Stella looked at us, finally nodding. “I expect to see my granddaughter.”
“You will. You have my word.”
Stella seemed to shrink, her head bowed as she left.
My heart went out to her as she trudged down the front walk. The death of a child must be the most devastating of losses. I hoped I’d never have to experience that sort of pain.
Chapter 26
I carried a sleepy Sari to her room, the little girl now calm and sucking her thumb.
“Guess lunch is off. Should have known. Stella texted earlier, asking if I was home.” Jake took Sari from me and tucked her into her bed. “I told her I was out running. Nice little ambush there, getting you alone.”
I shrugged as I headed toward the living room, the joy of sorting my gifts long vanished. This last episode with his ex-mother-in-law told me he hadn’t been kidding about the war zone, guerrilla tactics and all.
“What did she say?”
I clamped my teeth onto my lower lip, biting hard. It was something I didn’t want to believe. I wanted her to be lying.
“Mar? What did she say?”
I sank onto the sofa, staring at the ring on my finger. “She said you cheated on your wife.” When I looked up, I wish I hadn’t, because then I couldn’t deny the truth.
Jake bowed his head, the tell-tale crease in his forehead. “Yeah, it’s true.”
I pushed up from the sofa, half-way to the door before I managed to speak. “I need that run.”
“Mar, wait. Let me explain.”
My vision blurred as I yanked on my running shoes.
“It wasn’t a good time, and I made a huge mistake.”
I lunged through the door, leaving it ajar as I charged down the front walk, only catching two garbled words from Jake:
“… coat … warning.”
Too late. Now at a full run, I dodged slush piles and icy puddles, unable to stop. Damn. Damn. Dara knew. She knew, and she hadn’t told me, and if she knew, so did Dean. Maybe everyone did. “Whatever happens next, you can’t freak and run.” Did the thing that “happens next” include finding out the man you loved had infidelity as one of his human qualities?
The icy wind stung my cheeks and blew my hair into my eyes as I raced down the street, lengthening my stride at the sight of the trailhead.
Sure, I’d made my fair share of mistakes, but cheating had never been one of them, ill-advised drunk texts aside. How could he? Why had he? Would he do that to me? I wanted to stop thinking and just run, to crank up my music. No such luck, with my earbuds and phone sitting on Jake’s bedside table.
Finally, the burn of my throat and the fire in my lungs slowed me down, and a cramp lanced my gut. I stumbled toward the bench at the path’s edge, supporting myself against the back, my mouth watering as the bitterness of caffeine rose and I regurgitated my breakfast, leaving an oozy brownish mess in the pristine snowscape.
I sucked for air, my vision blurring as I vomited a second time, my legs sinking out from under me. Barely avoiding a mushy landing in the steaming puddle of sick, I managed to plant my bum on the greying weathered bench, and I scooted across the cold wood to the far end. Shaking, I bent double, then tucked my feet onto the seat and curled my arms around my shins, a light snow settling on my shoulders.
Everyone shamelessly pushed us together, eager to make us a couple once again, even though they knew what he’d done. Was it a trick? My head swam, scalding tears streaming down my cheeks, releasing the pent up frustrations of the past forty-eight hours. Inconveniently, along with the lows of the last few days, the highs also made themselves known. Jake’s sweet proposal seemed full of promise and hope for our future, his adoption request setting our relationship on all-ahead-full.
It was me who’d said it would be different for us, but would it? I didn’t have a clue, but my next decision was the definitive one. Stella’s revelation left me in the uncomfortable position of making the difficult choice to stay or to go. Either I could listen, if Jake was indeed willing to reveal the circumstances surrounding his infidelity, or I could believe the old adage spewed by Stella and walk out that door, never to see him or Sari again.
Lifting my chin, I let the fat flakes floating from the darkening skies settle on my cheeks, absorbing the hush descending on the city. The pathway was deserted, the residents of Halifax retreating indoors in anticipation of a coming storm, prepared to huddle in front of roaring fires while flurries blanketed the streets in flawless white.
My bare fingers ached, and I tucked them under my armpits, wishing I’d grabbed some gloves. The breathable mesh of my running shoes had done nothing to protect my feet, either, leaving my cotton socks damp and my toes frigid. I shivered. Time to force myself up to slog home before hypothermia set in. Maybe it already had.
An apparition emerged out of the thickening snowfall, morphing into a dark figure, which turned into a man. “Thought I’d never find you.” Jake draped his jacket around my shoulders, crouching as he buttoned it with my arms curled inside. “I started to worry when you didn’t answer your phone. There’s a blizzard warning.”
“I forgot it.” I soaked up the remnants of the body heat clinging to his jacket’s soft inner lining. “How did you find me?”
“This is our old running trail, so I figured it was worth a try.” A crease appeared in his forehead as he examined my shoes. “You’re soaked.” He removed my footwear and my soggy socks, balling them up and tucking them inside my runners. As he lifted my feet and spun me,
