Page 30 of Midlife Woes (Ex)

Maeve grabbed her laptop from her overnight bag while Sheila and I took mine and climbed into bed together, sitting side by side on the king-sized bed in the master bedroom that I’d moved back in.

None of us spoke for the first few minutes after putting his name in Google. I got hung up on one thing. “He’s younger than me.”

“So?”

“You think he knows?” Look, it’s one thing to look younger than your age, but that doesn’t change the fact that you are indeed that age, and with that age comes certain things like hot flashes and mood swings that may or may not land your ass in jail.

“He’s a cop who liked you at first sight, he knows, trust me.” Maeve is probably just saying that because she thinks getting laid is the answer to everything.

We went back to reading about his life or what was known of it because there didn’t seem to be much more than his football stats, the fact that he left at the top of his game and was now a cop. There were no red flags, even though some of the articles went back to his high school days.

He was never arrested, never married, though he’d been engaged once almost ten years ago. There was no mention of why they broke up or who called it off and nothing much about her. The pictures they did have of the two of them together did give me acid reflux.

“She’s gorgeous.”

“That just means he has a type.” You see, that’s why Sheila is my sister-friend. Only she could say something like that with no inflection whatsoever and make it have so much meaning.

We spent the next hour or so trying to find as much information, and for the first time I realized just how invasive Google is. By the end of that hour, we knew his net worth, his date of birth, and all past addresses; it was uncanny.

The three of us were no match for the crash and burn that comes after a day like we’d had, but the last thought I had before falling asleep wedged between my two best friends was that I hadn’t given my ex one thought throughout this whole day.

* * *

They both wokeup before me, not sure why and were already busy in my kitchen. I crawled out of bed, ignored my bedhead, brushed my teeth, and then headed down for my caffeine fuel. I hit the fridge first and was bent over grabbing a bottle of water when the door opened behind me.

“Mom, you slut.” I slammed the door shut in surprise at my daughter’s playful greeting. I looked at the two usual suspects, who just shrugged while my daughter walked over to kiss them both on the cheek before stealing my water and parking her backside on a stool at the kitchen island.

“What have you three been up to?” She had that look that said, I know something you don’t.

“Spill it, kid, before I mess up your hair.”

“No, Aunt Maeve, stop it, don’t you dare.” She laughed and covered her head with her hands. That’s something between those two that’s been going on for years. Savanah is all about her hair.

“Speaking of which, Mom, your hair looks amazing. What did you do? Who did you go to?”

“Oh no, you don’t back the hell up; what do you know?” Sheila went after her next. My daughter turned on her phone, and the three of them looked at something on the screen.

“Oh my, that looks like…If I wasn’t there, I’d swear…” Sheila was lost for words.

“What is it? Lemme see.” Savanah turned her phone around, and I saw myself wrapped in Damon’s arms the night before with his face bent close, and it looked like he was nibbling on my neck.

Even though it didn’t happen that way, I still got that shiver down my spine. “That’s not what it looks like and how do you know that was me?”

She swiped left, and damn if some jackass didn’t take a full frontal shot of me. It was a shot of me walking back to the table with Damon behind me, holding my hand, and looking at my ass.

The heading said, and I quote, ‘Who’s this hot new number who has caught the eye of our boy Damon Kincaid?’

I looked at the three of them at a loss and wondered what the hell I’d got myself into.

JOLENE

Iwas mortified, of course, and tried to explain to my daughter, who I was sure was disappointed in me, but she fell all over herself laughing while her aunties beamed at her.

“Mom, are you kidding me? You got divorced what, a month and a half, two months ago, and you already pulled one of the hottest men in the state who’s not only richer than your ex but younger too? I so wanna be you when I grow up.”

“Are you sure it’s okay, Savanna?” The last thing I want to do is give my kids any reason to hate me; that would kill me. I know I’m done with their dad, but he’s still their dad, and even though they're old enough to understand what he did was wrong, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s always been a decent dad before all this.

“I won’t see him again if…”

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