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With the little girl inside, Morganne stepped out and said, “Let me say goodbye to the kids and I’ll be back out?”

I nodded, clasping my hands in front of me.

She went inside, and I heard voices before she came back out and with a joking laugh said, “Run, run! We’re free!”

I chuckled, knowing the feeling. We got in my truck, and she buckled up, smiling over at me. “It’s so good to see you, Fletcher. I feel like I need to do a double take; you’re so grown up.”

I laughed as I pulled out into the street. If only she could hear the thoughts going through my head. “Grown up” was the last thing she’d call me. “I could say the same about you. Brenda’s always bragging about her grandbabies.”

She smiled, nodded. “I swear, she’s so nice to them it makes me jealous sometimes.”

“I get it,” I said. “My dad babies Maya like he never did with us boys. How old are your kids again?” I asked, falling into the conversation. It was easy to make small talk with other parents about their children.

“Miss Belle is three, almost four, and Henry just turned one.”

“Wow, they’re so young.”

She nodded. “Chris and I struggled with fertility issues before the split.”

“What happened?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. “I thought you two were a match made in heaven, honestly.”

She let out a harsh laugh. “Me too. But the funny thing about falling for someone in high school is that so much changes as you grow up. People like to say it’s okay if you grow together, but that’s easier said than done. At the end of the day, the man I was married to wasn’t the same man I fell in love with way back then.” She glanced down at her hands, fidgeting. I wondered if she used to spin her wedding ring around her finger like I did.

“Divorce sucks,” I said.

“Hear, hear,” she agreed. “What happened with you and your wife?”

I shook my head. “We got married because Maya was on the way. I thought it was the right thing to do back then.”

“And now?” she asked.

“Now...” I sighed. “Now, I wouldn’t know a good idea if it bit me in the ass.”

She laughed. “Honesty. I appreciate it.”

We caught up about lighter subjects as we drove to the lone nice restaurant in the next town over where we wouldn’t feel like we were in a fishbowl. She told me about her job working as a virtual assistant so she could be with her kids and work around their sleep schedule and visits with their dad. I talked about med school and how I decided to specialize in family medicine.

Our conversation was amicable.

Easy.

Maybe I just craved drama after everything that went on with Regina and this felt strange in comparison. I could get used to a relationship like this, over time.

When we got to the restaurant in Rutlage, I parked in a spot near the back and we walked inside together. But the second we got through the front door, I muttered, “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

Liv and Knox were standing at the front podium, his hand on the small of her back, right above the swell of her ass.

I saw fucking red.

“Is that your brother and Liv?” Morganne whispered.

I nodded, my jaw tight.

She smiled. “Small world. Should we make it a double date?”

I should have said no.

Lord knows I should have said no.