“Russ is always antsy,” Reid said.
“And you find that funny?”
“What’s funny is how Russ convinces Jessie to call me instead of doing it himself. And she falls for it every time.”
“She seems like a great girl.”
“She is. The best, actually.”
“Seems like you two have a lot of fun together.”
He glanced at her again, and his expression sobered. “After losing Diane, I’m grateful for every time we find something that we can laugh about.”
The subject was obviously painful for him, but maybe he needed to talk about his loss.
“I can’t imagine how hard it was to lose her,” she said.
“Yeah.” He fell silent for a few moments. “It’s been hard. Still is, but the worst part now is seeing Jessie struggle over losing her mother. She’s also coping with an incident that happened last year when she was abducted for a few hours. A long story that I don’t want to get into.”
Wow, oh, wow. Poor little thing.“From what I’ve seen, it seems like she’s adjusting.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Yeah, it’s going on three years at this point, and I can say she’s finally coming out of it and starting to live again.”
“And you? How are you coping?” The minute the words left her mouth and his eyes glazed over, she wanted to take them back. Getting this personal with him was the wrong thing to be doing if she wanted to keep her boundaries intact.
“I still miss her,” he answered.
“How long were you together?” she asked, her curiosity winning out over common sense.
“I met her shortly after you and I… ah…” He glanced at her, then away. “After Fowler’s trial ended.”
So Diane had taken her place in Reid’s affections.
“When did you get married?” The question came on a whisper, and Megan knew it was because the answer would hurt, but she couldn’t help asking. She fidgeted with her fingers and tensed while waiting for the reply.
“We dated for about a year,” he said.
A year.It only took a year to replace his feelings for her. She shouldn’t be surprised. She and Reid hadn’t actually dated or had an official relationship. But the feelings that had developed between them during the six-month ordeal between the robbery and Fowler’s conviction had been very real.
She felt his eyes on her, but she wouldn’t face him. And she wouldn’t take this conversation any further. She was better off keeping quiet and staring out the window.
“I was surprised to hear you married Orrin,” Reid said, his tone letting her know he thought she’d dated on the rebound too.
He was right, of course, but her rebound relationship was different. It didn’t last, and she should never have married Orrin. She and Reid had met Orrin when he’d covered Fowler’s trial for his job as a television reporter. His stellar coverage of the trial won him a local news anchor slot, and at the end of the trial, he’d asked her out for a celebratory dinner. Reid had just bailed on her and anger propelled her to go. As she and Orrin dated, she’d convinced herself that he was everything Reid wasn’t, and as such, he was the right guy for her. But she’d been wrong. So wrong.
“He didn’t seem like your type,” Reid went on as if she wasn’t ignoring him. “Why’d you break up?”
“He couldn’t handle Ella’s illness,” she said quietly.
He gaped at her for a moment. “He left when she got sick?”
“People with seriously sick children often split up,” she said, sounding strangely defensive. But why? Nothing could defend Orrin’s appalling behavior. “I’m sure you know how hard a serious illness can be on a family.”
“Yeah.” She heard the pain in his tone and expected him to say more, but he simply nodded at the upcoming driveway to the hospital parking lot. “We’re here.”
He clearly didn’t want to talk about his loss with her, and his unwillingness stung.
You’re an idiot, Megan. You can’t have things both ways. Move on and let this rest.
