“Yeah. I didn’t ask where she went. I assumed she was visiting. But when she came back, she was...off somehow. I thought she’d just gotten tense worrying about taking more time away from studying.” Maybe that was an avenue to explore. Tracking down Malika and finding out exactly what they’d talked about. Except he didn’t know her last name, and he was pretty sure if the other woman thought he’d hurt Corinne, she’d be happy to castrate him.
“What exactly did she say?” Cam asked.
“Nothing. Just that she couldn’t do it. Couldn’t do us anymore.”
Again with the looks.
“That sounds like a breakup to me,” Brody said carefully.
“It’s not,” Tucker insisted. “She’s just upset.” About something. “She always pulls back when she’s upset.”
“What’s she got to be upset about?” Myles asked.
“I don’t fucking know!” Tucker slapped the low ball glass on the counter and shoved both hands through his hair.
“There has to be something. Women always have a reason, even if it doesn’t make sense to us,” Myles reasoned.
No, they didn’t. Laura hadn’t had a reason. At least not one she’d ever told him.
“Look, have you considered maybe this is for the best? I mean, you two are awfully different,” Brody said.
“Because same worked out so well for me the first time?” Tucker reached for the whiskey again.
“You and Laura wanted different things,” Cam said. “You said it was easy as that.”
“I lied.”
They stared at him.
Tucker tipped the bottle to splash another two fingers of amber liquid into the glass. “The divorce wasn’t a mutual decision. Laura left me. For her high school sweetheart back in California. No explanation. Not a goddamned word. She had divorce papers delivered to the house and didn’t even come home to pack up her things. Hired a service.”
“Dude,” Myles said, and the word held a wealth of sympathy that made Tucker’s shoulders hunch.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Brody asked.
Because I’m the guy not worth fighting for. The one women can simply walk away from. His hands clenched around the glass.
“Because it was fucking humiliating. We were supposed to be this perfect couple. On paper it all added up. In reality, we made no fucking sense at all. I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want the questions or looks of pity. I just wanted to move on.” And he hadn’t managed that. Not until Corinne.
“So, what? You decided to try someone who was her polar opposite in almost every way?” Brody asked.
“It wasn’t like that. Isn’t,” he corrected.
“Still, I’d think taking on an insta-family would be a pretty big—”
Brody didn’t manage to finish the sentence before Tucker propelled him into the wall. “I love that kid and I love her. I’d be a lucky bastard if I got to make them my family.”
Brody made no move to defend himself, instead staring into Tucker’s face, as if deciding exactly how serious he was. “I didn’t know you were in love with her.”
Tucker released him and picked up the glass again. “Neither did I until she walked away and ripped my heart out of my chest.”
They fell to silence.
“Well,” Myles said, finally, “commiserating and cheering up are an epic fail. Getting shitfaced is the only option left. Pull out some more glasses and somebody order pizza.”
~*~
“Praise Jesus, it’s over!” Malika announced as they burst out of the testing center. “This calls for a celebration.”