attire as well. “What brings you here today?” He says it like I shouldn’t have been invited.
Beau slips his hand along my lower back. “We all like hanging out,” he says. “Paige is crazy about Kirsten.” He meets my gaze before looking at Greg again. “Weallare.”
Greg’s jaw goes tight.
Trish rolls her eyes. “Whatever, we’re leaving. Have fun putting away the chairs.” She loops a hand around Greg’s arm.
Greg glances between me and Beau before stepping in line with Trish.
“What does she mean about the chairs?” I ask.
“They always ask families to stay behind and put the chairs away. Trish tries to leave before they start doing that, but I usually stay behind anyway while she sits on her phone in the car.”
Beau takes me and Jack home afterward. Maggie has us over for dinner and tells us all about her chaotic date with the electrician and his nonstop puns, saying it was most definitely not a love match. Jack tells her about the great time we had with the Wheatons. Everything from our karaoke movie night to the morning brunch and recital. Maggie’s giving me eyes the whole time, and I know she’s dying for details I can’t exactly spill in front of Jack. At least not yet. That’s something I’ll have to talk to Beau about.
“Looked like Dad and Trish werepissed,” Jack says with a laugh. “I bet they were shocked to see you and Beau together.”
“Ooh,” Maggie chirps. “Do tell!”
I do, though there isn’t much to say in that department. The bigger news is that we already have plans for tomorrow.
“Wow,” Maggie says, giving me those eyes again.
“Hey, Mom,” Jack says, “do you think you’ll still hang out with Beau next weekend, like when we’re gone?”
Now, it’s my eyes that are going wide. I pat my chest and cough. “I don’t know.”
“You should,” he says. “You guys are so alike, seriously. Parker and I laugh about it.”
“Hmm.” I smile, realizing that Jack’s okay with the idea. In fact, he’s encouraging it.
“So, what do you think?” he prods.
“Yeah, Kirsten,” Maggie adds with a laugh. “What do you think?”
I shrug. “I guess we’ll see.”
CHAPTER20
Beau
There was a handful of things I got depressed about while Trish and I were finalizing the divorce—most were annual events: holidays, birthdays, summer vacations, and our annual day trip to Spicer’s Orchard.
While sitting at my office desk, I scroll through the photos we took on Sunday. Having Kirsten and Jack come along was a stroke of genius. As the end of summer neared, I kept picturing me taking the kids, everyone feeling this massive void where Mom used to be. Heck, we’ve taken a picture in front of their giant apple sign every year since Parker was five.
Having Kirsten and Jack there took the sting right out of it. In fact, we stayed longer than we have in years. Trish always got fed up with being there. She’d start threatening an hour into it, saying we had to choose wisely what we were doing next because she wasn’t staying much longer. Meanwhile, the kids and I still had a list of things we wanted to do. It’s a once-a-year type of deal. Couldn’t she just stay off social media a little longer and try to have fun?
Irritation roars hot at the recollection, but as I roll my shoulders back and remind myself that that’s all in the past, it falls right off.
