Page 32 of Masked Indulgence
“Portland,” I told him. “But now I livehere.”
He nodded and ran his hand through his thick, dark wavy hair. “And why’sthat?”
I found him quite nosy, but I supposed neighbors liked to know who was living next to them. “Well, if you must know, I’m pregnant with Nixon’sbaby.”
“Oh!” he said with raised brows. “Now that’s somenews.”
“Are you a reporter?” I joked withhim.
“No,” he said with a chuckle. “Just a nosy old man with little todo.”
“You’re not old,” I said as I looked him over. He wasn’t super young, but he wasn’t oldeither.
“How old do you think I am?” he asked with a smile. “And don’t sugarcoat it. I really want to know how old I look toyou.”
“Forty,” I said without thinking too much aboutit.
He nodded. “Forty-two. But I feel much older than that. I guess going through a divorce does that topeople.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. How long ago was it?” A little stab in my heart had measking.
“It’s nearly been a year since it became finalized. But it took two years to get the whole ugly thing done.” He ran his hand over his brow. “I waited too long to leave my wife. I stayed for our two kids. I spent twenty years with the woman I thought loved me. Some six years back I caught her cheating, and only then did I find out she’d been doing it all along. I even had to get my kids tested to make sure they were mine. They were, so I stayed. I stayed and stayed until our youngest graduated from high school and moved off to college. Then I left, and that woman who’d done me so wrong tried to do even more to me. She wanted half of everything. So it took a long time to get the divorce finalized—my lawyer had to fight hers just so I could come out losing only a quarter of what I had, instead ofhalf.”
“That sounds awful,” I said as I shook myhead.
“It was.” He nodded. Then he pulled his shades down and looked at me over the top of them. “So you and Nixon, had you known each other long before thishappened?”
I felt embarrassment heat my cheeks. “No. Not atall.”
He clucked his tongue and shook his head. “Damn.”
“Yeah, well, it is what it is.” I didn’t know what else tosay.
“And your plan is what, exactly?” he asked as he slid his sunglasses back up hisnose.
“To live together and have the baby and let life take us wherever it takes us.” I sighed, knowing that sounded like a flightyplan.
“Oh, one of those kinds of plans. Got ya.” He laughed and slapped his denim-covered leg. “I don’t envy you guys, I can tell youthat.”
Although I was slightly offended by the blunt man, I found myself asking, “And why is that, exactly,John?”
“Well, my wife and I had a plan, and even that didn’t make things work out for us.” He sighed, and I could feel his sadness about how his marriage had turned out. “We started our marriage out of love, not merely because she was pregnant. The odds are stacked against youtwo.”
“I’m not worried about any relationship between Nix and me. What worries me the most is how our child will be affected by both of us. That’s all that really matters. I believe Nix and I have the baby’s best interest as our focus.” I leaned back, feeling great about what I’dsaid.
John just laughed again. “Oh,honey!”
Oh,honey?
I shook my head. “What does thatmean?”
“It means you’re living in a fantasy world. That’s what it means.” He smiled at me as if what he was saying should make me feel better, which it didn’t. And I had been feeling pretty damn sure about everything before he’d arrived. Especially since the doctor’s appointment and that special moment Nix and I had shared, where I had felt my heart open up tohim.
Sure, I hadn’t gone so far as to let Nix know about that little miracle, but I would. One day. Time had to pass, or he’d think I was telling him I loved him much too soon. I couldn’t have that. So I’d keep it to myself, fornow.
But this guy, this virtual stranger had just told me I was living in a fantasy world, and he didn’t even know the half of it. So I enlightened him. “I don’t think I am living in a fantasy world. Well, that’s not entirely true. You see this place, this home, the man who comes home to me each day—now that is just like a fantasy. And not one I’d ever had before. I hadn’t meant for any of this to happen, and for things to have fallen into place so easily is a gift. Nix is agift.”
John smiled. “Now that’s a pretty sweet sentiment. So, you like this guy a lotthen?”
