Page 27 of Unexpecting

″Blonde. Curly hair. Tall,” I reported. “And she’s wearing a pink shirt, so she’s not a waitress.”

″He stopped dating the waitresses years ago,” Coop told us. “After Talia.”

″Who’s Talia?” Emma and I asked in unison. I sat back down. This might be more interesting, especially since all I could see was her back and one of J.B.’s hands on her shoulder, which gave me another pang I’d rather not dwell on.

″You live with the guy, and you don’t know anything about him?” Cooper asked me with a raised eyebrow.

″Well, it’s hard to keep track. And I don’t really live with him.”

″So who’s this Talia?” Emma asked.

″She was one of the waitresses at the club, maybe about five or six years ago. J.B. liked her a lot.”

Another pang in the heart region. Now, why is that? That was before my time!

″Anyway, he was getting serious with her—”

″What, two dates?” I scoffed.

Cooper looked at me. “There have been a couple of girls he’s been serious about, you know. I remember one—what was her name? She was quiet but really sweet.”

″Is that what his ex-wife was like?” I wondered. “The one who sends him a card on their divorce-versary?”

Cooper sighed. “Is she still doing that?”

″I read the one from a couple of weeks ago.”

″She really doesn’t want him to get over her.”

″That’s what I thought!” I crowed. “Is J.B. —does he…?” I floundered. Did I really want to know if he still had feelings for his ex-wife? What business of mine was it if he did?

″If he does still have feelings for her, he won’t admit it,” Coop said. “But it makes sense. They’ve been split up for twelve years or so, and he’shad maybe three serious relationships. Serious being more than six months, and all with girls just like his wife—needy, clingy, and insecure.”

″I don’t understand women like that. Most of the time they’d be better off without a man in their life,” I said.

″Like you.” Emma smiled at me. “What about this Talia?” I was glad she asked because I really wanted to know and I felt guilty about her comment. I hadn’t told her about David yet. How could I judge past loves of J.B. when I can’t even go a month without a man of my own? Not that David could be considered my man, only my ex-man, but after yesterday, who knows?

″She was all messed up by her ex when J.B. started dating her,” Cooper was saying. “He took his time with her, helped get her self-confidence back. I’d never seen him so serious about a girl before. They were together for almost a year, I guess. They started talking about getting a place together, but then all of a sudden, the ex-boyfriend comes back into the picture and tells her he wants her back. He’s gone through all this therapy; says he’s a new man and all this crap. J.B. was convinced Talia would just blow him off, but then she goes back to him. She just said she owed it to him to give him another chance. Then she was gone, and J.B. refused to look at another girl twice. Well, he’d look, but that’s it. Nothing serious since.”

″She dumped him just like that?” Emma exclaimed loud enough for J.B. to hear in the hallway. I gave another peek—the door was open and he was standing there, still obviously saying good-bye to Ms. Blonde. “Idiot girl.”

″He was pretty messed up for a while,” Cooper told us slowly. “He really cared about her. He told me once that he felt betrayed by her. It was one thing for her to leave him, but he could never understand how she could go back to the boyfriend who messed her up. There were a lot of dependency issues; I think some emotional stuff, but J.B. got her to stand on her feet again, and then she goes and ruins everything by going back to the boyfriend.”

″So maybe he’s still hung up on her, not the ex-wife.” I didn’t know what upset me more. Not upset, because why should I be upset, but disappointed me? Concerned me? And why should I be letting J.B.’s love life even enter my thoughts? I had David to be concerned about now.

″What ex-wife?” J.B. asked from the hall. I didn’t know who jumped more, me or Emma. Both of us glanced guiltily at each other.

″Oh, Brit,” I fibbed as breezily as possible.

″Brit’s not even married yet.”

“Yes, but Morgan keeps saying that it’s about time she started planning on how to be an ex-wife, now that she’s almost married so that she can start planning her second wedding.” I’m such a horrible liar that the Lord will surely strike me down someday.

I was also feeling kind of strange about the insight into J.B.’s past. It was like I was snooping inside his medicine cabinet and found he was taking some sort of secret medication.

J.B . just gave me one of those you’re nuts expressions, and turned his attention back to his plate. “Did you take my bacon?”

“It was getting cold,” I said in my defense.

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