Perfect Couple by Echols Jennifer

Author:Echols, Jennifer [Echols, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781442474482
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2015-01-13T08:00:00+00:00

10

BRODY PAUSED WITH HIS FORK hovering over his plate. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “You look sick all of a sudden.”

“Nothing.” The nausea passed, along with the heat that had rushed to my face. My skin was left cool. A line of sweat had formed at my hairline. I took a deep breath through my nose, exhaled, and forced myself to take another bite of salad. “You know, my dad is in the Coast Guard.”

Brody frowned at me. “Really?”

“Yep.”

“Is he stationed down at St. Petersburg? How does he run the B & B?”

“It’s just Mom,” I explained. “My parents have been separated for a couple of years.”

“Oh.” Brody lifted his chin, puzzling out my words. “Are they getting back together?”

“I hope not. Um . . .” I racked my brain for a way to describe the situation.

“I’m sorry,” Brody said. “You don’t have to tell me.”

“No, it’s not a touchy subject, just complicated.” I put down my fork. “See, my dad cheated on Mom. Often. She finally kicked him out and filed for divorce. But ending a marriage in Florida isn’t that simple. One of two things has to happen.” I touched my first finger. “One of you has to be crazy. Actually, both my parents would be good candidates there, but they would have to be proven crazy separately in court.”

Brody chuckled like he was familiar with this feeling, then took another bite of his sandwich.

I touched my second finger. “Or, the marriage has to be ‘irretrievably broken.’ That’s the wording. Mom had her day in court. My dad told the judge that the marriage wasn’t irretrievably broken. Instead of giving Mom a divorce, the judge sent my parents to marriage counseling. Mom went to the first appointment. My dad didn’t show. The judge held my dad in contempt of court.”

“Oh, shit,” Brody said.

“It gets better,” I said with a lot more bitterness than I’d known I felt. “My dad came crawling back to Mom. She comforted him, if you know what I mean. He moved back in. A few weeks later he cheated on her again. She kicked him out and filed for divorce. This has happened, I don’t know, maybe four times in the past two years. It’s about to happen again, because Mom has another court date next week.”

Brody wasn’t laughing like he was supposed to. He didn’t make a snarky comment about Mom like Kennedy had when I told him this story. Granted, Kennedy’s words had hurt my feelings, but I was used to his sarcasm. I couldn’t get a handle on Brody’s silence. Maybe my description had been too convoluted—too much like my own family life had felt for the past two years—and I needed to clarify.

“My dad wants to cheat on her and keep her too,” I explained.

As these words were coming out of my mouth, I realized I was describing Brody when he made out with me, then ran back to Grace. I honestly hadn’t made the connection earlier, but now it seemed embarrassingly obvious.

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