Page 88 of The Clover Chapel (Jamison Valley 2)
So I had the perfect answer to his question. “You.”
Two weeks later, I was rushing to the spa to meet Gigi and Maisy for our girls’ night. Maisy had postponed our original date because Coby had been sick, and unfortunately, they’d rescheduled for a night where I wasn’t going to be good company.
Tomorrow was Nick and my anniversary and it was consuming my headspace.
I sank into a massive black chair between Gigi and Maisy and plastered a smile on my face. Maybe this was just what I needed to get my mind off Nick.
And ten years.
I had been legally married to a man for ten years and had only spent months in his presence. How could I possibly act normal tomorrow? I considered faking sickness and hiding out in the motel.
“Emmeline? Are you okay?” Gigi asked. She had been visiting with Maisy while I’d been lost in my own thoughts.
“Oh. Yes. I’m so sorry. I’ve been an unfocused mess all day.”
“Want to talk about it?” Maisy asked.
“That’s okay. I hate to burden you both with my trivial problems.”
“That’s what friends are for. Besides, we’re out of juicy gossip. Spill,” Gigi said.
This was probably the best place as any to get advice. “Did Nick tell you how we met and got married?” I asked.
“Some of it but he probably left out all the good stuff,” Maisy said.
Twenty minutes later, they knew the whole Vegas story.
“What a jackass!” Gigi yelled. “You know, Nick told Jess and me about what happened, but he definitely gave us the abbreviated version. Now that I know the whole story, the next time I see Nick he’s getting a smack in the head.”
I laughed and genuinely smiled for the first time all day. It felt nice to have her on my side.
“So why have you been a mess today?” Maisy asked.
“Tomorrow is our anniversary. It feels weird to celebrate and I don’t think Nick even remembers. He’s been completely normal all week and hasn’t mentioned a thing or brought it up. Which is actually making it worse. What should I do?”
“You guys are finally back together! You have to do something. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Go out to a nice dinner, maybe? No, the theater! That’s where you guys had your first kind of date, wasn’t it? How perfect! Go there,” Gigi said.
“You can’t listen to her,” Maisy said. “She’s become a hopeless romantic since meeting Jess. You should have seen her before they got together. Like, totally content without a man in her life. Now she’s on a mission to make sure her friends are all set up.”
“She might be right,” Gigi muttered.
“I’ll think about it. Thanks for listening,” I said.
Even though I wasn’t any closer to sorting out my head, it was nice to share my burdens with friends. Besides, if Nick and I just spent a normal night together, it would be better than the last nine anniversaries.
This anniversary, I could at least have sex with my husband.
“Nick!” Rowen Cleary shouted from her desk. The kids were supposed to be tracing the letter T but now they were all staring at Nick in the doorway.
“Hey, kids,” Nick called. “Are you guys learning a lot today?”
“Yeah!” they all shouted in unison.
“Hello, class,” Rich called, following Nick into the classroom.
“Hello, Mr. Garcia,” they said in chorus.
“What’s going on?” I asked Nick. “Is everything okay?”
