Clarke nods her head effusively. “I didn’t even have the talk with Aaron, but damn if he didn’t get downright nasty with some women who interrupted one of our dates.”
“Bet that was hot…” Pepper sighs, and all the ladies laugh while Clarke blushes.
“You and Jim were high school sweethearts?” Brooke asks.
I take a sip of coffee, smiling fondly as I return it to the table. “Yeah… started dating when we were sixteen. I followed him to his first team when he was drafted at eighteen. Got married after we got pregnant with Lucy when we were both twenty.”
“So young,” Nora murmurs beside me. “It’s a testament to how strong your marriage must be because getting married and having a baby at that age is hard.”
“It was hard, but we made it through,” I say, and then, without any warning or hint I’m going to blab—and perhaps because Nora warned me not to even try to keep secrets—I admit to the group. “Or at least I think we’re going to make it through.”
“I think it’s fabulous the two of you are trying,” Willow commends me.
“It’s all Jim,” I confess. “He came after me… declared his intentions.”
“That’s hot, too.” Pepper sighs again.
Yes, it’s hot. But it’s also lovely, sweet, and romantic. And without any further prompting, my mouth opens and a waterfall of information comes pouring out.
I start at the beginning—why I asked for a separation. I get plenty of sympathetic nods and a few, “I’d ask him to leave, too, girl.”
I recount how he stalked David and me at the food festival, and pretty much threw his hat into the competition ring against him. That prompted another, “That’s hot,” from Pepper.
Him showing up at odd times in my gazebo, coupled with the story of the promise ring, has them all sighing.
I tell every bit of it, including that we have reconnected strongly in the bedroom without giving details. I’m interrupted frequently with questions, but everyone seems transfixed to learn about the process we’re going through on how to fix a marriage.
“And just yesterday, he showed up at my house. We were supposed to go spend the day doing things he loves because he’s just been doing so much for me. Instead, he insisted on staying home and watching movies, eating bad food, and…”
My cheeks turn red, and Willow fills in the blanks. “Having lots of sex, right?”
Laughing, I nod.
Except, we didn’t stay in bed all day. We stayed the morning there, had sex again, and then showered. But Jim suggested we go to a local animal shelter to get the lay of the land on what types of dogs might be available for adoption. Lucy is set on a puppy, and we frankly didn’t even know if they had those at shelters. We had a late lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, and we walked hand in hand along the canal, talking about old times.
It was a perfect day, and we made it home not long before Lucy was due to arrive on the bus.
I asked Jim to stay for dinner, but he declined and it shocked me at first.
“I don’t want to make things too confusing to Lucy,” he’d said, standing just inside the foyer and not willing to come in any farther. “She knows we’re trying, but I don’t want to get her hopes up when there’s still a chance they could get dashed.”
That was like a bucket of cold water being dumped on my head because he was right.
Jim had pulled me in close, then brushed his mouth against mine. “Until you commit a promise back to me, Ella—that you’re ready to give this a real try—we keep things a little cool around Lucy.”
I hated he was right.
And the message was clear. Jim would continue doing what he was doing. Still, until I made the decision to open myself up fully and trust in the man he had seemingly become to keep our marriage together, we couldn’t progress any further as a family.
A realization hits me hard, almost sucking the breath out of me. I inhale deeply, then blurt out, “I think I’m going to ask Jim to come back home.”
There’s silence around the table, all the women looking at me with wide eyes.
I nod effusively. “Yes, I think it’s time. It’s like Clarke said… if the reward is bigger than the risk, you gotta take it, right?”
I swivel toward Clarke, and she nods emphatically. “Right.”
There’s a chorus from the women, all with positive affirmations and delight I’ve seemingly made a huge decision while pouring out my whole story to them.
“When will you let him know?” Regan asks.
“Not tonight,” I say quickly. It’s game night and while Lucy and I are going to watch, we won’t be seeing Jim after. He’s leaving the next morning with the team for a game up in Seattle. They’ll be staying Sunday night and back Monday morning. “Jim said he wants to whisk me away for a little getaway on Monday when they get back since the team has a day and a half off. We’re not going anywhere really… just a day and night at the Ritz. A romantic overnight date. I’ll tell him then.”