“I know, I thought it was funny, too,” Gail Sossinot said, interrupting her husband Emmett’s story about a ladder that had folded up while he’d been on it doing repairs. Colleen had asked her guest about the bandage he’d been wearing on his wrist. Her cheeks turned warm.
“I’m sorry,” she said contritely. “A sprained wrist isn’t funny. I was…thinking of something else.” Colleen fumbled to apologize for her faux pas. She’d been caught engaging in some unintentional nonverbal flirtation.
It annoyed her that no matter whom she spoke to, or what the topic of conversation was, she was aware of Eric’s every move, as if he possessed some kind of magnetic pull. She doubted anyone would have guessed she was anything but a calm, engaged hostess, but Colleen knew the truth.
Her brain and body were buzzing. She was stirred up after that dance, and it was all Eric’s fault.
An hour or so later, she noticed the party was thinning out. She was satisfied with their efforts. With the exception of Tony Tejada’s bout of jealousy in regard to his ex-wife, everyone seemed to have had a great time, most importantly Natalie and Liam. Perhaps her censorious speech toward Eric while they danced had been effective, because he hadn’t tried to stir the pot in regard to the other acrimonious couple they’d invited to the party. Her friend Ellen Rappoport had settled for shooting venomous stares at her ex-husband from across the crowded room while her ex, Cody, looked contrite and uncomfortable, and made an early exit. Although Natalie had sadly commented to Colleen about the tension between Cody and Ellen, she hadn’t seemed to take the couple’s unhappiness to heart personally.
Colleen spoke with her brother Marc and her mother, took a few drink orders from the remaining guests, and headed to the kitchen.
She walked into a scene of confusion.
Mari and Natalie glanced up at the sound of her entrance. Both looked concerned. For some reason, her brother Liam was crouched on the floor next to someone who sat in one of Colleen’s kitchen chairs—Janice Tejada. She was crying energetically.
“How dare he? Tony never had the time for me and the kids when we were married, but now that the divorce is final, he has the nerve to make a scene at a party because he’s jealous?” Janice exclaimed wetly to Liam. She took one of the tissues Liam offered her and blew her nose. “I’m sorry,” she wailed. “I know I shouldn’t be going on like this at your engagement party—”
“Hey, don’t worry about that,” Liam consoled, and Natalie seconded his words. “What are friends for, if not to support each other during times like this?”
Liam glanced up at Colleen in alarm when, instead of being soothed by their consolations, Janice sobbed even harder. Colleen bustled over to the fridge and took out a can of ginger ale. She poured some of the bubbly liquid into a glass and brought it over to Janice.
> “Here, drink this, Janice,” Colleen soothed. Liam looked relieved when Janice sniffed and hiccupped and took the proffered glass. He stood and moved back, seeming glad to cede his role as comforter to his sister. Colleen took his place, pulling up a chair.
She took Janice’s hand in both of her own and patted it while Janice drank her ginger ale. Janice’s crying slowly ebbed, and she looked up at Colleen, misery evident in every aspect of her expression.
“I’ll never understand men,” Janice sniffed.
Colleen nodded in agreement. “You think you have them figured out, and then you realize that was just the first layer of wrapping paper.”
Janice gave a pressured laugh and mopped at her wet cheeks with wads of tissue. Colleen was only vaguely aware of the kitchen door swinging open. It was in her nature to focus her entire attention on someone who was in distress…to help that person through their storm. She supposed that instinct was what had first prodded her to become a counselor.
“I thought we were supposed to be the uncomplicated ones,” Liam murmured humorously from behind them.
“You are…during the first ecstatic throes of infatuation,” Colleen mused without taking her eyes off Janice. “It doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out what men want then.”
Janice gave a teary snort. “Exactly. But after a few years of marriage, and children, and night feedings, and busy schedules and hard choices and conflict…well, like Colleen said. Men turn just as convoluted and bewildering as women.”
“More so, because at least we admit we’re confused. Men insist on clinging to the myth that they’re one hundred percent rational all the time,” Mari said from behind her.
“But how can Tony rationalize acting like a caveman when he sees me dancing with another man? He gave up his right to me when he agreed to the divorce, didn’t he?” Janice’s gaze was imploring, as if she were begging Colleen to back up her claim.
Colleen rubbed Janice’s hand soothingly. “A signature on a piece of paper can’t truly eliminate all the feelings Tony must have for you. It’s not that simple, Janice.”
Janice lowered her tissue-clutching hand slowly. “You…you think Tony still cares about me?” she asked in a quavering voice.
Colleen hesitated. Surely the logical thing to do was to provide some cliché in regard to Janice getting on with her life and time healing all wounds.
And yet…
“Of course he still cares about you,” Colleen said softly. “Don’t you notice the way he watches your every move from across a crowded room?”
“It’s true,” Liam said from behind her. “Tony has always been crazy about you, Janice. He’s never spoken his feelings out loud to me in regard to the divorce, but I can see regret written on every line of his face. Regret and guilt. I know he feels responsible for things going south in the marriage. I see him almost every day at the Municipal Building, and he hasn’t been the same since you two split.”
“He’s never told me that,” Janice said in a whispery, tentative voice.
“Since when can a man ever talk about his feelings?” Colleen said, patting Janice’s hand. “Sometimes actions speak louder than words. I can’t speak for Tony, of course, but would he really have gotten so jealous tonight when he saw you dancing with Eric if he didn’t still have feelings? If I were you, I’d go and talk to him,” she urged earnestly. “Right now. Quickly. Before both of you have time to put bandages on your feelings and retreat into your respective corners. Maybe there’s still a chance to resolve things. Who knows?”
Janice set down her ginger ale and gave her cheeks one last swipe. “Do you really think so?”