Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
M aude was enjoying herself a lot more than she’d thought she would. For one thing, Hondo was a pretty entertaining read.
For another, Lester was about the coolest dude she’d ever met. He’d made a little snort-laugh at one line in the book, which had caused her to stop reading and start asking him questions.
She’d made him agree to yes and no answers only, to save his strength. Sometimes he shook his head or gave her a thumbs-up instead. Judging by the wry smile that seemed to have become a permanent fixture on his face, he was enjoying the afternoon as much as she was.
So far, she’d learned he was a military veteran who’d served during the Vietnam War, that Althea was his second wife, that he never thought he’d get married again at his age, and that he had two sons, one of whom was also in the military, the other Maude had yet to determine his occupation.
She was about to ask him if his son was in tech like she was, when a knock at the door interrupted them.
“Hello, Mr. Anderson, how are you doing—Maude.” Ollie stopped short. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
She stared at Ollie. She hadn’t expected to see him, either, but of course he’d be here.
He was a cardiologist at this hospital and Lester was here because of his heart.
She’d already figured out that Lester was why Ollie had gotten called away from the beach so suddenly.
Lester’s gaze was shifting between them. She gave him a little nod. “Ollie.”
She should have answered his note. This was going to be awkward.
Oliver moved closer to Lester’s bedside. “Are you a relative of Lester’s?”
“I’m a friend of his wife’s. We’re in a book club together.” She held up her iPad, which had long ago powered off. “I’m reading to Lester.”
Lester nodded enthusiastically, like he was confirming her story, but that was exactly what she’d been doing. Still, she appreciated Lester’s willingness to back her up in whatever he thought was going on.
“That’s really nice.” He smiled at her then directed his attention to Lester. “Aren’t you a lucky man to have such great company?”
“Yep,” Lester wheezed as he held his thumb up.
Maude took the opportunity to check out Ollie’s left hand. Not surprisingly, his wedding ring was back on, which it had not been at the beach. She grabbed her bag, shoved her iPad into it, and stood. “I’ll give you some privacy.”
She touched Lester’s arm, thankful for the bed separating her from Ollie. Why did he have to look so good in scrubs and that stupid white coat? “Lester, I’ll be back in about fifteen minutes or so. I’m just going to run down to the cafeteria.”
She did not want to have a conversation with Ollie here about his inappropriateness and her unwillingness to become his side chick. She hoisted the straps of her tote over her shoulder and headed for the door.
“Maude,” Ollie called out. “Just give me a minute.”
She snorted out a breath of air and kept walking. She followed the signs to the cafeteria, where she bought a ham and cheese sandwich, a package of chips, and a Coke. She took a table near the wall and sat.
She left the food on the tray. The sandwich got unwrapped, the chip bag was opened, and the top of her Coke unscrewed. She pulled her phone out and fired up one of her puzzle game apps to entertain herself while she ate.
It was hard not to think about Lester and what he’d gone through in his life. Not just the war and the friends he’d lost but later on losing his first wife, who’d been his high school sweetheart.
She knew what that felt like in a small way.
Except it was clear to her now that she’d built Ollie up to be something he wasn’t.
As a teenager, and even into her college years, she’d imagined he’d track her down someday and profess his love, telling her that he’d never met anyone who could take her place.
Obviously, he had. And obviously, Maude had made way too much out of her first sort of serious relationship. What an idiot she’d been. She shook her head and took another bite of her sandwich. She’d been a teenage girl, and while she might not have had kids, she knew how teenage girls were.
She’d helped out at a summer computer camp two years in a row.
The girls who’d taken part, while bright and motivated, still mooned over the best-looking young men in the program, getting crazy emotional over the littlest things, imagining that even a casual glance in their direction meant love was on the horizon.
A quick bit of research had uncovered that teenage girls were prone to such things due to the high levels of hormones coursing through them at that stage of life. Maude had no reason to think she’d been any different at that age.
