She swept her tongue across her lips. “You were right about Charlie, by the way.”
His fingers twitched between hers. “What?”
“The night before I went to LA. When we had that stupid fight.” She sighed. “You were right about him. He was an asshole, and he—”
“I didn’t want to be right,” he said softly. “I just wanted you to be okay.”
“I know. I just wish I’d seen that back then.” She touched his arm and gazed at him, though she could still barely see him. “And I’m sorry. For disappearing completely.”
“It went both ways. I could’ve picked up the phone or sent an e-mail too.” He winced. “I don’t even know why I didn’t.”
“You were working.”
“That’s no excuse. I let a lot of things in my life slide during that time. I lost touch with friends. I didn’t take care of myself.” He put his hand over hers. “And I didn’t take the time to make one damned phone call to my best friend. For that, I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” she whispered. “I guess we can’t go back and fix it, but I’m glad we’re friends again now.”
Matt squeezed her hand. “So am I.”
She turned toward the sky again. “It’s amazing how things have changed, isn’t it? After all that time, here we are. And it feels like we’ve been this way all along.”
“Yeah, it kind of has. Hard to believe it’s only been a couple of weeks.”
“Tell me about it.” Dara blew out a breath. “The last few months have gone by super fast, and it feels like forever at the same time. Less than four months ago, I was married and pretty damn sure the embryo transfer was going to turn out just like it had the last few times. And then within a week, Jon was out the door and I was pregnant and…” A lump rose in her throat. Wiping her eyes, she muttered, “Fuck.”
Matt ran his hand up her arm. “I think anyone would be overwhelmed. You’ve been handling it better than most people would.”
She sniffed, then exhaled slowly. “I don’t really have much choice.”
“Still.”
“Well, it is what it is.” She shrugged for no one’s benefit but her own. “And it’ll work out. Once everything calms down, I think it’ll be for the best anyway.”
“The divorce, you mean?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Can I ask you something personal?”
“Go ahead.”
“When your ex-husband…” Matt hesitated. Then, “How was your marriage before he left?”
She raised an eyebrow in the darkness. “Are you asking if it was really that much of a surprise that he left?”
“Uh, kind of. I guess.” He cringed. “It sounds a bit dickish like that, though.”
“Not really. And it wasn’t. We weren’t in a good spot. Hadn’t been for a long time. I stupidly thought it was just both of us being frustrated with getting pregnant, and with the stress of him being laid off.” She swallowed hard. “Looking back, though, the signs were there.”
“Really?”
Dara cringed. “He liked to be in control. Of everything. That’s why I couldn’t stay in LA after we split—I had no support system whatsoever in that town because all our friends were mutual friends. Or, I should say, I was ‘friends’ with the wives of his friends, but I didn’t have anyone of my own.”
“Seriously? Why?”
“Because he’d get pissy if I went out without him. The only time he didn’t get upset over me going out with someone was if he was off doing his own thing.”
“Nice guy,” Matt muttered.
“Right?” She rolled her eyes. “He didn’t like me spending money either. All our money went into a joint account, and God help me if I spent anything on myself. So when I started making more, and he couldn’t pull the ‘we can’t afford it’ card anymore, then he started tightening the leash everywhere else.”
“Holy shit. I didn’t realize he was abusive.”
“Not physically, but yeah. I guess he was.” She rubbed her forehead. “The more I look back and really think about it, the baby was even a way for him to control me.”
“What?”
“We both agreed it would be best for me to stay home with the baby until he was at least starting school. After the first embryo transfer failed, he wanted me to quit my job altogether.” Her lips tightened, and she lowered her hand as she turned toward Matt. “He decided the stress of my job was clearly the only reason the procedure had failed.”