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I wonder how Jonah would feel about me if it was his mom I was taking to dinner. Maybe he can see through us, or maybe he doesn’t want me with his mom. At first he thought it was cool, but it seems like something changed.
“What are you playing?” I ask.
“Rummy,” Jonah says.
“Who’s winning?”
Jonah grins as he raises his hand, and I feel a sense of pride in that—a strange sense that I can’t quite understand or explain.
Cade essentially ignores me, and I grin at Jonah and bid them all a good night before I head out the door with Sam.
“Your kid hates me,” I say once we’re outside.
She laughs. “No he doesn’t. He just wishes me and his dad would get back together.”
“What exactly happened between you?” I ask as we get into the car.
She sighs as she buckles her seat belt.
“If you don’t want to talk about it—”
“No, it’s fine.” She shakes her head a little. “It was just tough when Cade was little, you know? We’d only been together a few months, didn’t know each other all that well. I thought I was in love, thought we’d make it work. There wasn’t any one thing that broke us up. No cheating or whatever, we just had a lack of communication that sort of brought about the end. I was more focused on the baby and Devin wanted me to be more focused on him and we just threw in the towel. It felt like less pressure when we were apart.”
“I’m sorry. That sounds incredibly difficult,” I say.
“It was. It is. Because sometimes I think I love him more now than I did back then, but he’s moved on.”
I’m surprised at her confession. “Are you sure he moved on?”
“He’s been dating the same girl for the last year, and they just got engaged.” Her tone is flat.
“Ah. So that’s why you were so amenable to this deal.” And potentially that’s what changed with Cade.
She shakes her head as she presses her lips together. “I wish it was that simple. He proposed after he saw that I was dating you.”
“Do you think he did it because he thought you moved on?”
She bites her lip and it’s clear that she’s doing it to keep from crying. “That’s what Cade indicated.”
“Jesus, Sam,” I say, grabbing her hand. “I never intended for this thing to—”
She holds up a hand to cut me off. “It was my idea, if you recall. I never intended for any of this, either, but here we are.”
I blow out a breath as I squeeze her hand before I let it go. She’s Jolene’s best friend, but she’s become my friend over the last few weeks, too. “What if you were just honest with him?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “We may teach our children that honesty is the best policy, but really, what good would come from me being honest about this? I’d just end up being embarrassed every time I had to drop Cade off when Devin would look at me with sympathy because he chose Maddy.”
“Maddy? That’s his fiancée?”
She nods.
“Or maybe he feels the same way. I mean, he waited to propose until he saw you were with somebody, Sam. Don’t you think that could be significant?”
“Probably not.” She shrugs.
“But maybe.”
She sighs. “Maybe,” she finally concedes.
