Chapter 3 Lila #2
“My best friend group. There are five of us. We’ve been best friends since our kids started kindergarten the same year.
I don’t know what I would do without them.
We’re all single—well, we were—Gillian just got married.
But for years we’ve all been single and helped one another out however we can.
Picking up kids if something comes up. Like aunties, I guess. ”
“That says a lot about you.”
“In what way?” I asked.
“People who have close friends value relationships. Even friendships take work.”
“I guess that’s true. We are very different from one another. All have different strengths and weaknesses. But we agreed early on that we would take care of one another, no matter what.” I took another sip of water. My mouth had gone dry. “What about you? Do you miss your friends from France?”
“I do, actually. I had a close gang—mostly friends from the restaurant where I worked for many years. Restaurant work is intimate. People grow close.”
“Is that how you met your ex-wife?”
“No, I met her at a party. She’s from Cliffside Bay. So we bonded over that, I guess.”
“And then it went south? Did she cheat on you?”
He cocked his head to the side, watching me, amusement flickering in his eyes. “Okay, you just jump right in with the real questions.”
“Is that bad? I haven’t dated. At all. You know, since my divorce.”
“No, it’s refreshing. I guess, at our age, it’s best just to get it all out there.”
The wine arrived, distracting us momentarily. Hunter brought it out himself, uncorking and pouring a taste for Vance, who took a sip.
“Great, thanks, man,” Vance said.
“My pleasure.” Hunter poured us each a glass and left the bottle in an ice bucket.
Vance lifted his glass, clinking it with mine. “To our first date.”
First date. Did that mean he wanted a second one? Don’t get ahead of yourself. Be in the moment.
I took a sip. The wine was crisp and clean with notes of green apple and minerals. “This is delicious.”
“I’m glad you like it.” He watched me over the rim of his glass. “To answer your question, no, Nicole did not cheat on me. Not to my knowledge, anyway.”
I waited. A muscle in his jaw twitched.
“Nicole and I had a baby girl. Margot. Ten years ago. Motherhood was hard for her. She was too young, maybe. But she wanted to be out all night. Partying. That kind of thing. But I adored our daughter. I spent every moment with her when I wasn’t at work.
When Margot was four years old, Nicole decided to come home for a few months to visit her mother.
She never came back. And she managed to keep my daughter from me. ”
“Is that why you moved back?” My stomach twisted, thinking of him losing his child. I could see the pain in his eyes, the way it dulled the natural sparkle.
“Yes. I’m hoping to get her back.” He lifted his wineglass.
“But I’m not having much luck. Before I sold my app, I spent every last bit of my savings trying to gain custody.
But Nicole was smart. Once she had Margot in school here, it gave the courts even more reason to rule in favor of the mother.
And I was overseas. And Nicole made up things about me—things that made me look bad.
Namely, my work. She said I couldn’t take care of a child because of my restaurant hours.
Anyway, long story short, she won custody.
And worse, she’s kept Margot from me all these years.
I don’t know her.” His voice cracked. “I’m sorry.
This is really not first-date conversation. ”
“Single parents don’t have that luxury. We have a lot more complications.”
“True.”
“But now that you’re here, you’re trying to get custody? Or at least visitation rights?”
“That’s right. After I sold my app, I had the funds to come home and fight.
So that’s what I’m doing.” He glanced out the window, the golden light of twilight reflected in his eyes.
“However, Margot doesn’t want to see me.
Nicole’s alienated her from me. But I’m still trying.
I have a lawyer working on my behalf as we speak.
” He set down his glass. “So yes, I came home to try and get my little girl back and to be close to my mother. Mama wanted to live at Seabrook, and I have money now, so I was able to buy her a place there. I’m in the process of remodeling our family home. ”
“A lot of limbo in your life.”
“Sadly, yes.” He looked down at the table. “Is it too much uncertainty for you?”
I thought for a moment before answering. “I don’t think so. I know life’s super messy. Mine has been, anyway.”
“Tell me more. If you want. How long have you been divorced?”
“Since you’ve been so honest, it’s only fair.” I drank a little wine. “My husband had an affair. With his very young intern. I came home early from a Girl Scout trip with Mia and found them in our bed.”
“I’m sorry.” His eyes held mine, understanding reflected there. “That must have hurt like hell.”
