Splendor(85)

He stared at her in disbelief. “So exactly how old were you when this marriage took place?”

Tessa looked down at her lap where she was clasping and unclasping her hands in agitation. “Seventeen,” she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Seventeen. Why, Tessa? Why couldn’t you have waited until you were a little older? Were the two of you that much in love?”

Her gaze flew up to meet his at this question, and she shook her head in denial. “That – that’s not it at all. We rushed to get married as soon as possible so that Peter – so that he could be legally responsible for me. The social worker assigned to my case finally figured out that I wasn’t living at Michelle’s any longer – even though her mother kept cashing the support checks. So Peter offered to get married in order to – well - ”

“To save you. Yes, I understand now.” Ian heaved a sigh. “So you didn’t marry for the usual reasons, then?”

“We weren’t madly in love, if that’s what you mean. Peter was kind to me, we became best friends, but it was never a romantic relationship. And we never intended to stay married. Peter had always planned to pack up and leave Tucson as soon as he turned eighteen – too many awful memories there for him. But he stayed – for me – first so I could finish high school, turn eighteen and be considered a legal adult.”

“And yet you remained married for quite a long time after that.” His curiosity was growing by leaps and bounds.

“Yes.” She took another sip of her brandy. “Peter enrolled in community college that first year and we moved into a shared rental. That was another disaster. We were in such a hurry to find a place that we could afford that we didn’t bother to find out much about our roommates.” She managed a small smile. “You know how you told me your favorite movie is Animal House?”

Ian nodded, quite certain he wasn’t going to like where her question was leading. “You aren’t going to tell me your roommates were like the characters in the movie, are you?”

“Worse. It was the nonstop party house, people coming and going constantly, no privacy, everyone helping themselves to food and things that Peter and I bought for ourselves. We ended up stashing things in our room, buying a padlock for the door, and spending as little time as possible there. We’d signed a lease for a year, couldn’t afford to break it, and didn’t have enough money saved to put down on another place anyway.”

“So you toughed it out for a year?”

Tessa wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Somehow, yes. We each worked two jobs, took a third over summer break, and saved every penny until we had enough to get a little place of our own the following year.”

“Why did you stay together after that first year? What changed?”

She heaved a little sigh. “Peter felt responsible for me, even though he had no real obligation. He told me he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself leaving town knowing I‘d be trying to fend for myself with no money, no real marketable job skills, no family to help out. So we decided I’d enroll in the office technology program at community college and get my certificate. He agreed to stay in town for the two years of the program, until I could get a good enough job to support myself. In the meanwhile, he received a scholarship to the University of Arizona and decided he might as well get his degree to have something to fall back on if his journalism career didn’t work out.”

“So you remained married another year so you could help him finish his degree?”

“That’s it exactly,” she agreed. “By then, we’d been married for four years and – well, we’d just grown used to being together, I suppose. When Peter got the job offer up here in San Francisco, I transferred, too. I didn’t have especially fond memories of Tucson so I welcomed the opportunity to leave.”

Ian offered up a brief smile. “Just about the only good thing to come out of this whole mess, wasn’t it? Your ex-husband’s job brought you into my life – even though I’ve had to wait an eternity for you.”

Tessa returned his smile a bit timidly. “Yes, that was a good thing as it turned out. And I do love San Francisco. It’s very different from any other place I’ve lived.”

“You’re leaving out the final piece to this puzzle, Tessa. Why did Peter ask you for a divorce after so many years – how many was it?”

“Seven. We’d been married a little over seven years when he got the job in the Middle East. I wanted to go with him, but he set his foot down. Told me it was time we stopped fooling ourselves that we could ever have a normal marriage, that it was time for me to finally start living.”