“That’s nice. That’s sort of who Claire’s always been to me.”
At the mention of her name, a renewed wave of guilt washes over me, and I do my best to school my expression.
“How long have you known her?” I take a sip of wine, wishing it were stronger.
I still have so many questions about their relationship. He didn’t go into too much detail the other night, just that they were once more than friends before realizing it was a mistake.
“We went to preschool together. Over the years, she sort of became like the sibling I never had.”
“How did you go from being friends to…more than friends?” I ask around the sour taste in my mouth.
“Hormones, mostly,” he says with a laugh.
“Hormones?” My stomach tightens, but I force my face to remain neutral.
“Claire had a crush on a different guy in our grade, and he asked her out, but she was kind of nervous since she’d never even kissed someone. So being the good friend I am, I offered to help her practice. On me.”
I’m not sure who I’m more jealous of. This nameless person who caught Claire’s attention, or my own son.
“And did she?”
“She did.”
“And the other guy?”
“Was a dick to her.” His jaw tenses, and I can feel his anger, despite how long it’s been since this happened. It reminds me of myself.
“So did you ask her out after that?”
“No. In fact, I don’t think I ever really asked her out.”
“You didn’t?” I scrunch my brows.
“We’d still…practice with each other, but always with the expectation of eventually dating someone else. We were simply friends who hooked up. Until…”
“Yes?”
He blows out a self-deprecating laugh. “Until I asked her to marry me last year.”
I nearly spit out my chicken, his statement taking me completely by surprise. “You what? I didn’t think you were serious.”
It was one thing for them to sleep together. But for him to ask her tomarryhim?
“We weren’t,” he answers
“Then…”
“Mom was sick.” He finishes chewing a piece of chicken and washes it down with some wine. “When her last round of chemo didn’t work like she’d hoped and she opted out of additional treatment, I don’t know…” He blows out a long breath. “I guess I thought it would bring my mom some joy in her final few months.”
I nod. If I were in his shoes, I probably would have done the same thing.
“Thankfully, Claire saw it for what it was and turned me down.”
“And now?”
“We’re back to being friends.”
“Just friends?” I ask, needing confirmation I didn’t fuck Claire while he still was.
