“I work here,” I say.
“Still?” He looks around like he’s found himself somewhere he didn’t mean to be.
“We were just coming back from lunch,” I say. “Nice running into you, but we really have to get going.”
“Recess over?” Jack says and tries to level Oliver with the jab.
“Good one,” Oliver says and gives Jack a playful slap on the arm. Then he pulls me to him and kisses me like Jack wasn’t even there. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Nina.” He turns back to Jack and offers a handshake again. “Nice to meet you, Jack. Take it easy.” Oliver winks at me and walks off.
Jack stands his ground, saying nothing until Oliver is out of earshot. Before Oliver disappears into the crowd on the street, I see him glance back at us.
“Are you kidding me, Nina?” Jack says with a condescension he can’t seem to control. “He’s a child. I hope Cassie isn’t with you to see this display.”
“You’re a jerk,” I say and turn to go into the safety of my office building. “And Cassie is at Mom’s.”
Jack catches me by the arm, stopping me. “I’m sorry,” he says. “That whole deal there. I was caught off guard. I actually came this way on purpose. I wanted to see you.”
“What about the whole ‘Oh, yeah, you work here’ bit?” I shake free from him.
“I just didn’t expect to see you with someone. I didn’t think you were serious when you said you were with some guy.”
“Oliver.”
“Whoever.”
“Oliver,” I say again.
The city is busy around us. Tourists, business people, and local hippie types walk the same paths. Smells waft from local eateries and the chime-chime of store doors opening and closing echoes around us.
“Can I take you to lunch?” Jack asks.
“We already ate.”
“Coffee?” Jack says, not giving in.
“It’s a little too late.”
“For coffee? It’s early afternoon. Get decaf.”
Jack smiles at me, and he’s smug and endearing at the same time. It’s a quality that piqued my interest when we first met, but became an expression that got on my nerves by the time it all came crashing down. Today it turns something on in my head again.
“It’s too late for this,” I say, taking my eyes off him. “The divorce is already processed. It’s done.”
“We’re not dead,” he says and then looks mock-concerned. “Are we?”
“You’re not funny,” I say, but really, he is. I miss this side of him. This side that seems to be emerging now that I’m out of the picture. Or perhaps, the side that I’m seeing once again now that I’m looking.
“Come on,” Jack says and tilts his head. “You can’t be serious about this guy. I get it. You’re sad, or mad. At me. The world. Your father passed. I wasn’t there for you. You’re searching for some new Nina and this kid fits your need for something new right now.”
“Don’t tell me why I do what I do, or feel what I feel,” I say, feeling angry and exposed. “Don’t pretend you’ve had a change of heart. I know you want out, and this is all just a slap to your ego.”
“I’m not trying to make you feel guilty,” he says. “I’m just stating the truth here. Am I wrong?”
I don’t answer, and I know Jack is taking that as proof of his point. He reaches out to me again, and I step back from him. He likes this. This is what he’s good at. I know any response will be met with a biting remark, and I’m suddenly much too unhinged to try to win.
“I didn’t want out,” he says, surprising me. “I wanted things to be different. That’s not the same thing.”
Jack holds my gaze, and I know he wants me to say something. I touch my bare ring finger and shake my head.
“Think about it,” he says. “Think about me. About us.”
He turns around and walks away, leaving me alone on the busy sidewalk.
The next evening, while Cassie is still over at Mom’s, I hide away at Oliver’s and try not to think about Jack. I sit in Oliver’s living room listening to music and try not to let Jack’s words saturate everything like that annoyingly smooth, movie-trailer voice that makes everything seem much more profound that it actually is. Just when Nina thought it was safe to love, life suddenly makes no sense, and senseless love may be more dangerous than she expected, and a partridge in a pear tree and isn’t the sound of my voice getting on your nerves, Nina?
I shake my head and wiggle around in my seat.
“Are you all right?” Oliver asks from the chair across the room. “You seem somewhere else tonight.”
“Just thinking of Cassie,” I say, which isn’t at all a lie.
“Nina,” Oliver says, his voice laced with concern. “Please don’t think you can’t tell me no if you’d rather be with your daughter.”
“That’s the thing,” I say, hating what I feel coming out next. “I’m not sure I would rather be with her. Not with the way things are right now. All I seem to do is make things worse between us. I feel like it’s better left alone. Jack’s taking her this time.” I try to snuggle into the couch, but I think I’m really trying to disappear into the cushions.
Oliver closes the thick book he’s been reading and puts it face down on the end table beside him. He scoots to the edge of the chair.
“So, that was Jack,” Oliver says, and I wonder how long he’s been wanting to bring this up.
“Yes,” I say, trying to let my lack of elaboration speak to my lack of desire for either Jack or conversation about him.
I look at the pottery vase that still holds my wedding rings.
“He didn’t seem to care for me too much,” Oliver says.
“I think you had more of an effect on him than he liked,” I say. “I think he thought I was lying about you.”
“I didn’t expect
