Strong Enough to Love (Jackson Hole 1.20)

“Really? I’m not sure how I feel about that. It was perfect the way it was. Eye of the beholder, I guess.”

They’d spent the whole day at that ghost town as he’d taught her old-school photography techniques she’d been using digital tricks to achieve. She’d taken hundreds of photos. This one was her favorite. She’d shot a few of Brian when he wasn’t looking, and those were locked away on a thumb drive somewhere. She’d nearly deleted the pictures permanently after the night she’d accidentally run across them while going through files.

She didn’t tell him that she was happy the ghost town would never be the same again. But she was.

When she handed him a glass and directed him to the couch, he waited for her to sit. She took the chair.

“You look good, Eve. Amazing, actually.”

She sipped her wine and said a silent thank-you to Grace for forcing her to go to that party. If she hadn’t, Brian would’ve dropped by to find her in yoga pants and a sweatshirt, her hair still damp fro

m the bath. And not a speck of makeup to cover the fact that she was older and more tired than she’d been the last time they’d seen each other.

She needed to give Grace another raise.

“You look good,” she said. “I hope things are going well for you.”

He sipped his wine before he set the glass down and met her eyes. “Julia and I finally worked out our differences. We finalized the divorce two months ago.”

“But...” Those two sentences didn’t go together. She didn’t know how to react. She wouldn’t know how to react even if she was sure what he’d meant.

His mouth tipped up in the faintest of smiles. “At long last, we’re getting along. We had drinks a week ago. It was nice.”

“So... You came to tell me that you two are divorced and dating?”

“No! No. We’re divorced and friends. She bought out my share of the gallery in Raleigh. I’ve spent the past six months showing her the ropes with the finances and paperwork.”

“Well, congratulations, I guess.”

He frowned. She frowned back. She’d never known how she’d feel about Brian finally getting divorced, but she hadn’t expected to feel so numb. “Thanks for letting me know,” she said into the silence.

“Eve.”

“What?” she bit out.

“I don’t know what I’m doing back here in Jackson. I only know that I had no choice. I had to come back. I had to find out.”

Her heart beat harder, faster, but she still felt nothing. Nothing except that pulsing beat in her chest. “It’s been two years.”

“I had to try with Julia.”

“I know that,” she snapped, but deep down inside, she didn’t know. She didn’t understand why there’d had to be one more shot at it. He’d been on his third separation from Julia when Eve had come to work at his photography gallery. Julia had lived two-thousand miles away in Raleigh. She’d come to Jackson only once that year, and meeting her had been a blow to Eve’s conscience. And her confidence.

Julia was a true artist who saw beauty and conflict and emotion in everything. She was wild and spontaneous and confident. Eve, on the other hand, looked at her own best work and saw a need for improvement. She wondered if she could call it art at all. She was steady and analytical and good with numbers. She knew she had passion and life, but it was a quiet sort of wildness that no one ever seemed to notice. Even her photography was quiet. Pictures of the corners of life that no one else saw.

That was Eve.

Julia, on the other hand... Eve had never wondered why Brian had loved Julia. The woman was a flame. Eve just couldn’t understand why he hadn’t gotten tired of being burned. Even when he’d had the option of something safer. Especially then.

“I had to try,” he said again.

“Of course.” She said it quietly, but she wanted to scream it. Of course he’d had to try again. Because the smallest chance with a woman like Julia was worth more than a sure thing with someone like Eve, any day.

The thought was so ugly and honest that she had to swallow back tears. Regret at her own selfish hurt filled her up. “She was your wife,” she rushed to say. “Your first love. I understand.”

He nodded. “I had to know it had ended honestly, Eve. Without any distraction or interference.”

“Yes. That’s what you said in your letter. I remember.”