Page 97 of David

I ponder.

“The kids will be there?”

“Her kid, maybe. Mine will be home, sleeping.”

Clutching the sheet against my chest, I contemplate what she just said.

“What time are you getting there?”

“Around three thirty. Are you coming?”

“Yes. I’ll have to call Chloe first.”

“Sure. I’ll see you then.”

“Uh…”

“What?”

“How are things with you?”

“Me?”

She blushes, and I find it cute.

“Yeah, you. How’s Ed? How do you do it all?”

“Hmm…”

Leaning back in her seat, she mulls over an answer.

“Ed is perfect.”

“Still very much in love?”

“Yes. Still very much in love, and believe me… Things only get better. Having kids so soon works wonders for us,” she says, smiling happily. “They help us see all the good things that we have. It can’t get better than this. Trust me, it just can’t… And how do I do it all?”

She weighs her words for a second.

“I don’t think about it. You know… I realized that a lot of ‘thinking about things’ happens when you can’t do much about them. When they’re bad, no matter what you do, you can’t accomplish much. No nugget of wisdom can save you from that shit. You just have to push through until you get to the other side. It happened when I lost my brother and my mother, and I divorced Nolan. It can happen any time things don’t go your way. And when things are meant to happen, you don’t have to think about them much. They take care of themselves. Even when you make mistakes and play it by the ear, you have to trust things will be all right. And they will. It’s like they’re following a secret script. You don’t have to worry about them much.”

“I’m happy to hear that.”

“They’ll happen for you too,” she says.

“I’m not complaining. Things are good.”

She laughs.

“You are such a bad liar.”

“You talked to Mom?” I joke.

“Yes. She complained about you.”

I flash a smile.

“Why would she complain? I’m out of her hair.”

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