“A bottle of water would actually be great, thank you.”
“You bet,” she smiles, “Judy, wanna come pick out which flavor you want?”
“Yeah!” Judy eagerly gets to her feet, leaving the lump of Play-Doh abandoned on the table, and trots over to Kristen happily, taking her hand and following her out to the kitchen.
Stephen glances after her. “You’re a lucky man,” he remarks.
“Don’t I know it,” I smile, “She’s the best.”
“Are you two married, or- sorry, I don’t mean to pry or anything.”
“Nah, you’re fine,” I wave off his worries, “But no, we’re not.”
“Really? That’s just kind of surprising, she mentioned something about your seven-year anniversary last night.”
“Yeah, we’ve been together almost eight years now, but marriage just isn’t a priority for us. Neither of us is religious, so for us it’s mostly just a piece of paper from the government, and we just haven’t really bothered. We’re not opposed or anything, and maybe somewhere down the line if it makes something more convenient, we probably will, but it won't be a big deal."
"Makes sense. Seems like a pretty practical way of looking at it,” he nods.
“If you don’t mind my asking, how about you? I kind of got the impression Judy’s mom’s out of the picture. You divorced?”
“Been there, done that,” Kris mutters from behind me, reaching over my shoulder and setting a soda in my reach.
Stephen lifts his gaze from the screen, eyeing her with surprise. “Wait, really?”
I didn’t exactly want to share that tidbit without her in the room. Her past isn’t my story to tell. She nods. “Yeah, before I met Joel, I was married for two years.”
Just thinking about that asshole makes me grip the controller a little tighter, and my jaw clenches. But when she beams over at me, staring at me with that sweet, adoring gaze, my rage ebbs. “He saved my life,” she says fondly.
I roll my eyes. “I called you an idiot.”
She laughs. “And it saved my life,” she turns back to Stephen, “My ex-husband and I got married when I was eighteen. Like, less than a week after my eighteenth birthday. He was military, and looking at deployment, so to keep me with him, he talked me into it.”
“And then two years later, she was in my hospital for fractures in her jaw and eye socket,” I say flatly.
Stephen’s eyes widen. “Holy sh-” he begins, then remembers his daughter’s presence and finishes “Shrimp.”
Despite the seriousness of the story, this makes Kristen smile a little. “Yeah, he was…not a great guy. But it didn’t fully sink in until I was sitting there in the E.R., with this cute guy taking X-rays on my face and telling me what an idiot I am to put up with being treated like this.”
I shrug. “You deserved better. Still do.”
“Well, I like to think I upgraded pretty well,” she tells me with a wink.
“Darn straight,” I smirk.
“That’s kind of a sweet end to the story, I guess,” Stephen says.
Kristen nods. “I’d do it all over again to end up where I am. But I’m sorry, I totally interrupted your conversation.”
“Oh, no, it’s fine. I’m actually not divorced, never been married. Judy’s mom and I had broken up before we even knew she was pregnant with Jude. We stayed friends and were doing the co-parenting thing really well, but she passed away a few months ago. Car accident.”
“I’m so sorry,” Kristen gasps.
“Thanks. We may not have worked out romantically, but we were still close.”
“Sorry to hear that, man, I can’t imagine,” I tell him.
“It’s been tough. Especially just living in that town with all the memories. So,” he shrugs and gestures around him, indicating the new location, “Fresh start. And it seems to have gotten off on a pretty good foot, thanks to great neighbors.”