Page 59 of Hollow Child

I knocked on the front door, and a tall, curvy Native American woman opened it. Her eyes were dark and framed by long lashes, and her smile was kind but uneasy.

“You must be Lazlo’s friends,” she greeted us. “I’m his wife, Nova.”

And I froze at the wordwife. Lazlo had never called her that before, although he been very clear that he loved her and she was the mother of his child. On top of all that, I had no desire to pursue a romantic relationship with Laz, regardless of his relationship status, and I was with Boden, who I loved.

Yet, when Nova saidwife, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.

“I’m Boden, and this is –”

“– his wife, Remy,” I finished for him. I don’t even know why I said it, and I had blurted it out before I could even think.

“And I’m Serg, and I’m nobody’s wife,” Serg said.

Nova laughed and opened the door wider. “Come on in. Lazlo’s just finishing up making dinner.”

“I brought this cloudberry hard cider.” Serg held up a gallon-sized mason jar filled with an amber-colored liquid. “I got it at the market yesterday.”

“Thank you. That sounds delicious,” Nova said.

As we went into the house, I could feel Boden looking at me, but I refused to meet his gaze.

Lazlo was in the kitchen, with his four-year-old daughter, Sage on his hip. He shouted a quick greeting over his shoulder, and the little girl watched us curiously. She looked more like Nova than she did him, except for his eyes. She had his same dark eyes.

The dining table had a candelabra in the center, next to a basket of dinner rolls and neatly folded napkins. We sat around the table, with me between Boden and Nova.

The grownups made polite conversation, talking about how all of us enjoyed the town or the shops. Most of us, anyway. Boden ended up playing a game with Sage that involved her hiding behind napkins while he pretended to be surprised.

When the food was finally finished, Lazlo joined us at the table, and the mood lightened some. We had the rosemary quail and root vegetables he’d made to keep us busy, and I had been sipping enough of Serg’s hard cider that I didn’t feel quite so tense.

As the meal went on, the conversation flowed easier, and by the time it finished, I was thinking that maybe this hadn’t been so bad after all.

“That was fantastic. Lazlo, you really outdid yourself tonight,” Nova said and patted her belly. “I am so full.”

“Yeah, I would love to get the recipe,” Serg agreed.

“It’s honestly super easy,” Lazlo said, downplaying it.

“Do you do most of the cooking?” Nova asked Serg.

“I do. I’m the best at it of the three of us, so it just makes sense,” he elaborated.

“That’s so interesting,” Nova said, and then she turned her gaze to me and Boden. “How long have you two been together?”

“A little over eight years,” Boden answered before I finished doing the math in my head. “What about you two?”

“About seven years,” Nova replied and smiled across the table. “They haven’t always been blissful years, but they have been better than we deserve.”

“So, Remy, when was it that you and Lazlo dated?” Serg asked so nonchalantly, and suddenly my stomach dropped.

“Um, I don’t even remember. It was so long ago.”I tried sidestepping the question and took another sip of my drink.

“It was about eight and a half years ago,” Lazlo said.

“I’ve never been so good with math,” I muttered, when really I wished that we would just talk about something else,anythingelse.

“Why did you two break up?” Boden asked.

“I…” I stared down at my plate and toyed with my bent handmade fork. “It’s not interesting. I’m sure I’ve told you.”

---