Indecision, fear, and exhilaration played along her face.
“Say yes, Tatum. Just fucking say yes.” I leaned forward until our noses touched.
As soon as I closed my eyes, she whispered, “Yes.”
Chapter Eight
NOW
It’s Saturday. My Lucy day.
Again, she’s making me wait for her.
“Finally,” I whisper as the front door opens, but it’s not her.
Tatum shuffles her flip-flop clad feet toward my truck, a light breeze ruffling the skirt to her strapless sundress.
Slender shoulders with perfect posture.
Flawless skin bronzed by long summer days.
It’s hard to believe she said yes to getting into an RV with me and taking off to destinations unknown. It’s hard to believe the graceful dancer fell for the guy in dirty work boots who lived with his parents. It’s even harder to believe I lost her.
I climb out of my truck and shut the door behind me. “Good morning.”
Tatum works for a smile that looks amicable at best. “Morning.” She fiddles with her watch. “What’s your situation? Do you need to sell your house before you can buy me out of this one? Because I’d like to close on our house in two weeks.” She presses her lips together for a beat. “Lucy’s and my house.”
Good thing she clarified that. I might have thought she was offering to take me back. The urge to roll my eyes at her nervous chattering nearly wins, but I control it.
“Unless you’ve changed your mind. I really think you should talk to Lucy about it first. And I do have a potential buyer if you don’t want it.”
When I don’t answer, she clears her throat. I’ve been staring at her. All of her.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she whispers as her gaze cuts to her feet.
“Like what?”
“Like we’re still married.”
I laugh in spite of the pain in my chest. “Is that such a bad look?” Sidestepping her, I head toward the house to find Lucy. Her bedroom door is shut, and I knock twice.
“Come in,” she says.
“What are you doing?”
Lucy turns away from her window. I know what she was doing … watching me talk to Tatum.
“I’ve wondered where this was at.” I pick up my book from her dresser. One of my amazing facts books. “This one has some of my favorites. A strawberry is not a berry, but an orange is. And speaking of oranges, Bobby Leach went over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survived, but he later slipped on an orange peel and died as a result.”
“Mom said she was drawn to your nerdy side as much as your ‘handsome side,’ which I think she means sexy but doesn’t want to say that to me. She said you’re always the life of a party with your random facts.”
My smile grows just knowing that Tatum talks to Lucy about me in a positive way. I miss wooing my wife with randomness and vocabulary like Lachanophobia—fear of vegetables. I miss the way she’d smile at parties when I geeked out. I’ve always known she liked my nerdy side. And I always liked the way it made her giggle and shake her head. I used to convince myself that she was thinking, “How did I get so lucky?”
But … maybe that was just my mantra for her.
“While my friends played video games, I read Encyclopedia Britannica. I asked for the whole set for Christmas when I was twelve.”
“Oh my god.” Lucy laughs like her mom used to laugh at me.
“Do you miss her?” Her humor fades.
My forehead tenses as I scratch the back of my neck. “Who?”
“Mom.”
“Lucy, I miss our family. I miss your brother. I miss a lot of things. But it changes nothing. Life goes on. I’m good. Are you?”
She shrugs one shoulder. “I guess.”
“Your mom thinks moving will help you. She thinks you’ve hit a roadblock, some final obstacle in therapy, and that moving out of this house will help.”
“I know,” Lucy murmurs from her window seat.
“I’m thinking of buying the house.”
“I know.”
“Are you okay with that?”
Another half shrug. “Why do you want to live here?”
“For all the reasons your mom doesn’t want to live here. The memories.”
She grunts. “Memories. Why would you want the memories of this house?”
“Because most of them are the best memories of my life.”
Her gaze lifts to meet mine. “And the ones that aren’t?”
“I need those too. I won’t forget him. I don’t want to forget him. He’s here. And I know that’s precisely the reason your mom needs to leave it all behind, but for me, it’s why I can’t let anyone else live here.”
“He’s not here. He’s in a casket six feet under the ground two miles from here.”
I nod slowly, fisting my hands and cracking my knuckles a few times. “That’s just his body.” I survey the room slowly. “His soul is still here. I feel it. I feel the memories, his little giggle, his high-pitched scream when I’d tickle his belly. It’s very real to me, still. Always …”