Chapter 29 #2
I glance back at the table and understand why Luke didn’t stop to chat.
Everything about their body language screams that this is an unhappy couple.
Jessica seems to be doing most of the talking, illustrating her points with emphatic hand gestures.
Her fingernails are painted blood-red, her hair’s platinum blonde, and she just doesn’t seem to fit with Dr. Atwell.
And it’s no wonder it took me a minute to recognize Dr. Atwell, because he looks completely different than he did at the hospital. It’s not only the lack of scrubs, it’s the attitude; this man is sullen. Defeated.
“I think they’re having problems,” Luke says quietly, and I realize I’ve been staring.
“That’s too bad,” I reply. I pick up a menu and resolve to keep my eyes on our own table. Dr. Atwell’s relationship problems are none of my business.
“Know what you want?” Luke asks, gesturing at the menu.
“Maybe the egg white omelet,” I say thoughtfully. After last night’s indulgence at Buona Notte, I need to get back on track.
Luke raises an eyebrow. He’s probably thinking that no one really wants an egg white omelet, and he’s right.
He leans across the table. “Milly,” he says, keeping his voice low. “I plan to take you back to bed this afternoon, and when I do, I don’t want you hungry for anything but me.”
I order eggs Benedict and hash browns.
The rest of the day passes like something out of a movie.
We walk back to my house through the university campus, which is at its best this time of year—a blaze of red and yellow leaves against old limestone buildings.
As promised, Luke takes me back to bed when we get home, and after we’ve worn ourselves out, we take a nap.
When we wake up, Luke persuades me to model my unicorn Halloween costume, which is a rainbow-colored onesie complete with a tail. After that, I show him how to make peanut butter cookies, and while they bake, he helps me make chicken stir-fry for dinner.
When we’ve finished dinner, we move to the living room and eat warm peanut butter cookies in front of the TV. As I finish my cookie and lick a crumb from my finger, I feel Luke’s eyes on me.
“Upstairs,” he says hoarsely. It’s not so much a demand as a statement of the inevitable, because it’s inevitable that we’ll end up in bed together.
It’s also inevitable that it will be good, and it is.
There are no early visitors to wake us up the next morning, so we sleep late. When we finally wander downstairs for breakfast, I’m in such a good mood that not even a text from Troy can ruin it.
“Your mother again?” Luke teases, as I tap a reply.
“Troy, actually,” I tell him, setting my phone down on the counter.
The change in Luke’s expression is comical. One minute he looks lazy and amused, and the next he looks like a thundercloud.
“What does he want?” he asks suspiciously.
“He wants to talk to me this afternoon, when he drops off the kids.”
Luke’s expression darkens further. “Talk about what?”
I shrug. “He didn’t say. If Claire mentioned I got a teaching job, he may want to renegotiate spousal support or something.”
“Can he do that?”
“I think so. It wouldn’t be an unreasonable request, although he probably thinks I’m earning more than I am.”
“Should you call your lawyer?” Luke seems far more concerned about this than I am. “Or if you can’t get your lawyer on short notice, I could call my mom. This is basically what she does.”
Much as I’d love to see Helen Carlton go toe to toe with Troy in a legal fight, I shake my head. “It’s okay. It might not even be about that.”
Luke frowns. “You want me to stay, talk to him with you?”
“Thanks, Luke, but I’ll be fine.” I love that he’s willing to help fight my battles, but I need to deal with Troy on my own.
Luke heads out shortly after five, and Troy and the kids arrive half an hour later. Claire’s eager to tell me about their trip to the High Park zoo, and Liam’s cranky in the way of a kid who’s just been woken from a nap.
And Troy looks nervous. His eyes are darting around the entrance hall, as though he’s afraid to look at me.
“You have a nice house,” he says politely.
“Thanks,” I reply curtly, before turning to Liam. “Come on, Liam. You can have bonus TV while I talk to your dad for a minute.” This perks him up immediately, and he runs for the living room couch. I hit play on a cartoon, give Claire the iPad, and lead Troy to the kitchen.
