“I thought we could leave tomorrow afternoon,” he said.
“Leave?”
“We’ll drive up into the mountains. I know a beautiful spot to camp, right by a lakeshore. It’s about a two-hour hike in. We’ll spend the night and then hike back out in the morning.”
“I have to work,” Eve said.
“Come on,” he replied. “You know as well as I do that the restaurant can do without you for a night. It’s a Tuesday. No one eats out on a Tuesday.” He leaned closer. “Have you ever had sex in the great outdoors?”
“No,” she said. “Have you?”
“No,” he said.
“You are such a liar.”
“Eve, when I’m with you, everything feels like the first time.”
There wasn’t much she could say to that, Eve mused. She knew exactly how he felt. When they were together, her past experiences with men seemed to fade away until her only memories were of Charlie. “Good answer,” she said.
The salesperson handed Charlie two shoeboxes and he removed the larger pair and strung the laces through the hooks and eyes. Then he retrieved a pair of wool socks from a nearby rack and slipped them on her bare feet.
Eve watched as he tucked her foot inside the right boot and laced it up. This was his world, she mused. She was comfortable with knives and graters and small electric appliances, the smells and sounds of the kitchen. Charlie lived in a different world, a world of skies and streams, fresh air and rocky ground.
“How do they feel?” he asked after he’d laced up the second boot.
“Like I’m wearing cement overshoes,” Eve replied, rising to her feet. “And they’re so attractive.”
He looked up at her and gave her an impatient glare. “You’ll get used to them. Just wear them for the rest of the day to break them in.”
Eve glanced at her watch. She and Charlie had shared a late lunch together, eating at one of Eve’s favorite Chinese restaurants a few blocks from the Garden Gate. “I need to get back,” she said. “My sous-chef took the day off and I’ve got a lot of prep to do for this week. Especially if I’m taking tomorrow off.”
He handed the sales clerk his credit card and Eve reached for it. “You don’t have to pay for these,” she said.
“I want to. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be buying them yourself, so they’ll be my treat. And just to make sure you wear them today, I’m keeping your Birkenstocks.” He put her shoes in the empty box, then leaned over and kissed her softly. “I’ll see you later tonight.”
“Why don’t you come in for a late supper?” she suggested.
“I’ll do that,” he said. “I’ll see you later.”
Eve hurried out of the store, nearly tripping over herself in the hiking boots. Though she knew she looked foolish in them, the residents of Boulder were quite forgiving when it came to outlandish outfits. Boulder was a city of wildly diverse individuals. On her way back to the restaurant she saw plenty of tie-dyed T-shirts, Western wear and bicycle shorts.
The dining room was empty when she walked in the front door. She smiled at Sarah, who was stacking glasses behind the bar, then strolled into the kitchen. Lily had the luncheon receipts spread across the worktable.
“There you are!” she said, spinning around to face Eve. Her gaze took in the boots and she frowned. “What are those on your feet?”
“Hiking boots,” Eve said. “Charlie bought them for me.”
“What happened to lingerie or perfume or a nice bouquet of roses?”
“He said I’d need them if we go hiking,” Eve explained.
“And you’d need a parachute if you were going to jump out of a plane. But I can’t see you doing either of those things.”
“I can be outdoorsy,” Eve said. “Besides, hiking is just walking…uphill…over rocks and branches and stuff. How hard can it be?”
“You must really love this guy,” Lily said.
“No!” Eve cried. “Far from it. I’m trying my best not to love him.”
“Be careful,” Lily murmured. “I know how long it took you to get over Matt.”
“This is different. I’m not planning to marry Charlie.”
The kitchen door swung open and Sarah poked her head inside. “Eve, you have a visitor.”
“Oh, good grief,” Lily said. “Can’t he spend a minute away from you?”
“It’s not Charlie,” Sarah said. “It’s your ex-husband.”
Eve glanced up at Lily and winced. “What does he want?”
“He didn’t say. He looks a little…nervous?”
Eve nodded. “I can’t imagine why he’s here, unless he’s looking for a free lunch.” She pointed at Lily. “You stay in the kitchen. I don’t need you stirring things up with him.”
Lily had never been fond of Matt and she wasn’t shy about letting her hatred show. They’d met while Eve was going through her divorce. When it had come time to buy Matt out of the restaurant, Lily had decided to come in as a partner. It had been the best thing to ever happen to the Garden Gate. Lily was a wonderful business manager and a good friend.
When Eve emerged from the kitchen, she found Matt sitting at the bar, a half-empty glass of beer in front of him. She stood at the door watching him, wondering what she’d ever seen in him. He was self-involved and immature and a…a wimp. “Matt,” she murmured, as she stepped up beside him. “What can I do for you?”
