Page 82 of The Long Way Found

"You knew you could leave and you didn't," she said.

"Yes."

"Because going meant you'd have to walk in there not knowing how it would go."

"Yes."

She didn't say anything else for a beat, and Jack appreciated that she didn't reach for a lesson. That had always been one of Anna's better qualities—she could sit with a thing before rushing to fix it.

"Can I say something?" she said finally. "And you can tell me to mind my own business."

"Go ahead. I called."

"You did the same thing with us. Not the same situation, but the same mechanism, I guess. Whenever things got uncomfortable, you'd find something else that needed doing instead." She paused. "I used to think it was about me, that I wasn't enough or that I wasn't asking the right way. It took me a long time to figure out it was … how you were built."

"Anna—"

"I'm not saying it to make you feel bad, but you did. And this sounds like the same thing. Had this not occurred to you?”

It had, but it still helped to hear her say it.

He'd known it in the parking lot Friday night and again on Sunday, and he kept knowing it in a way that didn't seem to lead anywhere useful.

"What did you do?" he asked. "When you figured that out about me."

"I left," she said simply. "Which was the right thing for us. But Jack, this sounds different. You sound different."

He didn't have an answer for that.

"How did he take your apology?” Anna asked. “Luke.”

Jack thought about Sunday morning. Luke at the kitchen table, tired and clear-eyed, saying what he needed to say without flinching and without cruelty. "Like he knows what he wants."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet.”

“Don’t be an asshole, Jack.”

“I’m trying. Why do you think I called you?”

She laughed. A real one this time. He'd always liked her laugh.

"So he manages a gym?" Anna said, and there was something in her tone—not quite judgment, but a hint of disbelief.

"He owns it, basically. Runs the whole operation."

"Right. And he's... what, a personal trainer?"

"He's the manager. He does everything, programming, finances, community outreach, coaching."

A pause. Then: "What do you two talk about?"

Jack squeezed the phone. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you have two bachelor’s degrees and an MBA. You commanded troops, negotiated with foreign officials, and taught at the War College. And he's... I'm sure he's very nice. And obviously attractive. But do you have anything in common beyond the physical?"

Jack groaned. "God, why does everyone think that? No one accused you of being my trophy wife, Anna."