It had been quite a night. The best sex ever. And more, Mallory had seen him again. Heard him. She’d cared that he was there seeing her, loving her. He’d thought that night had solved their problems. He’d been ready to head back home to their son and give her the time she’d needed to adjust, figuring that she’d be paying more attention to him, too.
Instead, they’d gotten the call...and after that, everything just went from horrible to worse.
With a glass of whiskey in hand he stood at the window of his hotel suite, disgruntled, a sense of dissatisfaction settling over him. In his mind he returned to an earlier time. The moment he’d known that he and Mallory were heading for divorce. He’d been in a hotel similar to the current one, away on business and dreading going home.
He’d had a woman invite him to spend the night with her earlier in the evening. He hadn’t done so, of course. He’d taken his marriage vows seriously and would never have cheated on Mallory, just as he’d been certain she’d never cheat on him.
But he’d been tempted. God, he’d been tempted.
Which was how he’d known.
Sipping from his glass, he dropped down to the sofa, still facing the window.
In the beginning, though, when they’d first found out they were having a baby, there’d been nothing like it.
She was experiencing that same feeling now.
While he was back in a hotel room. Planning to sleep with Anna as soon as he told her that Mallory was pregnant.
Funny how life seemed to go in circles and still got so screwed up.
* * *
The first thing Mallory told Tamara about, when the woman showed up at her door Sunday rather than just returning her call as they’d discussed, was Braden’s offer for expanding The Bouncing Ball business with a second daycare in his L.A. complex.
Tamara hadn’t needed to come, but Mallory understood why she had. Mallory had made similar visits to the home Tamara shared with Flint Collins and the precious little baby sister he’d inherited, and she would continue to do so whenever Tamara called her.
They were two strong women who’d suffered debilitating grief but were determined to live happy lives. They shared things that most people who’d never lost a child would ever fully understand.
“Did you tell him you’d do it?” Tamara’s expectant expression settled her a bit. She could have looked worried. Or horrified.
Bringing glasses of tea out to the small patio off her kitchen, she handed one to her friend and sat down with her at the round glass table. “I told him no,” she reported happily. Then she amended her response. “At first I said yes, but when I thought about it and the things we’d talked about, I knew that I was doing it for the wrong reason.”
“Which was?”
“To continue to be a part of his life. I’m using him as a crutch. Preventing myself—and him—from moving on.”
She had more to say. A lot more. But she wanted this part cleared up first.
Because it really mattered.
Being a mother was only part of her life. Something else she’d learned the hard way. When she’d lost Tucker, she’d lost herself. She’d had her own identity so wrapped up in his—her only known biological person in the world—that she’d almost lost her own life. Had her son lived, her being so consumed by him would not have been good for him. Though she didn’t ever see herself marrying again, didn’t see herself being successful at being both mother and wife, she still needed to have healthy adult relationships. For her own sake and that of her child.
“When he made the offer, I wasn’t sad anymore about his plans. Which told me that I’d wanted to be a part of them.”
Tamara was frowning now.
“And before you say it, don’t,” Mallory said. “He wasn’t offering for the same reason. We aren’t two people who are still in love and meant to be together.” Ever since Tamara had opened up her heart and fallen in love again, she was seeing true love everywhere.
Mostly, Mallory found the characteristic endearing. Except for now, when it was turned erroneously on her.
“Braden was just being Braden. He had a whole list of reasons why joining him would be good business. Good for me financially, too.”
When Tamara asked what they were, she listed them all, almost verbatim as Bray had presented them to her. “Besides,” she added, “he’s seeing someone again.”
Tamara frowned again.
“What?” Mallory asked her.