Page 64 of Fathers of the Bride

“Wha?”

“Oh good, you’re awake.”

“Huh?”

“Andy, what does this mean?”

“What does what mean?”

“You, waking up in my bed.”

He looked around, taking in the situation. “Ourbed. We bought it together remember. That place on Melrose. I hated it, but a month later I loved it. Although, I think it might be time for a new mattress.”

“So, that’s what’s happening? We’reusagain?”

“I don’t think we were ever not us. Not really.”

I was tempted to disagree. Two years of communicating through four-hundred-dollar-an-hour attorneys did not seem veryus. I left that one alone and instead went with the simple facts. “You have a boyfriend. Sorry, you have a fiancé.”

“You threw me out.”

“You were supposed to come crawling back.”

He sat up, blinked his eyes at me and then shrugged. “Sorry. I didn’t get the memo. Could we discuss this over coffee?”

“You fired me.”

He sighed heavily. “That memo I got. From the head of the network. Miles, I had no choice.”

“You should have quit in protest.”

“We had a mortgage and a daughter in college. One of us had to make money.”

“We should have decided that together.”

“Maybe. But at the time, I felt I was sparing you.”

“Sparing me?” My voice was doing its squeaky thing again. So, so, embarrassing.

“Yes, Miles, that’s what I said. I made the decision for both of us. I didn’t think you should have to. I knew you’d be angry, but I thought it would pass. I had no idea you’d throw me out.”

“You fired me.”

“You don’t need to keep saying that. I remember it quite well. I made a decision about our lives. I know you think you should have shared in that decision, but I don’t think you would have liked it anymore if you had.”

I wasn’t sure I liked this conversation. He sounded reasonable and decent, and even if hewaswrong, he’d been wrong for good reasons. No, I didn’t like this at all. My entire world had just turned upside down. I’d had sex with my ex. I hated him. Or rather I wanted to hate him. It made life easier. And, frankly, it had made the sex pretty incred—

Surprisingly, Kelly was knocking at the door saying, “Daddy?”

“Stay quiet,” I whispered to Andy.

“Why?” he whispered back.

“I don’t want her to know you’re here.”

“She’s my daughter.”

“Exactly.”