I spent more years than he deserved fighting for my marriage before he died. I’d actually come to the conclusion that we should get a divorce just before he had a heart attack. That should have been the end of it, right? Oh, but it wasn’t because now, Jolene Kirkland was attending my son’s wedding, and that just seemed un-fucking-fair.

Jared stood up and made his way around the table to greet Dylan who ran at him full tilt and leaped into his arms. The little boy favored him so much that it made me uncomfortable. It was as if Shannon had tried to cut and paste himself into a younger version of the family he already had.

“Hey, Jojo,” he greeted the other woman with a hug and a kiss while holding Dylan close to his side. “You remember Brandi,” Jared said, pointing to his wife-to-be, who smiled awkwardly.

“I sure do. It’s good to see you, Brandi.” Jolene’s eyes landed on me, and something like surprise flitted through those brown eyes of hers.

“Darcy…” she said, making his way to the only empty seats at the table, which unfortunately were at my end. “You’re looking well.” She came around the table to greet me and I stood so that we could exchange an awkward embrace and a kiss on the cheek. Why she felt compelled to do that, I didn’t know.

“Thank you, Jolene,” I said with a tight smile.

“Jojo,” she corrected as if it wasn’t incredibly infantile to be called a name better suited to a kid in pigtails.

“Right,” I said with a toothy grin, feeling mean enough to bite. “Did you get caught up at the office? Brunch started hours ago.”

She gave me a sheepish grin as Jared pulled out her chair. “You know how it is.”

“I sure do.”

“Mom…” Jared warned in a soft voice.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized under my breath. “Excuse me, y’all,” I said, standing up from the table. Tommy made as if to rise from his seat, and I dismissed him with a little wave. “Don’t get up. I’ll be right back.”

“Is that Thomas Martinez?” I heard Jolene squawk as I made my way inside.

All of the doors and windows on the bottom level were open to catch the breeze coming off the river. I moved through those rooms to a space that I’ve always found calming in my home.

Damn it.

I thought that I was entirely over this. I thought I was entirely done with letting Jolene wind up my feelings like this. And this was just the pre-wedding brunch. How was I going to make it through this?

7

Tomás