“Wait,” I say, unfastening the buttons on my flannel shirt. “You can sit on this. I’ll just sit on the butt of my jeans.”
Ashley's gaze splits between the view and the action of me shrugging out of the flannel. Wearing just a white T-shirt on top, I shake out the flannel, lay it over a spot on the ground, then take a seat beside it before she can argue.
Once she’s seated, I start in. "So, what do you want to talk about first? Failed marriages, midlife crises, or the challenges of raising kids who think they’re smarter and cooler than us?"
She tips her head back and chuckles softly. "I think I'll take failed marriages for five hundred."
"Failed marriages, it is," I say, but then I remember the promise I made myself. “How about I letyoustart since I am not supposed to discuss mine in detail right now.”
"Litigation process?" she guesses.
I shake my head. "That's long been done. It's more of a therapeutic process courtesy of my happily engaged brothers.”
“Which brothers?" She shifts her position, and I try not to get distracted by the feel of her thigh as it brushes against my knee.
"That would be Braxton, who’s getting married for the first time to Maggie Modella. She owns the Coffee Loft that used to be an old train station."
"Oh, that's cool. I'll have to check that one out. We had a Coffee Loft in Oregon that I loved. So, which of yourotherbrothers suggested this therapy you’re referring to?"
"Beau. He’s actually engaged to Maggie's sister, Kirsten. And if I told you the story behind their courtship, you wouldn't believe me."
"Well, you can't just dangle bait like that and leave me hanging."
"Beau’s wife was hooking up with Kirsten’s husband while they were married. Their teenage sons, who are here with me and Cam, are the ones who spotted signs of the infidelity first."
"Ouch,” Ashley says. “And I thought I had it bad."
"Oh yeah? Let's hear about it. Youarethe one who chose the failed marriage category."
"Yeah, I guess I did, but not because it's the aphrodisiac of conversation, mind you. It's more of an inevitable evil, I guess. Something you have to get out of the way right up front.”
“Right,” I agree. “We’ll just summarize. We can do that.”
“Definitely,” She straightens her shoulders. “I’ll summarize without going into the gory details. You remember Ross from school, right?”
I nod as I think of Ross Brynn and his cheesyBrynn for the Wincampaign motto when he ran for student body office. I always thought the kid would go into politics, not dentistry.
“Yeah,” I say, sounding as unimpressed with the guy as I am, now that he lost her, anyway.
“Well, Ross has controlling tendencies, and I have pushover tendencies. Stick the two together, and you have a dictatorship, not a healthy marriage. But, like I said, I’m just as responsible for it as he is.”
I nod, though I don’t fully agree. A guy who walks all over his woman is no man at all. Just because youcanget away with something doesn’t mean youshould.
“So, how about you?” she asks. “Can you give me a summary without breaking any of your rules?"
I consider that, determined to stick to my no-whining rule. My inner coach agrees.Tell her without sounding like the victim. You can do that.
The trouble is, I don’t want to sound like the bad guy either. Of course, Chapter Two was eye-opening enough that I discovered how far from perfect I was in the relationship.
I decide to take Ashley’s approach and share that discovery without going into too much detail. "Gabrielle had the tendency to belittle those around her. And I had the tendency to allow it, and then internalize it, which resulted in passive-aggressive behavior." There, I admitted to my own unsavory crap. But hopefully, she’ll be able to look past it; recognition is crucial to not repeating the unsavory crap, so…
Ashley nods appreciatively. "That's interesting."
I would give anything to know the ways in which that information interests Ashley, but if we go any further down thispath, I'll become Liam Hurt Heart again, and that is no longer who I am, or at least who I want to be. How I act from this point on, this conversation included, will put that to the test.
“I can fess up to doing passive-aggressive stuff, too,” she admits. “We had to get even somehow, right?”
It makes me realize we both see ourselves as the wronged spouse in our relationships. I wonder if Ross agrees or tries to claim the title himself. Gabrielle knows she’s mean, so she lets me hold the title. Which, now that I think of it, has probably done more harm than good.
