Hard Checked (Ice Kings #4) - Stacey Lynn Page 0,25
and brown all over our home because it was classic. I wanted to paint walls purple and he was concerned about the resale value. They were all small things, but they were incompatible long-term things. We realized it. We both recognized it, and then we corrected our young mistake. He’s now engaged to a pre-school teacher who’s absolutely perfect for him and I’m happy for him. What we had, that’s a lot different from you and Madison I feel like. Don’t compare my dissolved marriage to yours. No two marriages or reasons for ending them are the same.”
I take the exit to head out west of Charlotte and it’s miles before he speaks again.
“Madison and I, we both come from large families. She’s one of four sisters. I have two as well. All of us are married, and all of them except us have kids.”
He trails off, and I notice him bite his bottom lip between his teeth, staring out the side window. His chest heaves and I give him a second before asking, “Was that… is that something you want?”
“We tried for three years,” he finally says, and God…the pain in his voice is brutal as he says it. “We’ve been trying. Doctors. Medicines. She’s had surgeries for things she’d kill me if I repeated to anyone. We tried the natural way, the medical way… nothing.”
“I’m so sorry.”
He shrugs, but it’s tense. I’m pretty sure the sadness growing inside my Jeep weighs as much as the vehicle itself. “She wants kids and the chances of us having them together are pretty much zero. That’s why she left.”
Together? The way he phrases it makes me frown, and I focus my attention on the road and not on the pain wafting off him in palpable waves.
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” he whispers.
It sounds ripped from his throat and my own clogs for him.
Every part of me wants to reach for him. To comfort him. My grip on my steering wheel tightens so I don’t do something that stupid.
“A part of me thinks I should let this go. I get it. I get why she left. I get why she’s hurting. And it pisses me off to know she can so easily cut off contact with me, end things and walk away without talking to me. I told you last night she’s back in Minnesota, where we’re from?”
I didn’t know he was from there, but I nod. “Yeah.”
“I called her dad to get her on the phone. Even he won’t let me talk to her. Fifteen years I’ve loved her, almost half my life, and now she won’t let me be there for her. Fucking kills. Deep down in my gut, it kills. And yet, if this is what she wants… if this is what will make her finally happy… shouldn’t I want that for her?”
He groans, shoves his hands through his hair again and plops his head to the back of the headrest. “I’m sorry, Gigi. You don’t need this bullshit. You didn’t even ask for this when we left.”
“Curse of the bartender,” I try to joke. Based on his lack of a smile, it doesn’t work. “In all seriousness, I’m sorry. That has to be hard for you. Fortunately, you just spilled all that to someone who’s happy to listen to you, happy to let you get that off your chest if you want and need it, but I have no advice. No sage wisdom for what you’re going through.”
He turns to me and licks his lips. “I think you’ve given me exactly what I need today. Thanks for listening.”
My lips twitch. “Anytime, hotshot.”
The last thing I notice before he turns to face the road and I do the same is his lips lifting at the corners.
Almost a smile.
Which makes me smile harder. I gave him that small grin.
I’m so glad I took advantage of the warmer weather and cloudless sky to get out and do some hiking instead of walking around the city like I usually do this time of year. It’s beautiful. With the temperature in the mid-fifties, I have a small line of sweat beading across my hairline and down my spine, and we’re barely halfway up the trail.
Next to me, Sebastian is keeping pace easily, making my workout seem like a daily stroll for him. I’d be angry about it if he didn’t look so good, if I couldn’t almost feel his stress and sadness evaporate with every quarter mile we walk, and if he wasn’t such good