Page 102 of Seasoned
“How did you find this place?” she asked.
“I did my research. Unlike the last time.”
She frowned in confusion.
“Ten years ago, Thursday night, we were both starving and turned up at the restaurant—I can’t even remember the name now—but it was one of those trendy, popular places that gets written up in the magazines and makes all the lists. All I knew was that the food was good, they had violinists playing in the dining room, and I wanted to impress you.”
Jackie laughed, nodding her head as the memory came back. “That’s right. We showed up, and the place was closed. Looked like they’d been closed for months.”
“At least. And I was completely humiliated because I talked it up so much.”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t hold it against you.”
“I was worried.”
She laid her right hand on his thigh, and his quadriceps muscles tensed. Leaning on her left elbow, she turned her entire body toward him. She opened her mouth to speak, but right then the waitress arrived to take their order.
The moment was lost, and Jackie straightened in the chair. She chose the grilled pork chop with truffled pasta, and he ordered the pan seared beef tenderloin with vegetables. They both chose red wine for dinner.
“So what made you decide to come to San Diego?” Jackie asked.
“I wanted to establish a better relationship with Kendrick. I have a good relationship with my daughters, but for some reason he and I have never gotten along. I suppose it’s because he’s the youngest and didn’t have as much time with me as the girls did. He still resents me for leaving and for not spending as much time with him as I should have.” Frowning, he twisted the gold ring on his little finger. “My ex-wife is actually the one who suggested I come here and spend time with him and see if I could repair our relationship since nothing else had worked. He and I talked, but our conversations were always short and stilted. I take full responsibility for that, though.”
“You have an interesting relationship with your ex-wife.”
He nodded. “Some people find it strange, but the truth is, she and I used to be friends. We grew up next door to each other, our parents knew each other, we went to the same school. She was one of my best friends.”
“How did you end up hooking up?” Jackie asked. She took a sip of her drink.
“I made a pass at her and she caught it. My fault again.”
“If she accepted the pass, then it’s not exactly your fault. She was at the very least a willing participant.”
“True. But had I not made a pass at her, we would have continued being friends, and she wouldn’t have gotten pregnant. Don’t get me wrong, I always thought that she was attractive. She thought the same about me, too, but we never acted on our feelings because we were friends.”
“Until you made that pass,” Jackie interjected.
“Yes, until I made that pass. It was prom night and neither of us had a date, so we went together. We ended up hanging out in a hotel room with a bunch of other kids playing spin the bottle, and the bottle landed on her and I had to kiss her. Frankly, it wasn’t bad, it was…great, actually. And, instead of taking her home like I should have, like her parents trusted me to, we parked somewhere and had sex.”
Jackie’s eyebrows shot higher. “And then what happened?”
“And then we continued hooking up. Next thing I know, she’s my girlfriend, and we were with each other all the time because it was summertime. Everything kind of snowballed. A few months later, she told me she was pregnant, and a few months after that we were standing in the courthouse getting married.”
“Wow.” Jackie’s chin rested on her hand, eyes never leaving his face as she listened intently to him recount the story.
“The marriage worked for a while, but after some years we had to admit that being married to each other was not what either of us wanted.”
“And eventually you started seeing other people.”
“Yes. We stayed together to save money on the bills, but when she fell in love with Patrick—and he knew about our unique situation—it was time for me to get lost.”
He didn’t talk much about his marriage and his failure as a father with other people, but he felt comfortable telling her and didn’t see judgment in her eyes. “OK, your turn.”
“Me?” Her eyes widened.
“Yeah, you. Who’s the guy that broke off the engagement?”
“He was my banker.” She grimaced.
