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“But you have a wife?”
With a wry smile he picked up his beer and downed it in one, grimaced, and placed his empty bottle on the table. “Had a wife. Single dad to three rug rats now, nine, seven and four.”
“Did your wife know this… about you and Tricia?”
“She knew the story before we were married and since we decided to live separate lives, she blames my friendship with Tricia as a contributing factor to our marriage failing.”
“Why? She was jealous?”
“Emily thinks I never got over Tricia.”
“And what do you think?”
Turning his head to look for her again, he cast his eyes toward the dance floor, his face expressionless, then he smirked and snickered as he looked back to me.
“Whatever, we were kids … and it was decades ago,” he said, neither confirming nor denying his true feelings. “The truth is there’s no bad feeling between me and my ex. Emily and I should never have married. We wanted different things, I was the sensible partner in our relationship, she was the dreamer. She works as a cruise line entertainer, so I have sole custody of the kids and a live-in nanny. When she’s home she shares the house and spends time with our kids. It’s not an ideal situation, but we make it work.”
“What about you and Tricia?”
He shrugged, but I felt the weight of his feelings in the look he gave her when he glanced toward the dance floor again. “Sometimes I think we could have something going, but she’s hot and cold, I don’t think she’ll ever settle down.” Something going? What the fuck does that mean? My chest tightened with the implication he’d made. Is he trapped in a no-strings relationship with her… the same kind of relationship I’d walked away from?
“What makes you think that way?” I asked, somehow managing to sound vaguely interested.
He shook his head. “Donovan Clark … that douchebag really did a number on her. To be honest, I don’t believe she’s ever fully recovered from how he made her feel. I mean we were all kids, but for a while Tricia really went in on herself because of that slutty reputation he gave her.
“The girl that left for college at eighteen was nothing like how she is now. Tricia had a heart of gold, back then, now ... she’s damaged. There are very few people she trusts, hence our loose relationship.”
“Loose relationship?” I repeated, stunned he could talk so casually about that with me, and the thought of Tricia being quantified in such a way made me furious.
“She dictates the terms. Don’t get me wrong, if she wanted more, I’d give it to her, but she’s not interested in kids and…” He shrugged. “I have three. What more can I say?”
“Fuck,” I cussed, my anger directed at whatever had happened to change her. My thoughts turned to the quarterback and the snippet of story Bradley had given me. Did he force her? Was that the whole story? Could there be something she felt she couldn’t tell Bradley?
I felt incensed that one careless act could have created a lifetime of hurt in a person as confident as Tricia. Immediately I wanted to hunt Donovan down and beat his ass to a pulp–make him pay for what he’d done to her.
“Yeah. I know you’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but I doubt that guy’s less harmful six feet under.”
“He’s dead?” My eyes flared wide, shocked by his new revelation.
“Yeah, died in a snowboarding accident the month he got accepted into the NFL. That’s what I call Karma.” Bradley focused his narrowed eyes on me. “So, as we are sharing, what’s your story with Tricia? Short romance? Hookup? To be honest, Tricia doesn’t mention other dates to me.”
Other dates?“We met up a few times,” I said, choosing my words more carefully, considering his history with her. “Tricia is my sister-in-law, Billie’s, best friend. We met shortly before she was maid of honor at their wedding.” I shrugged and smiled at the cliché of bridesmaids and groomsmen getting it on again before I said it. “And I was a groomsman.”
“And you hooked up?” he asked, sliding his gaze slowly from me to the dance floor. His face was passive except for the muscle that ticked in his jaw.
I shrugged, not wishing to talk about Tricia in such terms with someone I hardly knew, a man with his history who still carried a torch for the woman in question. However, as I felt he’d been straight with me, I tried to be as honest as my conscience allowed. “A gentleman never kisses and tells, but I really liked her,” was all I replied.
“So you were both caught up in the occasion?” he asked.
I had wanted to say no, that it was more than that, and over a period of time, but it was hard to explain with the time gaps in between.
My gut wanted me to deny his suggestion, but instead I nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”
“You think?”
I shrugged. “You know Tricia better than I.”
My response earned me an immediate smile, like I’d given him possession of her, and he looked toward the dance floor again. “Donovan Clark sure fucked her up. Before that … I’d have sworn she’d have been a great wife and mother. We used to babysit for her mom’s friend’s kids, you know?” He sighed and checked out his empty beer bottle. Scanning over the bar he signaled for the cocktail waitress to come back.