He turned and smiled, but Eve could see it was forced. “Eve. Hi. Wow, you look good. How long has it been?”
“A while,” she said. “Why are you here?”
It was clear he’d expected some polite chitchat before getting down to the business at hand, but Eve didn’t have time to stroke his ego and make him feel comfortable. “Word around town is that you’ve got a new boyfriend. People have seen you out together.”
“So? I’m single. I’m allowed to date. You dated while we were married and it didn’t seem to bother you then.” She sighed. “What do you want?”
“I also heard you’ve been talking to some investors about a restaurant in Seattle.”
“Where did you hear that?” Eve asked.
“A reliable source.”
“What do you want, Matt?”
He looked uneasy and a bit pale. “Business has been a little down lately. And I-I figure since I helped build your business, I should get a share of anything that comes out of it like this new restaurant. Of course, if you want to buy me out right away, we could negotiate a fair price.”
“Buy you out of what?” Eve said, staring at him in astonishment. He really was an idiot. How could she have missed that?
Matt cleared his throat. “A lawyer friend of mine mentioned that I might want to consider renegotiating the divorce settlement, seeing as how it’s had such a negative impact on my earning ability.”
“Did you ever think maybe it was your bad behavior that had an effect on your business? Messing around with college-age girls doesn’t make you look particularly responsible.”
“Come on, Eve. Both you and I know that our marriage was a mistake from the beginning. You didn’t want me anymore than I wanted you.”
“Get out of here,” she said. “If you want to try to renegotiate the settlement, feel free. But I don’t think there’s a judge in this county who will side with you.”
Eve could see that he hadn’t expected the response she gave. In the past, Eve might just have given him the money, hoping to keep their relationship pleasant. But she wanted Matt out of her life. If she paid him, he’d be back for more.
“I’m not looking for much,” Matt said. “I just have some…unexpected expenses. My lawyer says I’ve got a good case.”
“Great. Go for it. Show the entire city of Boulder what a horrible excuse for a husband you were.”
He stood up and drained the rest of his beer, then set it down on the bar. “You don’t have to be so nasty.”
It felt liberating to tell him off, Eve mused. She was slamming the door shut on that part of her life and moving on. “I made a mistake five years ago,” Eve said. “But I’m not going to make another one tonight. If you come after me for more money, I will spend every last cent I have making sure you don’t get anything. Now get out of my restaurant.”
He walked to the door, his shoulders slumped. When he was finally outside, Eve leaned back against the bar and tried to slow her pounding pulse. She’d never loved him, that much was clear to her now. And he’d never loved her. Their marriage
“Good for you.”
Eve looked over to find Lily watching her from the kitchen door. She smiled weakly at her friend. “Thanks. It felt good. How could I have been so stupid? Why couldn’t I see what kind of man he was?”
“Maybe you were in love with someone else?” Lily offered.
“Maybe,” Eve admitted.
Perhaps Charlie had been the reason her marriage had failed. Maybe, deep down in the secret corners of her heart, she’d loved him and not Matt. And now they had a second chance to make things right.
But did she have the courage to put her heart on the line all over again? Or would she let another chance pass her by?
“THIS IS WEIRD,” CHARLIE said, glancing over his shoulder at Jack’s two kids sitting silently in the backseat of the SUV. “I haven’t spent a whole lot of time around kids.” He lowered his voice. “They’re kind of scary.”
“Yeah, just don’t look them in the eye or they’ll throw themselves on the ground and pitch a fit.”
“Don’t they talk?”
“Sure,” Jack said. “But if they’re quiet in the car, we stop for ice cream. I have them trained well. Their mother doesn’t like them to have sweets.” Jack looked in the rearview mirror. “You guys can talk. You’re starting to scare Charlie a little bit.”
The boy and girl both grinned then launched into a series of unrelated questions. Was his watch waterproof? Did he own a dog? How many pieces of bubblegum could he fit in his mouth at once? Was he going to get ice cream, too?
They were odd kids. The boy was nearly nine and the girl had just turned six. According to Jack, they were both quite bright and inquisitive, but easily bored and distracted. Though they were on their best behavior at the moment, Jack had warned Charlie that they could have a meltdown at any moment, for any reason.
Charlie tried to answer their questions, one by one, and the conversation slowly disintegrated into silliness, with a long series of poop and fart jokes. Jack seemed completely oblivious to it all. Charlie was almost relieved when they pulled up to the park. The kids jumped out of the car and ran toward the playground equipment, while Jack grabbed the basketball from the cargo area.
“Aren’t you worried about them?” Charlie asked. “How are we going to play ball and watch them at the same time?”
“Don’t worry,” Jack said. “As a parent, you develop a very keen sense of where they are at all times. It’s like they have a built-in global positioning chip. If they wander too far, an alarm goes off in
