Lexi shook her head. “No.”
“Me neither.”
“I wanted them, but my husband didn’t, and I never forced the issue. I know people say that it’s better to have not had children when you go through a divorce, but it’s still a big regret of mine. I wish I had spoken up for what I wanted.”
Angie looked back in the direction of the front door. Jack was walking in with a group of five or six people. She returned her attention to Lexi. “The flip side of that is you tell him exactly what you want and it turns into a big fight. That was the case for me.”
Lexi hadn’t considered that possibility. She’d had several months to reflect back on her marriage to Roger, and she’d worried many times that she’d allowed herself to be a doormat. “I guess we’ve both been through the wringer.”
Angie drew a deep breath through her nose. “Definitely. The question is where do we go from here? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to tie myself to another guy.”
Lexi truly felt put on the spot, but she had to be honest. “I’m not ready either, but I do like your brother a lot. We have so much fun together.”
“I don’t know that it’s possible to not have fun with my brother.”
From across the room, a woman Lexi didn’t know was laughing and grabbing Jack’s biceps. She did her best to tamp down her jealousy, but it was next to impossible.
“Case in point,” Angie said, with a nod toward the woman. “The ladies find him endlessly entertaining.”
Lexi couldn’t help but think about the comment Mandee Meriweather had made about how she knew fifty women who would love to date him. Jack hadn’t talked at all about his romantic past, other than to share the story of his own failed engagement. “You’ve probably seen him with lots of different women.”
Angie twisted her lips into a bundle, as if she was considering how much to say. “I don’t want to lie to you.”
“It’s okay. I suspected as much.”
“Let’s just say he hasn’t taken anyone seriously since his fiancée dumped him,” Angie confided.
“He told me about that. One of those odd things we have in common.”
“If it makes you feel any better at all, I haven’t seen him be so over the moon with a girlfriend in a long time.”
“I don’t know that I’ve earned the girlfriend designation,” Lexi said. “Jack definitely left that out when he introduced me to you and Rich.”
Angie frowned. “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
Lexi had, right away. But she didn’t want to make a big deal about it, especially since the other woman would likely bring it up with Jack. “It’s nothing. And believe me, I’m not pushing for the label. I’d rather just be Lexi, and he can be Jack. That’s enough.”
But was that true?Wasit enough? Lexi glanced over at Jack and caught his eye, his lips turning up in a smile before he returned his attention to the conversation he was having. She couldn’t ignore the way she was happier when she was around him, the way he made everything better and brighter. It was like there was a big flashing sign in her face, telling her to not mess this up. She only wished the timing was different, that she’d made more headway with being her own person and standing on her own two feet before Jack came along.
“Come on,” Angie said. “We should probably go join the rest of the party.”
“Lead the way.”
Although playing the role of host had been a big job, tackling everything from ordering Angie a cake to organizing the guest list, Jack still found it a welcome respite to have a weekend away from the Soiree on the Bay construction. He’d need to be back on site first thing Monday morning for the final push on the project. It exhausted him to think about it, so he didn’t, instead having a few margaritas and enjoying several hours out by the pool with Lexi, Angie, and his other guests. Now that the festivities were winding down and only a few people remained, it would’ve been easy to start worrying about work again. Luckily, he had Lexi to distract him.
“You throw quite a party,” she said. It was just the two of them sitting under an umbrella in lounge chairs side by side.
Jack was enjoying the spectacular view of her in a bikini. This one was also black but a bit more modest than the other one. It didn’t matter too much to him. He was content looking at her curves and the stretches of her bare skin. “I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself. I know it’s been a lot. You’ve met a ton of people you didn’t know.” He would never say a word to Lexi, but he had worried about whether she would fit in at this party. Not only did she have to navigate conversation with his sister, which could be tricky in its own right, she had to make small talk with strangers, many of whom were tied to Bowden Construction. That was not Lexi’s world. Just like banking was not his.
“You make everything fun.” Lexi leaned over for a quick kiss. “Your sister and I actually chatted about that.”
Jack had been wondering how he was going to find out what those two had talked about. He was glad Lexi had brought up the subject herself. “You care to share any other parts of your conversation?”
“It might sound horrible, but we sort of bonded over our divorces. It was nice to confide in someone else who has gone through it.”
Jack was glad they’d found common ground. He knew that Angie could put up roadblocks and she would always be protective of Jack, just like he was protective of her. “That makes sense. You’ve both been through a hard time. I’m glad you were able to talk to her about it. You might have some helpful perspective for her. I think Angie still feels like her life has ended. I’m trying to remind her that she has lots of time to build a life.”
Jack felt like that was solid advice, but he didn’t necessarily think it pertained to him. He didn’t have as much runway ahead of him as his sister. At thirty-nine, with his career well established, Jack was starting to think he should get serious. Funnily enough, Lexi was the person who’d made him doubt the very notion of keeping things casual when he’d been perfectly content with it for a long time. He understood why she wanted it that way—her personal history demanded it. But he also knew the other reason he’d gone along with it from the start. He’d worried they wouldn’t get along. However, as it turned out, quite the opposite was true.
