With my sling in place and a headache thumping the inside of my skull, I sit in the waiting area surrounded by people who love me—minus Mother. Dad did me a solid and sent her home before they released me from the ER.
Jake, Terri, and Dad are all here for me.
Stevie is the only one who showed up for Jo.
She was frantic by the time she got here, her bridesmaid dress wrinkled, the hem darkened with dampness from the rain. Red hair escapes from whatever it is women use to make their hair stay on top of their heads—pins maybe, not that it matters.
“Does Jo have anyone else we should call?” I ask her.
She moves from her seat to sit in the one next to me. “I’m all she has. Just me. As far as I know, she doesn’t keep in touch with any of her foster families, and she doesn’t know any of her blood relations.”
I shift in my seat, trying to find a comfortable spot. “No other friends even?”
Stevie shakes her head. “She doesn’t make friends easily. She has a lot of acquaintances, but not friends. If you haven’t noticed, she doesn’t let people get too close to her.”
I’ve been close. As close a person can get—physically, anyway.
But…that’s not what Stevie means.
I try to think to the Jo I knew when we were young. To remember who her friends were in school. When I first met her, she didn’t really know anyone.
The beautiful little girl with the long, dark hair skips through my memories. Playing chase in the field behind our houses. Digging in the mound of dirt on the empty lot at the end of the street before it was finally dozed flat and a new house built.
Come to think of it, Jo never had other little girls over to play with—not that I can remember. And even as we got older, she didn’t seem to hang out with anyone in particular. That girl she did the pig thing with—whatever her name was—she was the only one I ever saw Jo with at school. But even then, I don’t remember seeing her at Jo’s house or any of the places the kids hung out after school or on weekends. Well, Jo never went to those places anyway.
I rub the ache between my eyebrows.
God, I’m such a self-absorbed ass.
No wonder she stayed a virgin into her mid-twenties. I bet she’s never spent time with any other guys. The question is…
“Why?”
“Why what?” Stevie asks.
I turn to her. “Why is she so solitary?”
She shrugs. “My best guess? Attachment issues.”
I pull back. “What issues?”
Stevie pulls her feet up into her chair, casting a glance at Jake and then Terri. She leans toward me and lowers her voice. “I went down an internet rabbit hole one time. I ran across an article about attachment disorder. It happens when kids or babies don’t get to properly become attached to a caregiver at a young age. Usually kids in orphanages, but it can happen for others too.”
“And you think Jo didn’t—she didn’t attach to anyone as a kid?”
Stevie lifts one eyebrow. “I’m not a psychologist or anything. But, according to what I read, it fits Jo to a T. The way she keeps people at arm’s length emotionally. Not many close friends. From what I can tell, she was bounced around a lot during her younger years.”
As if gravity has intensified, the heaviness in my heart weighs me down, pulling me into my seat.
Stevie bumps my good arm with her elbow. “I’m only telling you this because, for whatever reason, she married you. She’d skin me alive if she knew I told you this. If you tell her, I’m totally going to throw you under the bus and say you lied.”
I roll my eyes. “Tell me about attachment issues?”
“No. But I will tell you that I think she’s at least half in love with you, you useless ball sack. That’s what.”
Her words hit me right between the eyes. They sure feel accurate at the moment…the uselessness, at least. Maybe the ball sack part too.
She goes on. “The only reason I’m still in Jo’s life is because I’m a stubborn bitch. I’ve stuck with her. No matter how much she pushes me away. No matter how hard it is to get information out of her. No matter how hard she makes it to be her friend. I do it because she needs a friend. At least one. And deep inside, she’s a good person. She deserves to have someone on her side, even when she isn’t.”
Stevie pokes my leg. “And you, mister, should think long and hard about this marriage before you get what you want from the deal and walk away. Everyone in her life walks away. Since the day I met her, she’s been waiting for me to walk away. That’s why I don’t. If you have any feelings at all for Jo, you’ll give this marriage a chance before you toss her out on her ass once you get your son.”