After the Climb (River Rain 0.50)

Check.

Change from fancy outfit I never should have worn when confronting Duncan into dove-gray pleated joggers and slightly see-through, V-necked, long-sleeve tee and pull out gray Valentino slides to wear down to the spa.

Check.

Text Chloe and share I was good, and I’d call her later.

Check.

Text Mary and share that I’d arrived, the hotel was fabulous, and I was going dark for a bit so I could enjoy my facial and some downtime.

Check.

Turn off phone.

Check.

Slip on the slides, grab keycard, lock my purse and valuables in the in-room safe, and head to the spa.

Check.

“Hey, Mom.”

Hearing Chloe’s voice, all was well in the world.

At least for now.

“Hey, honey,” I replied, stretching out my legs and leaning back in bed with my champagne.

The room service tray was in the hall.

The cookies were up next after I talked with my girl.

And now, I’d just turned on my phone and called my Chloe.

Unsurprisingly, it had immediately binged with a text from Mary.

I ignored that to focus on my daughter, who I knew would be worried about me.

“How’d it go?” she asked.

“It went,” I answered, just as my phone binged with text two, also from Mary, and it started with nothing but !!!!!!.

My brows inched together as I took a sip of champagne in preparation to set it aside and swipe.

“That’s it, ‘it went?’” Chloe pressed.

I paused before swiping.

Because this was a situation that Tom and I had created.

That being drilling into our children’s heads the concept that honesty and transparency was the most important thing in any relationship.

And when they were little, if they came to us with an issue, or if they’d done something wrong or bad, and confessed it, we were very careful to temper our reactions, and if there was any punishment, to allow for their honesty.

We’d done it with the goal that they would feel open when the issues became serious, like sex, contraception, possible bullying, plans they wanted to make for their futures. And then we could tackle them before we had such things as unplanned pregnancies or cutting.

However, to teach, we also had to demonstrate.

This was something I began doing with much more openness when they got older, to the point that, since Chloe was living in Phoenix now, meant I’d shared with her about the box…

And Duncan.

Not in detail.

But I felt it safe to explain he was my first love, and how it had ended, and where (I thought at the time) Corey fit in all that.

Now, this life lesson didn’t seem so good and not because I didn’t want to talk about it due to the fact that, when I did, there was a very real possibility I would break down.

It was because she had a relationship with Corey.

To the kids, he was Uncle Corey. He’d been in their lives since they could remember. He’d loved them, and they’d loved him.

But to have kids who did, indeed, approach when kid stuff got serious, this kind of situation occurred.

And at least what I had on my hands now was far better than what Tom dealt with when we’d decided to divorce, and why, and then we’d had to tell the children.

Tom didn’t lose his girls. They were daddy’s girls, for one, and although they were disappointed and things were tense and upsetting for a good while, they were also momma’s girls.

They came around.

Matt’s relationship with his father, however, still needed a good deal of healing.

“Mom.”

Chloe was getting impatient.

I sighed.

And I made the only decision I could, considering.

Then I asked, “You know how I told you that Duncan broke things off with me because he thought I’d cheated on him?”

“Yeah.”

Now she sounded hesitant.

I thought I knew the cause, considering what her father had done.

“I didn’t, honey,” I assured. “But what was in that box was a letter explaining that Corey told him I did.” God, could I say it? I guessed I could. “With him.”

I fancied I heard a wooshing in my ear, considering all the sound left the world in that instant of her silence.

Then, my oh-so-beautiful diva Chloe shrieked, “What?” But before I could say anything, she asked wrathfully, “With him? Like, with Uncle Corey?”

“Yes.”

“You and dweeby, gawky, skinny Uncle Corey?”

“Yes, Chloe, and a person is not just what they loo—”

“This guy’s best friend?”

“Yes.”

“Your best friend?”

It was harder to repeat it on that.

But I did.

“Yes.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“A lady doesn’t—”

“Mom, this is a fuck moment for certain.”

I didn’t argue and not only because I didn’t have the chance.

“What now?” she demanded.

“Sorry?”

“What now? With you and this Duncan guy?”

Another text came through from Mary, but I sat motionless on the bed, staring at the phone lying on my thigh, speechless at her question.

Because there was no “now” with this Duncan guy.

But damn, how my heart had skipped a beat when she’d said that.

“Mother,” she hissed.

“Nothing now, honey. It ended years ago,” I forced out.