Page 82 of Resisting the Running Back

“After thirty-six years of marriage, Judy and I have decided to get a divorce.”

I hear a variety of gasps all over the table, and I feel eyes on me as everyone awaits my reaction.

I’m not surehowto react, exactly.

I’m a grown woman. It’s not like I’m a kid who is going to have to split time between Mom and Dad.

Is it weird? Yes. But they’re both here on this cruise—sharing a stateroom, no less, which means cramped quarters together—so they must be on decent terms despite the news.

Before I say anything, my dad adds, “I figured the news would come out some time on the trip, so why not just get it over with the first night so we don’t have to pretend?”

I’m not sure if he’s saying that to me or to my mom, but suddenly heat rolls over my body from the top of my head down to the tips of my toes, and I have the strongest urge to get the hell out of here.

I take a sip of water to try to calm whatever that feeling is, but it doesn’t help.

“I’ll be right back,” I mutter, and I stand, toss my napkin on my chair, and bolt out of the room.

Tears pinch behind my eyes. First my mom’s disapproval, then my dad’s announcement—and all when we’re supposed to be here celebrating Tanner and Cassie with the Nash family.

Why did we invite my parents along on this cruise?

Oh, right. It was supposed to be a fun family vacation. Chris and Marie couldn’t make it work, but it would sure be nice to have my older brother here so we could talk about the news. I wonder if he knows.

I feel like I should be upset. Like I should be crying.

Instead, I just feel…panicky. Thirty-six years, and they couldn’t make it work. They stopped fighting to make it work.

Will the same thing happen to me and my own future husband? Will it be Miller, or will we both jump ship before February?

Will I lose his friendship? Will I losehim…forever?

I wish I could skip ahead to the end to see how things pan out, but I can’t. Instead, I’m stuck on a boat with my parents, who are divorcing, my fake fiancé, and my fiancé’s entire extended family.

In fact…I don’t think it’s panic at all. I think it just might be claustrophobia.

But then a hand slips onto my shoulder, and it’s like things are immediately better. I know who it is without even turning around. It’s the clean, familiar scent, the warmth, the love that radiates from something as simple as a hand on my shoulder.

Thisis what I meant by support. He’s here for me even when I don’t know how to ask him to be.

I turn around.

“Hey. You okay?”

“This boat suddenly doesn’t feel big enough,” I admit. I turn into him and rest my forehead on his chest, and he clutches me with his arms tightly around me.

“Do you want to go to dinner somewhere else?” His voice is quiet and soothing.

“Can we, like, just have a parent table and a kid table?”

He chuckles. “Maybe tomorrow night.”

I blow out a breath and don’t move my forehead from his chest. “How weird is it that they’re getting divorced?”

“Any weirder than finding out my dad isn’t my biological dad?”

I can’t help a laugh at that. I pull back, and I wrap my arms around his waist as I look up and catch his eyes. “Same sort of lane, I think.”

“Yeah,” he murmurs. “Parents are people, too. They’re human, and I guess that’s what I’ve learned over the last year and a half. Take it for what it’s worth.”

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