His Third Wife

“Jamison, I wanted to talk to you before you two left,” Kerry whispered.

Jamison just looked at her blankly, though he knew what all she had to say. He’d been putting out the Forsyth County courthouse reporter fires for days. He had no reason to believe the embers hadn’t drifted through Kerry’s television set, as well.

“About the weekend . . . and your house,” Kerry added quickly before Tyrian returned with his things and an eager smile.

Jamison put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and thought of how easily he could slip out of the house without saying a thing about Val to Kerry. He’d avoided the conversation for this long and he knew Kerry wouldn’t say anything in front of their son.

Tyrian looked up at him.

“You ready, Daddy?” he asked.

“Hey, why don’t you go to your room and get some more of your books, so we can read them this weekend,” he said.

“Really?” Tyrian dropped his bag and darted up the stairs.

“And get only the best ones,” Jamison added. “The ones I haven’t read yet.”

“Okay!” Tyrian agreed, though he was already long gone.

“What do you want to talk about?” Jamison asked.

“Your new wife. Val.”

“What about her?”

As she’d imagined herself doing so many times in the past, Kerry thought of slapping Jamison just then. His answers, always so light and breezy, mocked any attention she gave to any matter. He almost never seemed present with her. And it wasn’t that she was asking him to make amends or kiss her ass. Just a simple honest conversation would do.

“Well, she’s your former assistant.”

“Okay. Half of the world knows that now. What else?”

“And a stripper.”

“Something else that’s been widely broadcasted. Anything else?”

“Yes, Jamison,” Kerry said, filling her voice with a building annoyance at how cavalier Jamison was being. Again, she imagined her open hand slamming against his cheek. “There is more. I don’t want her around my son.”

Jamison exhaled and stepped back from Kerry, leaning against the front door.

“That’s impossible. You know that—”

“No, I don’t know anything, because you don’t tell me anything.”

“Tell you what?” Jamison asked.

“That you were getting married. Was I supposed to find out by seeing it on TMZ like the rest of the world?”

“Yes. I got married,” Jamison admitted. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you beforehand. But it wasn’t exactly planned.”

“I’m coming, Daddy,” Tyrian hollered from upstairs.

“Slow down, son,” Jamison replied. “Go back and get three more books. We’re going to be doing a lot of reading.”

“Uggh!” Tyrian pouted at his father’s stalling. “Okay.”

“Look, Val and I didn’t want to do anything big. We were going to make an official announcement yesterday. And I would’ve told you before that.”

“I should’ve known sooner,” Kerry scolded.