Page 106 of Waiting on You

“Not a lot.”

“Well, she was the most beautiful woman I ever saw.” He paused a second. “Guess I’ll be seeing both your parents before long.”

The words made Lucas’s stomach twist. He knew Joe was dying.

It didn’t mean it would hurt less to lose him, the last link to his father, his affable, easygoing uncle who’d only ever been kind.

“How’s Stephie doing?” Joe said, changing the subject. “She coming to visit?”

“She is,” Lucas answered. “You’ll get to see all four girls, too.”

Joe laughed. “Fantastic. They’re firecrackers, those girls. It’ll be nice to have you all together. You know what? I want to have a picnic, all of us Campbells. What do you think?”

“Great idea,” he said.

“Would it be all right to ask the Forbes contingent? I feel like they’ve been family these past ten years.”

“Sure.”

Joe took out his phone and dialed. “Hi, Didi. Yeah, sorry, whatever, I’m dying, what can I say?” He rolled his eyes. “Look, I want to have a picnic. Steph and the girls are coming to... No, I haven’t forgotten. Yeah. Fine. No, I thought just us... Oh. No, I— Yeah. Okay. Whatever. Hanging up now.” He put the phone down. “She says it’s too much work, we should just go out for dinner, and if we’re doing a family picnic, her pack of hyenas has to be invited, too. Though she didn’t use that phrase, exactly.”

“I’ll take care of it. I’m seeing another lawyer about your divorce tomorrow,” Lucas said. This one was someone who specialized in complicated cases. “Didi never deserved you, Uncle Joe.”

“Word, nephew. Word.”

“Did you ever ask her for a divorce before?” he asked.

Joe nodded. “When Bryce was about eight. She said she’d move so far away I’d never see him. We signed a prenup, did you know that? At the time, I was the one who was supposed to make more money. But I signed one, too, and as luck would have it, she became the breadwinner.” He sighed. “And then your dad died, so things got more complicated.”

Two boys to raise, in other words, instead of just one. So Joe had stayed. For himandfor Bryce.

“I’ll take care of things, Joe. Don’t worry about anything.”

“I know you will, son.”

At the wordson,Lucas had to look down at the table.

“Ah, Lucas. You know what they say,” Joe said, covering Lucas’s hand with his own. “Only the good die young.”

* * *

THENEXTDAY, the news wasn’t what Lucas had hoped to hear.

“I do understand, I really do,” the attorney said. “But given the time frame, it’s probably not possible. If it were uncontested, that would still be tricky, though I know a judge who might do it, given your uncle’s health. As it is, though, I can’t see it happening.”

Lucas was in Ithaca to see the attorney, who’d been recommended by an old college friend. New York required a yearlong separation, and Joe didn’t have nearly that much time. The law didn’t make exceptions for a man who just wanted to die without being shackled to his bitchy wife.

The lawyer frowned. “Think we could prove cruel and inhuman treatment?”

“Probably,” Lucas said, thinking of Joe’s dark little room off the kitchen.

“Being a bitch doesn’t necessarily equal cruel and inhuman,” the lawyer said, reading his mind. “Has she had an affair that you know of?”

“No.”

“Too bad.” She sighed. “I wish I could help you.”

So that was that. Too freaking bad, because Lucas wouldn’t have minded seeing the look on Didi’s face when she was handed divorce papers. And the look on Joe’s when he could be free of his pinched, sour wife.

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