“Why did you marry her?” I asked before taking another bite, his head turned and his eyes came to mine.
“You been married?”
I shook my head and his brows went up.
“No shit?”
I chewed, swallowed and affirmed, “No shit.”
“Why not?”
I shrugged and took another bite.
“Babe, seriously, why not?”
My eyes met his and my voice changed, it got soft when I said, “That’s really none of your business.”
He held my eyes and he did this a long time.
Then he replied quietly, “Fair enough.”
I was surprised he gave in. So surprised, I was shocked. I was also somehow touched. It was a nice thing to do, letting it alone because I wanted him to and I didn’t know Tack had that in him.
“So, why did you marry her? She doesn’t seem your type,” I brought the subject back in hand.
“What’s my type?” he asked.
“Not a woman who shouts at you and essentially stalks you,” I answered.
He threw his head against the back of my couch and burst out laughing. He had a great laugh. It was as deep and gravelly as his voice. He also looked great laughing. I’d noted both of these things last Saturday night. I liked them then but I liked them a whole lot better in my living room.
Oh boy.
“So?” I prompted through his laughter.
Tack’s laughter died down to a chuckle and he took a big bite of pizza, chewed, swallowed and looked back at me.
“She married a soldier then found herself tied to a general,” he finally answered.
“Pardon?”
“There are soldier’s wives and there are general’s wives. Naomi ain’t no general’s wife. She liked the flow, she doesn’t like headache. A general needs a wife who can handle headache, do her bit to make ‘em better, not make ‘em worse.”
I wasn’t certain I got this but I thought I did and I leaned forward to grab my beer, bowing my head to hide my face with my hair so he couldn’t see me when I asked, “So it wasn’t that you were cheating on her?”
“According to Naomi it was.”
I looked over my shoulder at him. He saw me do it, lifted his boots off my table and leaned forward too. Putting his elbows on his knees, his head turned to facing me and, surprisingly, he shared.
“I filed for divorce, Red. She fought it. She didn’t want to be quit of me. I don’t know why. She was miserable, she made me miserable and she was makin’ my kids miserable. Life’s too short for that shit. After she figured out that she was in a fight she wasn’t gonna win, she started bitchin’ about me steppin’ out on her, spreadin’ that shit far and wide and workin’ so hard at it, she convinced herself. Honestly?”
He stopped speaking and I realized he wanted me to answer the unspoken question of if I wanted the truth.
I held his gaze, held my breath and nodded.
He leaned slightly into me, his leg shifting so his knee touched mine and went on, “She turned into a bitch and I was pissed at her. What we had starting out was good. So good, I thought it would be that good for a lifetime. Not long after we made it legal, she started changing, it started goin’ bad and that’s all on her. She knew who I was and she knew what I wanted outta my life, it wasn’t me who changed. And it pissed me off that she made it turn bad. And it pissed me off more she made it turn as bad as it got which, darlin’, was seriously f**kin’ bad. What you saw was the tip of the iceberg with Naomi. She gets on a tear, she’s hell on wheels. So, I gotta tell you, I thought about it. I found myself not wantin’ to go home to that and wantin’ someone in my bed who wasn’t bustin’ my balls. So, I can’t say I didn’t look but before I found anything, I cut her loose. She was once a good woman but good woman or bad, no woman deserves that shit.”
Oh hell, that was a really good answer.