“Would you like something to drink?” I ask.
“No, thanks.” Troy takes a seat at the kitchen table and scrubs a hand through his hair. Picks an invisible speck of dust from his shirt. Taps his fingers on the table.
“You said there was something you wanted to talk about?” I prompt.
“Yeah.” His eyes finally meet mine. “You look good, Melissa.”
“Thanks.” Being well-loved by Luke Carlton will do that for a girl.
“Claire said you’re doing some teaching?”
“Yeah, I’m teaching math at a private school. Just mornings, while Liam’s in preschool.”
“Wow. I stopped taking math after grade eleven. I wasn’t going to be a mathematician, so I didn’t really see the point.”
“A lot of people feel that way.”
I wait for Troy to suggest his spousal support payments should be reduced, since I’m earning some money, but he doesn’t.
Instead, he just sits there awkwardly, drumming his fingers against the table.
His usual confidence seems to have deserted him, and I start to worry that whatever he wants to tell me is going to be really bad.
Maybe he’s lost his job, or been diagnosed with some awful illness.
Whatever it is, I wish he’d just spit it out.
“What did you want to talk about, Troy?”
He lets out a breath. “I know the kids are supposed to be with you next weekend, but I wondered what you thought about bringing them to Toronto again? One of my colleagues gave me tickets to Beauty and the Beast, and I thought Olivia could take Claire. It’s gotten good reviews.”
I stare at him for a moment, surprised that he’s making such a big deal out of a request for an extra weekend with the kids. He mistakes my silence for disagreement.
“They missed a weekend with me when Claire was sick,” he says defensively. “So I thought—”
“Yeah, Troy, it’s fine. I’ll drive them down Friday evening.”
“Thanks.”
“Is that all?”
“No. Olivia and I are getting married in the spring.” He blurts it out in a rush, then tenses as though he’s preparing for an attack.
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” he says warily. It’s clear he’d been expecting a different reaction. “You’re not upset?”
“No.” Of course, if I was upset, I would do my damnedest to hide it from Troy, but in this case, it’s the truth. I’ve moved on.
Troy visibly relaxes. “I was dreading this conversation, you know.”
“I could tell,” I say with a chuckle, and I notice his hair is going gray at the temples. I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise; he’s thirty-five, after all. At twenty-two, Olivia’s closer in age to the students I teach than she is to Troy. “Be good to her, Troy.”
“What?” he asks. “Oh, uh, of course. Yeah. I plan to.”
“Okay.”
“We’d like the kids to come to the wedding.”
“All right.” I suppose I can’t argue with that. “Just let me know the date.”
“May 28th. We’re having the reception at Casa Loma.”
“Wow.” Casa Loma’s an actual castle in downtown Toronto, and a really popular wedding venue. “I thought you had to book Casa Loma, like, two years in advance.”
“We got a cancellation,” Troy says quickly, but there’s a telltale blush spreading over his cheeks.
“You’ve been planning this a while, haven’t you?”
“Only since May,” he says, a little defensively.
“Sure,” I nod. “Do the kids know?”
“We told them yesterday. They seemed okay with it. Claire’s going to be a bridesmaid, and Liam will be the ringbearer.”
I nod again. It’s not like it’ll change much for them. From everything I’ve seen, Olivia’s basically living with Troy already.
“And, uh, you would be welcome to come to the wedding, too. Only if you want to, of course. But I thought it would be good for the kids, you know, to see that you’re okay with it.”
I stare at the floor and choke down a mad urge to laugh. At this time last year, I couldn’t have imagined attending Troy and Olivia’s wedding. I might even have said I’d prefer to stab my eyes out with a fork. But now . . . well, the betrayal doesn’t sting anymore.
If anything, Troy did me a favor.
And since we share Claire and Liam, Troy and I will be part of each other’s lives for a long time. Things will be easier if we can be civil.
I look up to find Troy looking at me expectantly, waiting for my answer.
“Thanks, Troy. I’ll think about it.”