Page 2 of Keep My Heart
‘What was that?’ Matt asks, glancing over at me.
‘The reason Chris isn’t here. It’s not because of work. It’s because we um .?.?.’ It’s hard to say this. I don’t know why. It should be easy, especially since I’m the one who filed for the divorce. ‘Chris and I are divorced,’ I blurt out.
‘Oh, shit. I’m sorry.’ He pulls me in for a hug. I haven’t seen this guy since high school and he’s acting like we’re best friends. But that’s Matt. He was a nice guy back then and obviously still is, the way he’s acting so concerned for me. He was on the football team with Chris, but they weren’t really friends. Chris was a cocky jerk whose friends were other cocky jerks. He only cared about himself, and still does.
‘It’s fine,’ I say, pulling away. ‘We’d talked about it for a long time. We just took forever to actually do it.’
‘And it just happened? Like this week?’
‘It was final as of yesterday. My lawyer called and let me know. I assume Chris knows. I haven’t talked to him. He’s in Vegas with a friend.’
‘I’m really sorry it didn’t work out.’ Matt scoots back a little, giving me a genuine look of concern. Why didn’t I marry someone like him? A nice guy who would’ve treated me well. ‘Anything I can do to help?’
‘No, but thanks for offering.’ I smile and glance down at his hand, noticing the wedding band. Of course he’s married. He’s a great guy. Some girl probably scooped him up years ago. ‘So what’s new with you? What have you been up to since high school?’
He shrugs. ‘Got married. Had a couple kids.’
‘How old are the kids?’
‘Mia is three and Bella is six. How about you? Any kids?’
‘No,’ I say, trying to hide my disappointment with a smile. ‘We decided kids weren’t for us.’
‘Really?’ He eyes me, his head tilting to the side. ‘For some reason I always pictured you having kids.’
‘We thought about it, but Chris wanted to focus on work.’
‘What’s he doing for work?’
‘A little of everything,’ I say with a laugh, but it’s not funny. Chris has practically bankrupted us with all of his businesses, none of which took off. ‘I’d rather not talk about it, or him.’
‘Yeah, of course. Sorry about that.’
‘It’s okay.’
He checks his phone for the time.
‘So who are you waiting for?’ I ask.
‘Nick.’ Matt looks up from his phone. ‘You remember him, right? From high school?’
‘Nick Kanfield?’ My pulse ticks up just saying his name. I had a small crush on him back in high school, which is odd because he wasn’t at all my type back then. He was one of the smart people who got all A’s and took the hardest classes. I, on the other hand, took the easiest classes and still struggled.
‘Didn’t Nick used to tutor you?’ Matt asks.
‘Yeah, that’s right, he did,’ I say, as if I just remembered that. But the truth is, I’ve thought about those tutoring sessions more than I should’ve the past 15 years. Nick was so patient and kind. He never made me feel stupid when I didn’t understand something. Those tutoring sessions are what made me fall for Nick, although I never told anyone that. I tried to convince myself it wasn’t true. How could it be? I had a boyfriend. A guy I loved. Nick was just a friend.
‘Looks like he’s finally off the plane,’ Matt says as he looks at his phone. ‘He should be here in a few minutes.’
‘Where’s Nick living now?’
‘New York City.’ Matt shakes his head. ‘I don’t know how he does it. That place stresses me out. I’ve only been there a couple times to visit him and I couldn’t wait to leave. So much noise and traffic and all those people.’ He laughs. ‘Guess I’m just a small-town type of guy.’
My phone rings and I see Diane’s name on the screen. ‘Hey,’ I answer. ‘Are you here?’
‘I’m at the airport, but I’m stuck behind a line of cars. I should be there in a minute or two.’
‘Okay, I’ll wait outside.’ I get up from the bench.
