house, the kids—”
“And you didn’t,” he interrupted. “We know all this.”
“That’s not it. I might have wanted that life too.”
“Just not with me.”
“You know that’s not it. I just wasn’t sure….” She tilted her head. “You wanted that life. But I didn’t know if you wanted that life more than me.”
“That,” Myron said, “is the biggest load of crap I’ve ever heard.”
“Maybe, but that’s how I felt.”
“Great, I didn’t love you enough.”
She looked at him, shook her head. “No man has ever loved me like you did.”
Silence. Myron held back the “what-about-Stoner” remark.
“When you blew out your knee—”
“Not that again. Please.”
Jessica pushed ahead. “When you blew out your knee, you changed. You worked so hard to move past it.”
“You’d have preferred the self-pity route,” Myron said.
“That might have worked better. Because what you did instead, what you ended up doing, was running scared. You grabbed so tight to everything you had that it was suffocating. All of a sudden you were mortal. You didn’t want to lose anything else and suddenly—”
“This is all great, Jess. Hey, I forget. At Duke, who taught your Intro to Psychology class? Because he’d be proud as punch right about now.”
Jessica just shook her head at him.
“What?” he said.
“You’re still not married, are you, Myron?’
“Neither,” he said, “are you.”
“Touche. But have you had a lot of serious relationships over the past seven years?”
He shrugged. “I’m involved right now.”
“Really?”
“What, that’s such a surprise?”
“No, but think about it. You, Mr. Commitment, Mr. Long-Term Relationship — why is it taking you so long to find anybody else?”
“Don’t tell me.” He held up a hand. “You spoiled me for all other women?”
“Well, that would be understandable.” Jessica arched an eyebrow. “But no, I don’t think so.”
“Well, I’m all ears. Why? Why aren’t I happily married by now?”
Jessica shrugged. “I’m still working on it.”
“Don’t work on it. It doesn’t involve you anymore.”
She shrugged again.
They both sat there. It was funny how comfortable he was with all this.
“You remember my friend Claire?” Myron said.
“She married that uptight guy, right? We went to their wedding.”
“Erik.” He didn’t want to go into it all, so he started with something else. “He told me tonight that he and Claire are having troubles. He says it’s inevitable, that eventually it all dims and fades and that it becomes something else. He says he misses the passion.”
“Is he messing around?” Jessica asked.
“Why do you ask that?”
“Because it sounds like he’s trying to justify his actions.”
“So you don’t think there’s anything to that dimming passion stuff?”
“Of course there’s something to it. Passion can’t stay at that fevered pitch.”
Myron thought about that. “It did for us.”
“Yes,” she said.
“There was no fade.”
“None. But we were young. And maybe that’s why, in the end, we blew up.”
He considered that. She took his hand again. There was a charge. Then Jessica gave him a look.
Uh-oh.
“You and this new woman,” Jessica said. “Are you exclusive?”
“You and Stoner-Boner,” he countered. “Are you exclusive?”
“Low blow. But it’s not about Stone. It’s not about your new missus. It’s about us.”
“And you think, what, a quick boink will help clarify things?”
“Still a wordsmith with the ladies, I see.”
“Here’s another word from the wordsmith: no.”
Jessica toyed with the top button of her blouse. Myron felt his mouth go a little dry. But she stopped.
“You’re right,” she said.
He wondered if he was disappointed that she hadn’t pushed it further. He wondered what he would have done if she had.
They started talking then, just catching up on the years. Myron told her about Jeremy, about his serving overseas. Jessica told him about her books, her family, her time working out on the West Coast. She didn’t talk about Stoner. He didn’t talk about Ali.
Morning came. They were still in the kitchen. They’d been talking for hours, but it didn’t feel like it. It just felt good. At seven a.m., the phone rang. Myron picked it up.
Win said, “Our favorite schoolteacher is heading to work.”
CHAPTER 28
Myron and Jessica hugged good-bye. The hug lasted a long time. Myron could smell Jessica’s hair. He didn’t remember the name of her shampoo, but it had lilacs and wildflowers and was the same one she’d used when they’d been together.
Myron called Claire. “I have a quick question,” he said to her.
“Erik said he saw you last night.”
“Yeah.”
“He’s been on the computer all night.”
“Good. Look, do you know a teacher named Harry Davis?”
“Sure. Aimee had him for English last year. He’s also a guidance counselor now, I think.”
“Did she like him?”
“Very much.” Then: “Why? Does he have something to do with this?”
“I know you want to help, Claire. And I know Erik wants to help. But you have to trust me on this, okay?”
“I do trust you.”
“Erik told you about the cut-through we found?”
“Yes.”
“Harry Davis lives on the other side of it.”
“Oh my God.”
“Aimee is not in his house or anything. We already checked.”
“What do you mean, you checked? How did you check?”
“Please, Claire, just listen to me. I’m working on this, but I need to do it without interference. You have to keep Erik off my back, okay? Tell him I said to search all the surrounding streets online. Tell him to drive around that area, but not on that cul-de-sac. Or better yet, have him call Dominick Rochester — that’s Katie’s father