“You could say that.” I looked down at my hands. “Obviously, we broke up. Five years ago now. Mia was nine. He married the woman. They have three little girls. And he rarely sees Mia. Not because I’ve kept her from him. He just moved on. Left us behind.”
“And you had no idea he was cheating?” Vance asked.
“Not a clue.” I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “They’d been carrying on for months. And I’d had no idea. I thought we were happy. I felt like such an idiot.”
Vance reached across the table, his hand covering mine briefly before pulling back. Even that brief contact sent warmth through me. “You’re not the idiot in this scenario.”
“Perhaps not. But it still felt like a failure. It wasn’t the future I imagined for Mia and me.”
“Does he see Mia much?” Vance asked.
“Once a month, he comes to take her to lunch. And she’ll go there for a weekend every once in a while. But she knows he’s not really interested.”
“Is she okay? Mia.”
“She’s fine. She has me and our friends, who are like family. But it hurts. The rejection. She tells me it doesn’t, that I’m enough, but I see the sadness in her eyes. Especially at school events. All those dads. And hers missing.”
“I was raised by a single mother, so I understand. And you? It must make it nearly impossible to think about trusting someone again?”
I nodded, looking down at my lap. “He ruined my belief in fairy tales.”
“And yet here you are. On a dating app. Having dinner with a stranger.”
“Here I am,” I said, smiling. “Against my better judgment.”
“Should I be offended?”
“Probably. But you’re making this a lot easier than I expected.”
“You’re doing the same for me,” Vance said.
We locked eyes for a moment. I forgot where I was, gazing into his eyes. They were such an interesting color. Almost a slate gray in this light.
“Should we order food?” Vance asked. “Soak up some of this wine?”
I smiled. He wasn’t lying. He was enjoying himself. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have suggested dinner.
He waved a server over and we took a few minutes to look at the menu. Soon enough, he’d ordered a burger and I’d asked for the Cobb salad.
“Tell me more about Mia.”
“Well, she’s super smart. Sort of nerdy. Loves school and learning. She’s good at every subject, which amazes me. But her main interest is art. She carries around a sketch pad just in case she sees something interesting.”
“I love that.”
“Yes, me too. She’s a little too grown up. Children of divorce are like that. I rely on her too much, probably. But she’s my favorite person.”
A flash of sadness shadowed his face for a second, but he quickly hid it. “Does she know you’re here tonight?”
I laughed, nodding. “Oh, yes. She’s the whole reason I’m here. She and her friends—my best friends’ kids—decided to secretly put our profiles up on the app.”
“No way.”
“Yep. We could not believe it. They were in a lot of trouble. I took mine down right away, but then I started thinking, maybe I should try.”
“Why?”
“Because Gillian found love, and it opened my eyes that maybe there might be someone for me too,” I said.
“Then I owe her a thank you,” Vance said. “Gillian and Mia.”
“Don’t encourage her. Mia’s already convinced she’s a matchmaking genius. She picked you out.”
“Well, then maybe she is.”
The way he said it—simple, sincere—made my heart skip.
Our food arrived, and we kept talking between bites.
He told me about his mother, an English teacher who’d raised him alone after his abusive father left.
“I was five. Mama had had enough of his verbal abuse, but put up with it for me. But then he turned physical. The first time he hit her, she’d had enough.
Called the cops and kicked him out. I never saw him again. ”
“Is that hard?” I asked.
“Not really. He just doesn’t exist. What about you? Do you still have your parents?”
I told him how they were both gone now. “I lost both of them when Mia was a baby. Just months apart. They were soulmates. Had to go out together, I guess. But it was hard, especially because I was so proud of Mia and wished they could see her grow up.”
I reached for the bread basket at the same time as Vance. The brief contact sent a small shock through me—silly, really, but I pulled back like I’d been burned. From the way his eyes widened slightly, he’d felt it too.
We talked nonstop while sharing a piece of apple pie, The Pelican gradually emptying around us until we were one of the last tables left.
“I should probably let you go,” Vance said eventually, glancing at his watch. “It’s almost ten.”
“Is it?” I checked my phone, startled. Three hours had passed. It had felt like thirty minutes.
When he walked me to my car, the ocean breeze had picked up, carrying the salt scent of the harbor. I crossed my arms over my chest and tried not to shiver. He took off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders, a gesture that made my knees weak.
At my car, I hesitated with my keys in my hand, not quite ready for the evening to end. “Thank you for dinner. And for sharing so much with me. It was unexpectedly candid.”