Chapter 4
To say dinner was an awkward affair was to put it mildly.
Then again Keisha knew it was her fault.
One, she hadn’t warned Jaxon, and, two, he was right.
She hadn’t come across with a great attitude when she first walked in to have dinner, looking for a place to sit.
Instead of taking it good-naturedly and grabbing whatever spot was available, she had made a point of saying that she wasn’t welcome, which had immediately set off Jaxon.
He had been a rough stranger since she’d arrived, and she wasn’t sure she expected anything different—or that she deserved anything different.
She sat here, appreciating that Tiffany was trying to keep the conversation going in the hopes that some of this would smooth over.
However, since Keisha had made the mistake in the first place, she wasn’t feeling up to increasing the damage.
As soon as she finished eating, she thanked Timber and turned to Tiffany.
“Tiff, if you don’t need me anymore, I’ll head out. ”
“I’ll walk you out,” she offered immediately.
As Keisha left, several of the men called out their goodbyes. Keisha smiled, gave them a wave, took one last look at the animals, then walked over to her truck.
Tiffany smiled at her friend and fellow veterinarian. “I really appreciate the help today.”
“I’m glad you do,” she muttered, with a smile, throwing back her hair. “I appear to have set things off though. Sorry about that.”
“It’ll likely be awkward for a while anyway, until everybody deals with it,” Tiffany noted. “That is not a reason to stay away.”
“Nope, but it’s a reason to not come back very often,” she pointed out. “In a way it’s my fault. I should have let him know in the first place.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t. Why is that?”
“I guess I figured he would just …”
“What? That he would run?” Tiffany asked, with half a laugh.
“I don’t know quite what I’m supposed to do.”
“What do you mean? You filed for the divorce, right?”
“Yes, and I do think it’s the best thing,” she explained. “He’s a different person now. He’s not the person I married.”
“No, not at all,” Tiffany agreed, not holding back. “He’s been through his own hell and back, his own set of recoveries, and I think, in his mind now, his own betrayals. And, if that wasn’t enough, then you served him with divorce papers.”
She winced. “Yeah, and that just makes me feel as if I did something wrong.”
“If you tried to salvage your marriage, and it didn’t work, that’s not wrong because you tried.
That is just life,” Tiffany said, giving her a side look.
“Yet there’s no miracle ending for all this.
However, if a part of you thinks you made a hasty decision, then it’s up to you to give it some time. ”
“I don’t think I can give it time. Look at how he reacted when he saw me today.”
“Sure, but consider what he’s also dealing with. Look. I don’t know where your relationship’s at or how ugly it is,” Tiffany admitted, “but I do know that he was talking to his lawyer today, and something pissed him right off.”
She looked at her and nodded. “Yeah, I’m not surprised. The attorney I’m working with is a hard-ass.”
“And why are you working with that lawyer then? How much could you really have to settle in a legal sense?” Tiffany asked shrewdly.
“Do you need a divorce attorney to be a hard-ass? That’s pretty rough stuff for a guy who just came back from the military, broken and needing a hand, only to turn around and find out that the hand was to serve divorce papers.
” Tiffany faced her friend and nodded. “And I get it, not my business,” she conceded, “but it’s obvious that both of you are hurting. ”
“Yeah, we’re hurting. We both said some things that we probably shouldn’t have. Yet I’m not sure we can come back from that.”
“There is hope, if you want to,” Tiffany pointed out, “and, if you don’t want to, then you don’t. That’s just all there is to it. However, if anything is left of what you once had, maybe you need to take another look.”
Keisha laughed. “You make it sound so easy.”
“I don’t know that it’s easy, but I’m really not sure that it’s that difficult, not if you really want it,” Tiffany reiterated.
“I think difficult comes in all forms, and there’s just not always an easy form.
Yet, if you can find a way that won’t torment both of you, then maybe it’s worth finding a way to talk to him. ”
“Does it look like he’s ready to talk to me?” Keisha quipped.
“No, but then he’s got divorce papers on his plate and a hard-ass attorney on his phone. I don’t know what either say, yet I’m pretty sure that’s an ending he’s not quite ready for.”
“Oh, I think he’s ready for it. He barely even spoke to me.”
“What do you expect him to do?” Tiffany asked.
“He hasn’t seen you hardly at all. He’s recovering from a harsh accident and the surgery and the rehab, then comes home—expecting to see you and to have that life that’s held him in good stead all this time.
That dream has sustained him through his hospital time, only to find that you’re waiting with papers instead. ”
“He wasn’t the same person,” she argued.
“None of them are,” Tiffany declared immediately.
“Absolutely none of them are, but that doesn’t mean the person they are now isn’t still somebody you want.
You just have to figure out if you even know who and what that somebody is and whether it’s all worth fighting for.
” And, with that, she gave her friend a hug and added, “I’m not trying to be philosophical or difficult or anything else. ”
“Too bad,” she muttered, “because you’re pretty good at it.”
“I know, and I’m sorry,” she said, raising both hands.
“I found Timber, and I guess I’m in that honeymoon phase, where I want everybody else to be happy.
And I know you were happy before with Jaxon.
I don’t know what happened. I just know that you’re not happy now, and neither is he, and surely that says something too.
” With that she gave her another hug and added, “Drive carefully. The roads are really cut up, so they’re on the rough side. ”
“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” she agreed. “My truck was bouncing on the way over here.”
“Maybe it needs new springs.”
“Maybe,” she noted, “but, like you, all my money goes into the practice.”
“I appreciate you taking your Sunday and coming out to help.”
At that, the two women parted, leaving Tiffany to walk up to the front door and stand on the front porch. Timber came out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.