Cement Heart(54)

“Nice to meet you,” Jodi murmured in the phoniest voice I’d ever heard her use.

“Likewise,” he said quickly before turning his attention back to Maura, who was completely enthralled with watching him at that point. “I’m gonna give you back to Mommy now because I’m taking your brother to the library, and then to the bar.”

I cocked my hip to the side and crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at him again.

He peeked at me out of the corner of his eye and then continued, “Just kidding. The bars don’t open until noon on Sunday.” Laughing at himself, he walked over and gently handed Maura to me.

“Try not to get kicked out of the library, okay?” I said, half teasing, half serious.

“Hmmm…” The corners of his mouth turned down as he looked up toward the ceiling. “I’ve been kicked out of a lot of places, but never a library. Matthew, come on! Let’s make this day interesting!”

“Yay!” Matthew jumped up and before I could argue, they were out the door.

Maura lay in my arms with her eyes glazed over, sucking her thumb.

“This one is just about to fall asleep,” I whispered as Jodi sat at the kitchen table. “I’m gonna lay her down and we can talk for a bit, okay? Make yourself at home.”



It didn’t take long for Jodi and I to step into stride like friends often do. She was doing a fantastic job of making me laugh with all of her inappropriate stories about her younger, much younger, boyfriend, Vince.

“Wait a second… he proposed? Like on his knee? With a ring?” I asked with my mouth agape. Jodi was just a little older than me, in her midthirties, and had already been married and divorced. Twice.

“Yep.” She nodded, sounding almost embarrassed about it. “In front of his whole family. What was I supposed to say?”

“So wait, are you going through with it?”

“Why not?” she shrugged. “He’s hot. He makes good money. The sex is off-the-charts amazing. Might as well go for it and see what happens. They say third time’s a charm.”

“You’re insane, you know that?” I laughed as I walked over to the counter and grabbed the coffee pot to refill her cup. “Have you guys talked about this wedding at all?”

“Yeah,” she sighed, leaning her chin on her hand. “I was hoping to go to the Bahamas or something for one of those destination weddings, but he wants a church, tux, flowers, DJ, the whole nine yards.”

I sat back down across from her. “Seriously?”

“Well, he’s never been married. I can’t take the wedding experience away from him just because I’ve already done it twice.”

Licking my lips as I pinched them together, I stared down at my coffee cup.

“What?” she challenged.

I held my hands up in the air innocently and shook my head. “I didn’t say a word.”

“No, but you thought something. Spill it.”

I looked back down at my coffee cup and ran my finger around the edge. “I was just thinking that maybe you should see if the bridal shop can give you some sort of VIP discount for being such a great return customer.” I tried unsuccessfully to stifle my laugh.

“You’re such a bitch.” She reached over and smacked my leg.

We sat for a minute, laughing and enjoying the moment together without saying a word.

“Think about it,” she added. “By the time you’re ready to get married again, I’ll be such a pro at wedding planning that you can actually pay me to do yours.”

I shook my head sternly. “No way.”

“Come on, I promise I’d do a good job.”

“I wasn’t saying no way about paying you, I was saying no way about getting married again.”

Her lips parted and she frowned at me as I picked my coffee cup off the table and carried it over to the sink. “Why not?”

I turned to face her and shrugged, leaning back against the counter with my arms crossed. “I don’t know. It seems silly. Will I date eventually? Maybe, but I just don’t see the point in marrying again.”

“Michelle, you’re young, you’re hot, and you still have a lot of life left.” Jodi stood up from the table and walked over, leaning against the counter next to me. “There’s no reason for you to spend it alone.”

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly, staring down at the floor. “Some days I’m great and I feel like, okay, I can do this. I can be a single mom and still give these kids the best life ever. And then the next day, I miss Mike so bad I feel like I can’t breathe. There have been days where I’ve barely gotten out of bed.”