Page 42 of Enemies in Earnest

“Did you love her?”

The second Asher’s eyebrows dropped, and the reflective smile faltered, I knew. I’d always known. Otherwise, he would have gone after her. Tried to find her. Or at the bare minimum written to her and asked after why she’d left college.

“I don’t want to cause you anymore hurt than you’ve already suffered, Marley.”

At least he had the decency to be honest.

“I was and probably still am a pretty egotistical man. I loved how your mom made me feel. Young, desired, intellectually superior. The way she looked at me, it was as if I were personally responsible for creating the solar system, and it was a heady and addictive thing. I took advantage of a young woman who was barely starting out in the world, and as much as I loved the way I felt around her, it wasn’t right.”

I felt Ted’s agitation from across the room. He pressed out of his seat on the couch, the stormy look in his eyes and the viscous set of mouth was practically a billboard screaming his upset into the room.

“Marley, I think you’ve gotten what you came for. Let’s head back to the hotel and see if we can get our flights adjusted. It’s clear there’s nothing in this town for you.”

Asher stood as well, hands up in surrender, approaching Ted as if he were a wounded, rabid animal.

“Please.” Asher said, extending his hand toward Ted. In that moment, I realized how frail Asher was, despite his dignified presence. If he had been in his forties when my mom and he were involved, he’d easily be somewhere in his seventies.

“Please stay. I’m at the age where I’m too old for artifice. I don’t want to build a relationship with a daughter I just learned I had, with a false idea of who her mom and I were. Because eventually the truth would surface.”

Ted looked at me and suddenly, despite being able to decide and stand on my own two feet for years, I didn’t know what to do. It was clear Ted wanted to leave, and I wanted to leave with him. It was evident he needed to be soothed. There was some kind of malaise twisting the face that seemed to always be filled with laughter and light.

But I also needed to hear it all. I came to Candy Cane Key for information, and I needed all of it. To suck it dry like a vampire.

“I’m sorry, Marley.” Ted collected me against his side and pressed his mouth to my earlobe. “I just wanted to give you something I’ll never get.”

He didn’t need to apologize. I didn’t even want an apology from him. He spent every hour of each day ensuring that me and the kids felt the warmth of his love and the soft hold of his protection. I fell more in love with him every day we spent together. And I knew, regardless of the decision to stay or go, he’d support me.

“It’s okay, Ted.” I led him to the sofa so we could sit side by side. “I’d like to hear about Asher’s life. Even if it didn’t involve mom.”

Asher seemed surprised. As if he’d expected me to walk out as much as Ted wanted me to do just that. I wanted to do this for my mom as much as I wanted the information for myself. Just in case, at some point in her life, she’d wondered what if. I’d get that answered for her. And perhaps wherever she was, she’d hear us talking too.

“I didn’t know about you, Marley. Your mom and I had our dalliance throughout the fall semester. We had our fall festival, A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream and Joy was just otherworldly. She had such a natural talent for the stage. When a spotlight was on your mom, and she looked out into the audience, it was magnetic. Absolutely magical.”

I saw it. Asher had feelings for my mom, even if they never categorized them as love. It was in the way his lip curled into a bittersweet smile, and his eyes got glossy and stared off as if watching her in his mind’s eye. His mouth even moved to words only he could hear.

“Then our classes finished up for the semester, your mom went back home for winter break, and I never saw her again.”

“You didn’t think to call her? Or write? Something? Didn’t you wonder what happened to her?” I asked. “If the two of you had this hot and heavy thing going on, wouldn’t you have at least cared enough about her to want to know if she was okay? Were you not even the slightest bit concerned that she may have died on the way home from school? Or something happened to her? I just can’t imagine having feelings for someone…”

I pointed at Ted, trying to show that in my head I would have never in a million years done something like that to him. Ted wrapped my hand in his gigantic one, bringing it to his mouth. The moment his lips whispered across my pulse point; my anxiety abated to a low simmer.

“Help me understand, Asher. You must have cared for my mother in some facet to have had unprotected sex with her.”

“I cared for her very much, Marley. And sometimes birth control ends up not working.” Asher shrugged sheepishly. “But our relationship was unconventional and inappropriate if we’re being totally honest. After she left, I assumed maybe her parents found out about us, or maybe she’d gone home and met a boy her own age and transferred out to get a fresh start.

“I reasoned it was probably better that it ended that way. And, as sad as I was to see her leave so abruptly, in my heart I wished her well and always hoped she’d had the best life.”

I swiped at a tickle on my cheek and realized I’d started crying. Asher noticed as well and passed me a hanky from his pocket. He must have seen the question on my face because he laughed, shaking it a bit, and assuring me it was unused.

“My mother always told me to put two hankies in my pocket. One for me, and one to offer a stranger.”

It even had his initials embroidered into it.

“Did you ever get married?” I asked him, trying to clean my face while trying to salvage my eye makeup.

He shook his head, studying his hands.

“I’m not very likeable, I’m afraid.” He admitted. “I’m moody. A little self-absorbed. I have a hard time balancing my focus. My career…my vanity…had me desperate to chase after every accolade and acclaim. There have been some lovely companions in my life, but they all learned eventually that I’m not worth the effort.”

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