The Sergeant's Christmas Gift by Shelley Shepard Gray

Author:Shelley Shepard Gray
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-08-16T11:33:58+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“HONEY, I’M HEARING what you’re saying, but don’t you think you might be overreacting a bit?” Maisie asked. “I mean, it was just a kiss, right?”

Sitting across from her in the living room, Vivian bit her lip. When she’d first come inside after the date, she had intended to simply smile, say she had a good time and thank Maisie for babysitting.

But her whole body had felt like it was wound up. Too wound up to counsel herself. The things that had been tumbling around in her head were dangerous.

So she’d told Maisie everything. All about the dinner and their flirty conversation and her stupid confession about first-date kisses.

And then Vivian had described the way Graham had kissed her, which had drawn the above response from her friend.

Realizing that Maisie was still waiting for a reply, she said, “Well, yes, it was just a kiss, but it felt like more than that.”

“More, how?”

And that was the real question, wasn’t it? Digging deep, she made herself admit what was really on her mind. “It felt like I was making a big first step away from Emerson.”

“Which was scary.”

“It was so scary, Maisie.”

Maisie leaned forward. “Maybe you should think about things another way. Maybe it wasn’t you pulling away from Emerson but taking a big first step toward something new.” She kicked her legs out and rested her toes on the ottoman. “Like a first step toward a new way of living. Like a new, happier Vivian.”

Vivian tried that on for size. “I don’t know about that.” After reflecting another second, she added, “Maybe that’s my problem. I’m not even sure about what I want to do five years from now. Or who I want to be.”

Maisie raised an eyebrow. “Who says that you need to know all the answers now?”

“Well, you kind of are.”

Maisie chuckled. “If I’m making you feel that way, I’m sorry. Vivian, you know my story, right? When Jared and I got divorced, it was the culmination of a lot of hard feelings and a lot of pain and bitterness. Then, when lawyers got involved, the divorce proceedings went on for months. Eventually, even our kids got involved.”

“They were teenagers, right?”

“Yes.” She blew out a breath of air. “Next thing I knew, it wasn’t just me and Jared trying to unravel twenty years of marriage—it was Jared, me, Allison and Jenna, too.

“So...things got even worse. The twins were hurt and felt torn between us. Jared and I tried to put them first, but we didn’t always succeed.” She shook her head. “I’d give a lot to be able to go back and handle things differently.”

Vivian was stunned. She’d known that Maisie had been divorced, and she’d also known that her husband had had an affair. But there was still so much pain in her voice. After all this time, it seemed Maisie was still healing. “You still see the kids, though, right?”

Maisie nodded slowly. “I do now, but there were a few months when I doubted either of them would want to spend time with me.

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