Page 101 of Nothing But It All
I turn my attention to my husband. It’s my first time really looking at him since last night.
There’s something different in the way he’s looking at me this morning. I’m not sure what it is, but I feel it inside me. It’s as if the wall we’ve built—intentionally or by accident—between us has been torn away. The vulnerability that either Jack has hidden from me or I’ve refused to see is there again. I wonder if he can sense mine too.
I no longer feel like my life is a thousand-piece puzzle that’s strung out and missing the corners. It’s all snapped together, right where it should be. It’s complete.
We’re complete.
I hope.
Maddie lies across the bed with her head on Jack’s legs and her body across mine. Snaps tries to sit on her head but is quickly dissuaded. Instead, he climbs onto Jack’s lap and goes back to sleep.
“I don’t know how you guys were thinking of divorce if you love each other even a little bit as much as I love Daniel,” she says, tears falling down her cheeks again. “This is unbearable.”
“You’re telling me,” Jack mumbles.
I smack him on the arm.
The front door opens and closes in the distance. The footsteps fall hard and quick—definitely Michael’s.
“Hey, what are you ...o-kay. What’s going on here?” he asks, taking in the scene before him.
“Daniel dumped me.”
Michael’s gaze snaps to mine.
“She’s going to be okay,” I say gently. “Your sister just isn’t over the shock yet.”
“What did he say to you?” Michael asks, looking every bit as angry as Jack did at first.
“Nothing.” She turns her face toward him. “He broke up with me by text.”
Michael’s brows shoot to the ceiling. “He broke up with youby text? Who does that?”
“That’s what I said,” Jack says.
“You better not ever bring that little creep around again,” Michael says.
“Well, we’re broken up, so that’s apparently not a concern.”
Michael laughs angrily. “Oh, he’ll come back. He’ll go out and see if he likes anyone else any better, and when he realizes that you’re the best, he’ll mope around and try to get you to take him back.”
“Don’t say that.” She sits up. “He’s not trying to find a new girlfriend already.” She turns to me, panicked. “Is he?”
“Michael, let’s leave it alone for a while,” Jack says.
“What? Someone has to tell her the truth.”
I touch Maddie’s cheek. “Michael is just being protective.”
“No, Michael is being honest,” he says of himself. “I’m a guy. Granted, I attempt to be a little more upstanding than that little screwball.”
“Michael,”I say at the same time as Maddie objects.
“But I know how these things work,” he says. “You do, too, Dad.”
Jack sighs. “Easing your way into this would probably have been a better tactic. Maybe note that going forward.”
Michael shakes his head, clearly disgusted by the entire situation. “Well, you guys keep telling her what she wants to hear, and I’ll be at the lake with Ava.” He starts to leave but stops and looks at his sister. “Daniel better watch himself.”
