Second Time's the Charm

Of course she could. She’d already done it once. She could do it again.

And then something absolutely horrific occurred to him. “You aren’t already married, are you?”

She’d said she was divorced. She wouldn’t lie about something like that, would she?

She wouldn’t let him sleep with another man’s wife without letting him make that decision for himself.

“Of course not.”

“Then why can’t you get married?” The almost-fragile look about her had him wanting to hold her, to soothe away whatever was troubling her. He could be patient. For as long as it took.

Patience was one thing his time being incarcerated had taught him. “Because I’m not ever going to do that again. Not ever.”

Apparently it was time for him to know what had happened in her first marriage. He couldn’t fix what he didn’t understand.

“Because of something your first husband did?”

“Yes.” She shook her head. Took another sip of champagne. “But no, not really. He hurt me, of course, but a lot of women get hurt and go through a divorce and still get married again.”

Precisely. They just had to work through it all. “What happened? Between you and your ex.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I know. But I’m asking you to, anyway.” Leaning forward, he took her hand in his. “It seems to me that we’re at an impasse here, Lil, until we get through this. We can’t go back to how it was before we had sex, that’s obvious. And we can’t really go forward, either, with this...this desire...sitting there between us.”

“We could just have sex until the desire goes away.”

It happened. A lot. “You really think that will happen here?” he asked. “Because I don’t.”

She didn’t answer.

“You want to take that chance?”

She looked at him then, the first time she’d allowed him to see deeply into her eyes since she’d arrived that evening. And while he saw something there that scared him, he also took heart.

Lillie cared. More than just a little bit. He could see how hard this was for her.

“Was he unfaithful to you?”

It was the obvious conclusion to draw. There wasn’t much else a husband could do to his wife to hurt her so deeply, to destroy her trust so completely.

She sipped. Getting up, Jon refilled both of their glasses. She didn’t have to drive home that night. He’d gladly have her stay with them.

“Kirk had an affair, yes,” Lillie said when he sat back down. Her fingers wrapped around the stem of her glass, she glanced between the cheap flute and Jon and back again. “Actually, more than one.”

“He’s a fool, Lil. There’s not a woman out there with more to offer than you.”

Her smile was laced with scorn. “You don’t need to flatter me, Jon. I came to terms with Kirk’s lack of decency years ago.”

“Maybe not, if coming to terms with it means you’re robbing yourself, and me and Abe, of the chance to lead a happy, fulfilling life.”

“It’s not Kirk’s infidelity that’s the problem.”

He’d never liked the name Kirk. He’d known a Kirk once. A simpy guy in lockup. He’d been there for attempted rape. And had cried every single one of the nights that he’d had the cell next to Jon. He’d been released on appeal. And a couple of years later, Jon had read that he’d raped another woman and was now serving life without parole.

“The problem is me, Jon. I just don’t have any more to give on anything other than a surface level.”

He knew bunk when he heard it.