Kate brightens. “I’m hoping to retire soon, too.”
“Good for you. It’s fun. Right, Guy?” Lina asks.
My heart sinks, and I sigh. Lina looks confused, then her lips part when she realizes what she’s said. I still haven’t told Ella. I planned to, but I’m weighing up the option of the cross-country trip alone, and that would take weeks, maybe even months of planning. And the thought of moving closer, maybe cramping their new family lifestyle, had me losing sleep. So, I put it off.
“Dad, are you retiring?” Ella asks, her voice small. “Since when?”
“I was going to tell you, baby,” I say. “But yes, I’m going to be retiring before the summer ends.”
I wait for the uncomfortable smiles, the questions about whether or not I’m sure I want to give up a thirty-year career—but none of that happens.
Gable exhales. “Thank God.”
Ella smiles and claps. “Yay!”
It takes me a second to absorb the words.
“You’re happy?”
“Yes!” Ella cries. “Dad, you’ve been miserable. And you can move closer to us! This is so great!” She gets up and hugs me over the table, clinging to me.
I’m a little speechless. “You don’t mind?”
“Are you kidding? We’d love it,” Ella sits back down. “Won’t we, Gable?”
I glance at Gable. “You too?”
“Free babysitter.” He gives me a thumbs-up and pours himself another wine. “This is great shit. Thanks, Claire.”
“Kate,” she says flatly. Another thumbs-up from Gable. “So, you’ll be movingup here?”
“Seems like it.”
The tension in my shoulders eases, and for the first time since Lina left and I made the decision to retire, I feel hopeful about it. It’s silly that I felt like I needed permission, but maybe I did.
“Then maybe there will be a date number three,” Kate says, and puts her hand on mine, her smile bright.
Lina stares at where our hands touch, and I expect anger. I expect sassy remarks, maybe even a little violence, but instead I see something different.
I think I see her heart break.
She stands, knocking her chair over, and storms into the house.
Ella watches her go. “What’s wrong with Monty?”
“I’ll check,” Gable says, and follows her.
I want to follow her too, and I shouldn’t.
I’m falling for it again. Have I really not learned my lesson by now? Lina has done nothing but lie to me. Even those “facts” about herself could be fake. I couldn’t bring myself to look her up, because I was so deep into my feelings for her that if anything she’d told me had been true, I’d have clung onto it and convinced myself she actually cared.
But she doesn’t.
She fucking doesn’t.
As Ella and Kate discuss Kate’s work, my gaze strays to the house. Through the glass doors, I see Gable and Lina.
Fighting.
