“Do you want me to come to you, or are you going to come to me?” he asks, his deep voice rumbling in my ear.
“Well, I guess it depends. I have bread in the oven.”
“Are you stress baking?”
“So what if I am?”
“Then I would wonder why you were stress baking.”
“I would say that it’s probably none of your business,” I say in a singsong voice.
“Well, maybe it is my business. When’s your bread done?”
I glance at the timer. “Five minutes.”
“Well, I have the divorce papers here. Do you want to come over and we can talk about it?”
Why do I have the sudden urge to bawl my eyes out?
“Of course. We’ll be there soon.”
I hang up the phone before he can say anything else because I’m scared I’ll cry.
Alexander and I walk into Miles’s house. The code combination is the same, and I unlocked it out of habit.
Maybe I should have knocked. I don’t know.
Miles is standing in the kitchen, and Alexander jerks the leash out of my hand and trots inside to smother him with love and slobber.
I slide my shoes off and come to stand at the line between the kitchen and living room.
To be honest, I’m not sure what to do or say.Hey, thanks for the marriage while it lasted?
“How are you?” Miles asks as he stands up from hugging Alexander.
I have a hard time reading his mood. His face is blank until he looks down at Alexander and smiles and pats his head.
“I’m good,” I say with a forced smile.I’m not good. I’m lonely, and I miss you.But I don’t want to make him uncomfortable, so I keep that little bit to myself.
“I…” He starts to speak, but then turns around and starts messing with the coffeepot. “I miss you.”
My breath catches as I wait for him to add my dog’s name to that…but he doesn’t.
“We missed you too.”
He punches the start button with such ferocity that I expect it to fall apart.
He spins around as the coffee starts dripping and stares at me. “I mean,you, Lucy. It’s too quiet here.”
The coffeepot splutters in the background, and I do my best to summon up a smile. “Thank you. Honestly, it means a lot to be missed.”I miss you. I love you. But I’m scared I’ve fallen so far for you that I’ll never recover.
“I know. But I’m saying it for selfish reasons.”
“You miss big breakfasts?”
That finally shakes a smirk out of him. “I miss having you in my life.”
“We’ll still see each other…” I try to reason with both of us. I don’t know if it’s working though because my eyes are starting to mist.
