Tough Talk by Jessie Gussman

Author:Jessie Gussman [Gussman, Jessie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jessie Gussman
Published: 2019-01-22T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

The reception was casual, held in a fire hall. It was nicely decorated but not fancy, making it comfortable for the kids. The food was wholesome and tasty without being fussy or pretentious. Kelly sat with Dusty and Harris at the head table and laughed so hard she cried more than once. Cassidy and Torque looked so happy together. Some of Torque’s hardness had melted away, whether from love or from the laughter of friends and family, she wasn’t sure.

Harris leaned over and said softly in Kelly’s ear, “There. You can’t look at them and tell me you don’t believe in love.”

“Oh, I believe in it now. Just I’ve seen so many couples who were so happy as they got married, but then it vanished in a bitter divorce and custody battle. And the children lose. Every time. I’ve seen it so much...too much,” Kelly finished softly, her heart clenching for the children who would never stop wishing and hoping that their parents would get back together. Or, worse, for the ones who wondered what was wrong with them and why their parents left and didn’t want them.

“I guess with your work, you would. I see it some too, at the library. But I can’t keep from believing that they will be one of the ones who make it work to the end. You know?” Harris’s serious eyes blinked.

“I want to believe that and for myself too, but the statistics aren’t really for that. And I would hate to see my own children suffer.”

“So what makes you think that you and Preston won’t split?” Harris asked matter-of-factly.

It wasn’t hard. “Because we’re going into it with our eyes open. We’re not basing things on wishy-washy feelings of physical, passionate love, which obviously can die or fade away or whatever.”

“But can’t that go wrong too? Can’t one of you decide that your agreement isn’t working anymore? You don’t have to fall out of love to split. Companies split all the time. Churches split. People leave their gyms, their places of employment, they move because they can’t get along with the neighbors that they used to be best friends with... It doesn’t have to be love.”

Kelly played with the bit of tulle on the table. She hadn’t thought of it that way. “I wrote to Dr. T last night.”

Harris’s eyes brightened. “Really? Wow. Please, please, please, let me know what he says. Did you sign your real name?”

Kelly put her hand on her forehead. “Uh, I never even thought about signing a different name. Oh, my gosh. I should have, shouldn’t I? I’m so dumb sometimes!”

“Maybe he won’t print it.”

“Not with my luck.”

The DJ announced it was time for the wedding party to have the first dance. Colton came over and offered his hand to Harris. “Think about it,” she said as she stood.

Harris walked away, and Dusty was getting up beside a grinning Turbo, but when Kelly looked around, Tough still sat in his chair. He had both hands on the table and was watching them like the Hail Mary pass of a tied Super Bowl.

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