her curvy body radiating heat, the mound of their child between them and Jack let himself simply feel. If things were different, if he were different... But wishing wouldn’t make it so.
She wrapped her arms around his middle and laid her head on his chest. Her scent enveloped him completely and he felt as if he were bathing in some soft, golden light. The tension she eased and soothed wasn’t gone, just buried. It was all still inside him, twisting, writhing. But that didn’t mean he had to find answers tonight.
He took a breath, drew her scent deep and let it ease every jagged corner of his soul. Closing his eyes, he held her close and told himself that just for tonight, he would take the comfort she offered.
And be grateful.
* * *
A couple of days later, they were in a backyard with a wildly spectacular garden bursting with blooms in every color imaginable. A rare June day of sunshine washed out of a clear blue sky and shone down like a blessing on the small group of people gathered.
The wedding was beautiful. Small, as Rita and Jack’s had been, but instead of the beach, they were in a lush backyard with a small group of guests. There were tables, chairs and a wooden dance floor constructed just for the occasion. Music streamed from a stereo, an eclectic mix of classic rock, old standards and even a waltz or two just for tradition’s sake.
Seated at a table in the shade, Rita looked at her husband, sitting beside her. Jack wore a perfectly tailored black suit with a white shirt and a dark blue tie. His black hair was a little long, his blue eyes a little too sharp, his jaw a little too tense. But he was there for Kevin, as promised.
Rita smoothed the skirt of her bright yellow dress across her thighs, and swung the loose fall of her hair back behind her shoulders. Reaching across their table, she took Jack’s hand in hers.
“Look at them,” she said, smiling. “They’re so happy.”
She watched Kevin, with Lisa in his lap, wheel around the dance floor. The newlyweds were laughing, kissing and completely caught up in each other. Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones, but Rita’s eyes blurred with tears as she watched the two people so obviously in love.
“Yeah, they do look happy,” Jack said and deliberately slid his hand out from under hers. He picked up his bottle of beer and took a long swig.
“But you don’t.” Sitting beside him, surrounded by strangers in a flower-filled garden, Rita felt a now-familiar darkness creeping closer.
There didn’t seem to be anything she could do to lift the cloud that had settled on him since seeing Kevin again a few days ago. He wasn’t angry or even unkind. He was...civil. He treated her as he would a stranger, with a cool politeness that chipped away at her heart and soul.
When they were first married, Jack had kept a distance between them, but Rita had still sensed that he cared for her. That there was something inside him fighting to get out. Now, it was as if he’d suddenly built the wall around his heart thicker and higher, defying her to break through. God knew she’d spent the last couple of days trying to do just that. But it was as if he was on another planet—one she couldn’t reach.
He slanted her a long, thoughtful look. The dappled shade from the trees threw a pattern of dark and light across his face. His features, though, were carefully blank, as if he was determined to give her no clue at all as to what he was thinking, feeling.
“No,” he said finally, “I’m not happy.”
God, she got an actual chill from the ice in his voice. But she had to keep trying to get to him, to touch his heart, to make him see that he wasn’t alone if he didn’t want to be. “Jack, what is it? What’s happening?”
“This isn’t the place to talk about it,” he said and lifted his beer for another drink. His gaze shifted from her to Kevin and Lisa. His features were tighter, the glint in his eyes harder and Rita was more confused than ever.
She turned her head to watch the newlyweds, too, but what she saw made her smile. Made her heart lift. Kevin, in his chair, Lisa on his lap, looking down into his eyes with an expression of pure joy on her face. The two of them might have been alone in the world as the music played and a handful of dancers moved around them.
Why couldn’t Jack see the happiness all around him and let himself revel in it? Why was he more determined than ever to wallow in misery? For the first time since finding him again, Rita was worried.
* * *
As it turned out, she had a right to be.
A few hours later, they were back in the penthouse. It had been a long, silent ride, with tension building between them until Rita had felt it alive and bristling in the car. Jack had given away nothing. She still had no idea what was bothering him but she was through guessing. Rita had waited as long as she could. There was no point in worrying over something when you could face it head-on and tackle it to the ground.
Dropping her taupe clutch bag onto the nearest chair, she stared at Jack’s back and demanded, “Are you going to tell me what’s bugging you?”
He was standing in the center of the living room, suit jacket tossed to the couch, hands stuffed into his slacks pockets. When he turned to look at her, Rita’s heart actually dropped. If a man’s face could be a sheet of ice, then that’s what she was looking at.
His clear blue eyes glittered like shards of that ice as they locked on her. “What’s bugging me? It’s this.” He pulled his hands free, lifted both arms as if to encompass the two of them and the apartment. “It’s over, Rita. This marriage sham? It’s done. Time for you to go.”
All of the air in her lungs left her in a rush and seconds later Rita was light-headed. It felt as if the floor had opened up beneath her feet and simply swallowed her. Shock was too small a word for what she was feeling. Hurt was right up there, too, but temper was coming in a close third and quickly rising to the top. Forcing herself to breathe, she stared at him as she would have a stranger. “Just like that?”
“Just like that,” he said and headed for the bar in the far corner of the room. Bending down, he opened the mini fridge and grabbed a bottle of beer. After opening it, he took a long drink and avoided looking at her.
Yep, temper was bubbling to the surface and Rita gave it free rein. Her family could have told Jack that when Rita was truly angry, it was best to run, but that was all right, she told herself. He’d find that out for himself.
“That’s just not going to fly with me, Jack.”
One of his eyebrows lifted in mild surprise. She could do better.
“You don’t get to stand there so cool and dismissive and say ‘time for you to go, Rita,’ and expect me to start packing,” she said, riding a cresting wave of what felt like pure fury. “You don’t tell me to go and then not even bother to look at me.”
He slid his gaze to hers and it was almost worse, she thought, seeing the blank emptiness in his eyes. Pain grabbed at her, but she shook it off.
“What the hell happened?” she demanded. “You’ve been different ever since Kevin came here. And today—” she broke off, shook her head and said, “the wedding was beautiful, but you couldn’t see it. Kevin and Lisa were practically glowing and you sat there like a black hole, sucking in every bit of joy around you without it
