/> “Nothing.”
“My ass, nothing,” Taryn said.
Cora flushed and explained, “I’ve been talking with Jamie all day. We’re planning to get lunch at some point this week.”
“Oh really,” Taryn asked, her eyebrow raised. “I thought you were anti-men right now.”
“I’m not anti-men. I’m anti-dating. There’s a difference. And I am still anti-dating. He knows I’m not in a place to get involved with anyone. We decided to be friends.”
Taryn let out a snort and said, “I wonder how long that’ll last.”
Cora said. “Any feelings I have for him are just a hold-over from way back when. We’re both different people now. It’s been too long for us to just pick up where we left off.”
“It’s entirely possible that you’ll like the new Jamie as much as the old one,” Taryn said.
“You’re probably right,” Cora confessed. “The other night, when you passed out on me, he ended up walking me downstairs. He gave me a hug and…I had to get the hell out of there. It wasn’t just a hug. So he texts me to apologize for freaking me out, and somehow this turned into us getting lunch and being friends. I keep telling myself it’s a terrible idea, but then I keep binge checking my cell phone. What in the hell am I doing?”
“Making it more complicated than it needs to be. Just see how it all goes.”
Hesitating a moment, she said, “It’s just…I’m a little worried about my judgment.”
Taryn’s eyes scanned the field and as she asked, “How so?”
“I thought Bryce was the one and clearly I was really wrong about that.”
Taryn’s eyes squinted for a moment and then she let out a whoop as CJ tagged a runner out on first. Cora cheered loudly. Hearing the cheer, he looked up at the bleachers and gave them a huge gap-toothed grin.
As the children moved back toward the dugout, changing positions, Taryn picked up the thread of conversation as if they hadn’t been interrupted and said, “Honey. I’ve watched you for the last six months. Don’t get me wrong. You’ve gone through hell but if he was the one, you’d be a mess. You’re embarrassed. You’re hurt. You’re fucking mad. You’re not heartbroken though.”
Cora ignored her knee-jerk reaction to snap, and actually considered what Taryn had said. Grudgingly, she acknowledged that she was probably right. There hadn’t ever been a great sense of loss. She had never lamented about how she lost not only a lover, but a good friend as well. Any tears that she’d shed had been angry tears. There had been a lot of those. The truth stung a bit.
Cora stared blindly at field, then let out a long sigh. Clearing her throat, she said, “I really hate that you’re right about that. Maybe I was just ready to settle down.”
“Maybe,” Taryn said. “Don’t beat yourself up about it, though.”
“I’m not,” Cora automatically answered. It sounded hollow even to her own ears though.
Taryn spared her a glance and said, “Yeah right. You internalize and rationalize everything to death. Somewhere in that head of yours, I know you’re taking some of the blame.”
Cora mulled it over for a minute and realized that Taryn was both right and wrong. She didn’t blame herself for his infidelity. That was entirely on him. She did take some responsibility in not seeing him for what he was though.
Cora opened her mouth to speak and Taryn cut her off.
“He had us all snowed. I liked him. The fucking pig,” Taryn growled.
A little shocked by the mood swing, Cora said, “Whoa, whoa. Easy there, Tiger.”
“My hormones are crazy, Cora. I could probably kick his ass if you wanted,” Taryn answered. “I’m just putting it out there.”
The look on her face was so serious, so fierce, that Cora couldn’t help but laugh.
“No need. He did enough damage himself.”
The rest of practice was uneventful. There were no more discussions of Bryce and no more texts from Jamie. Still, Cora couldn’t help but stew about it though. She was a freaking psychiatrist. How had she not seen that Bryce was a pathological liar? Had she missed huge warning signs?
He had been so goddamned nice. When they’d met at the courthouse, she’d been doing some work for the state. He’d been with the District Attorney’s office, working on a case that she was testifying in. She had been surprised and flattered when he asked her to dinner. Dinner had turned into drinks. Looking back, she was ashamed to admit, that drinks had turned into breakfast the next morning.
They had ended up having so much in common. They had liked the same books and movies. They always had so much to talk about. They both had a desire to help people, though they had taken different paths to achieve that. He had been perfect.