Page 73 of Secret Love

“Mm-hmm,” I tease and she hurries and takes a big bite of her ice cream. “So, your mom and I want to talk to you. Thanks for this amazing dinner. It’s all been delicious and we’re both going to have you start cooking more.”

We laugh when they look at each other likeOops, what have we done?

“But we need to talk about why you guys did this for us. I think maybe because your mom and I are such good friends and that's unusual to see with some divorced parents, it could seem like maybe there’s hope of us getting back together.” I look at each one of them in the eye and my heart hurts with how closely they're listening and how hopeful they look. “Your mom and I stayed together longer than we probably should have because of wanting to make sure we provided a good home for our little ladies. We still want that for you, but like we’ve said before, we're not getting back together.”

Gracie’s lip pokes out. “But why?”

“Because we're better like this,” Bree says. “We're better as friends. We can love you better this way. We can love each other better this way. And there will be other people in our lives.” She looks at me and I nod.

“Exactly. Your mom is dating Alex and happy with him. Whoever we’re with, you guys are always taken into consideration.”

Cassidy's face falls. “But my teacher? You're really going to date my teacher?”

“Wait, what?” Audrey says. “What do you mean?”

“He's with Miss Seymour,” Cassidy says, flinging her arm my way.

I hold up my hand. “I wish I’d had a chance to talk to you all about it before you found out, Cassidy. I like Miss Seymour. Tru. I like her a lot. But she's had reservations about being with me because she's your teacher too, and I don't know what's going to happen with her. But we need to first establish that your mom and I arenothappening. We decided that a long time ago when we got divorced, and that's not changing.”

Audrey nods like she expected this. “I think it's cool that you guys get along so well. Briana’s parents are divorced and they hate each other. And they always make her feel bad when she goes to the other parent’s house. She says it’s the worst.”

“I think it’s cool that you get along too,” Cassidy says, “but I still don't understand why you're not perfect for each other. It seems like you are to me.”

“IlikeMiss Seymour,” Gracie says. “I like her a lot. I didn't know you were dating her. It's weird, but if you were going to date anybody, I guess she's the best one it could be besides Mom.” She looks at Bree like she’s making sure that’s okay to say.

Bree smiles reassuringly at her.

Cassidy groans. “No, it's wrong. It's weird. And I don't like it.”

“Your dad is being gracious to talk this over with all of us. When I started dating Alex, I didn’t ask your permission,and your dad doesn’t have to ask our permission about Miss Seymour either. Tru,” she adds, smirking at me.

Cassidy starts crying. “It’s so embarrassing. I already get made fun of at school and now everyone will talk about this.”

“No one will kn—” I start, but she runs inside.

I follow her, but she’s faster and when I knock on the door, she yells.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

Fucking hell.

Penn and Rhodes meet us at Bowie’s. Weston runs Caleb home to hand him off to Sadie and when he walks in, he slaps The Single Dad Playbook on the table. We talk about the way my night went right off the bat. They look as bewildered as I feel.

Weston points at our notebook. “I’m sorry we don’t really have the advice for you on all this, Hen. We’re looking at you to lead the way through the teenage years.”

I shake my head, as I let out a long exhale. “And hopefully none of you will ever have to go through a divorce.” I give Bowie an apologetic look because what he went through with his ex-girlfriend over Becca was worse than any divorce. He squeezes my shoulder in response. “But guys, I think it might be the Wild, Wild West when it comes to teenagers. I called Jeremy on the way over here and he alluded to as much. No help whatsoever.” I chuckle as I see the concerned looks on their faces. “It ended okay tonight. Cassidy’s gonna take a while, but I think she’ll come around.”

“What about Tru? What’s happening with her?” Rhodes asks.

“She ended things…or paused them, I guess.” I lean forward, my elbows on my knees and looked down. “After the best nightI’ve ever had. I don’t know…I’m going to respect her wishes, but fuck, the last thing I want from her is space.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

SUFFERING

TRU

I’ve managed to get through a day and a half of not texting Henley. I feel the void like an aching hole in my chest because we’ve been talking more and more every day. I feel sick about the way we ended things. I thought I’d hear from him yesterday and am surprised…and a little hurt that I still haven’t.

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