“Yeah, he told me a bit.”
“What did he tell you?”
“He told me about Jasper. Is there something else he should’ve told me?” I forgot the meaning of discretion then. Jordan shook his head no.
“I’m just stunned by the fact that James told you about something that makes him suffer so much.”
His statement made me purse my lips.
“You must’ve noticed that it’s hard to talk with him,” he hinted with a note of bitterness.
“Yeah, I noticed,” I begrudgingly admitted. “Are you talking about Jasper or James?”
Only then did I realize that the man was crushed with clear anguish. His chest contracted like he wanted to take a desperate breath.
“I have two walls in front of me, June. My two sons don’t let me help them in any way.”
“Maybe they’re angry with you?” I hazarded a guess, before biting the inside of my cheek.
“I couldn’t have done anything else. When I found out their mom was still seeing her ex-husband, I decided to leave her.”
Jordan seemed like someone who was trying to absolve himself from a sense of guilt about a family that had been shattered.
“Do you think your sons have an issue with you because of that?” I asked.
“Our separation was necessary. We didn’t love each other anymore. Jasper lived in New York with me for a period of time. My only regret is leaving James alone with her. She was untrustworthy. She always has been.” The man slowed down when we got onto the street leading to my house. In my mind, it wasn’t the time to make sarcastic jokes about why Jordan knew the way so well. All my attention was focused on his story.
“If I think about how many times she forgot James in the car, and how many times he stayed at school until late because she forgot to go pick him up.”
My heart broke.
“But you left their lives.”
“She broke my heart, so I decided to go back to New York, where I reclaimed my career.”
“Youchoseyour career,” I emphasized astutely.
“For a period of time I did, June. I chose my career over my kids, and now I’m trying to fix that as much as I can.”
“What about her?”
“She made tons of mistakes, but I can’t fault her for everything that happened. There are two people in a relationship, and both people make mistakes,” he stated in a melancholy voice.
“Does she ever visit them?”
“No, now she lives alone. She abandoned herself. James goes to her house every once in a while, but he never tells me about it.”
I remembered the photo Jasper had shown me of their families.
“What happened to her?” I asked when the car stopped in front of my house. Jordan gave me a dull smile.
“Tell your mom I say hi, June. See you later.”
Yeah, my mom. She incinerated me with her eyes as soon as I walked through the front door.
“Come here right now!”
Sure, if you say it with that furious tone.