That’s all Ollie had been. Her first kiss. Her first real boyfriend. And an overabundance of hormones. Which, if she was being honest, was a little how she felt thinking about him now. He was unnaturally good-looking. Like, no man should be that handsome.
It was just unfair to the rest of humanity.
She reached for a chip. The chair across from her moved and, as she looked up, Ollie sat down.
She sucked in air but said nothing.
“Did I do something? I thought you were happy to see me and now…” He shrugged.
She frowned at him, leaned forward, and whispered, “You’re married . I don’t hang out with married men.”
“I’m not marr— Well, I am, but—” he sighed. “Let me start over.” He looked around like he didn’t want to be overhead. “My wife, Emily, and I are separated. She wants a divorce. I want to try to work things out.”
His entire mood seemed to drop. “At least I did. She’s being incredibly difficult and after a year of this, the light at the end of the tunnel seems to have gone out. I need to accept it, I guess.”
She stared at him, arms crossed. “You’re still wearing your wedding ring.”
He nodded, glancing at his hand. “Because I’ve kept the separation a secret. You have any idea the kind of gossip that goes on in a hospital? I’ve been trying to stay out of that.” He twisted the ring on his finger. “There’s no stopping the inevitable, I suppose.”
He dropped his hands to his lap where she couldn’t see them. “Emily texted me a month ago that she was having papers drawn up. It’s just a matter of time before they arrive. Then there’ll be no point in pretending. It’ll be done.”
Maude studied him. He looked genuinely upset. There was one thing she needed to know. “You still love her?”
“She’s the mother of my children and those kids are the best things that have ever happened to me. But I don’t know if I understand love anymore. I loved her the best that I could and it wasn’t enough.”
He smiled. “When I saw you on the beach, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I thought you were exactly what I needed.
Someone who knew me. Someone who had their head on right.
You always were my favorite person to talk to.
I thought maybe talking to you would help me make sense of things again.
Help me sort through the mess my life has become. ”
Her brows lifted. “You thought I could do that? You’re a cardiologist. How much of a mess could your life be?”
“It feels pretty big right now.” He put his right hand on the table. “Are you just here because of Lester?”
“No. I live in the Colony. I moved in the day after my fifty-fifth birthday.” She smiled. “I guess you could say I embraced this new era of my life with grace and acceptance.”
He laughed. “You embraced getting older? I can’t imagine the Maude I knew doing that.” His smile faltered. “But I suppose we’ve both grown up, huh?”
“I don’t feel grown up.”
“Neither do I, most days. You still look like a million bucks, by the way. Better than you did in high school somehow. Tell me everything that’s happened in your life since I last saw you. Before the beach, I mean.”
She chuckled, flattered by his words. “That’s not a five-minute conversation. And you look pretty good yourself.”
“I don’t suppose it is a quick conversation. Listen, I’m sorry if I made you think…” His eyes narrowed. “What did you think?”
“That you figured we were going to reconnect in a way that would be something you’d want to keep from your wife.”
“Maudie, you know me better than that.”
“Yeah,” she said, smiling at the use of his nickname for her. “I let a Google search get into my head. Sorry about that.”
“You found my bio on the hospital’s website?”
She nodded.
He took a breath. “We haven’t told the kids yet. They know we’re separated, but that’s it.”
“Don’t you think it’s time if she’s getting paperwork drawn up?”
“Yes, but that was Emily’s idea. She thinks we should wait until Harper and Nolan get through their respective graduations.”
“Don’t they know you aren’t living in the same house? Or are you?”
“Not since six weeks ago when I moved to the Colony. She’s still in our house.”
“This can’t be easy.”
“Going from five thousand square feet to nine-hundred and eighty? It’s not, trust me.”
“Who got to keep the dog?”
He opened his mouth to answer her, but a soft chime on the PA interrupted him. “Paging Cardiology, Room 417, stat. Paging Cardiology, Room 417, stat.”
He jumped up. “I gotta go. You have my number. Please text me. I really do want to catch up.”
“I will,” she said. And this time, she meant it.