Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
That stung too.
She headed toward the door.
Tom was still unable to physically function.
She stopped at the door and turned back.
“I allowed Corey to take Bowie away from me,” she declared.
Evidence was suggesting that Genny had been taking the subsequent weeks to think things through, and thoroughly.
“But I let you slip though my fingers all on my own,” she finished. “I’m sorry, Tom.”
That got him moving, his body jolted, and he turned more fully to her.
“Don’t—” he began.
She lifted a hand his way. “Yes, I know. You bear the brunt of it and there’s nothing I can say to make you stop feeling that way. You’re that man. That was the man I married. He was loving and fun and talented and fair and he took responsibility for himself. But I played my part in breaking us. And honestly, honey, I couldn’t bear it, thinking you didn’t understand I know it, and it hurts to know that I did.”
He could give her that.
So he did.
He nodded.
“I’ve interrupted your night enough, I’m going to slip out,” she said. “I’ll find a safe place to pull over and text the kids so they know I’m okay, and I’ll be talking to them soon about all of this.”
Tom nodded again.
She took in a deep breath.
And then she said, “I’ve loved him as long as I can remember. He was my first and he’ll be my last. But you were the love of my life, Tom Pierce. That will never change. Please know that not only as the father of our children, but just as the man I was happy to call husband for a long, long time.”
“Stop it, Gen,” he said gruffly.
She shot him a teasing smile that was more sorrowful than playful. “Yes, honey. I know you love me too.”
And then…
Tom’s chest heaved…
His wife was gone.
* * *
“Did that really happen? Her getting offered a role to play the mom of someone she could have been dating?” Mika asked.
They were out by his pool.
Dinner, due to Mika performing some kind of miracle, had not been ruined.
The kids were now around the coffee table playing Cards Against Humanity.
“It happened,” Tom confirmed.
“Jesus,” she muttered.
But she was watching him closely.
“I’m fine,” he assured.
“This night has been intense for you,” she noted.
“It has. And I’m fine.”
“Like, good, glad that’s done, it needed to happen fine? Or past hurts resurfaced and you’re totally full of shit for saying you’re fine, fine?”
Tom smiled at her. “The first one.”
She reached out. Took his hand. Leaned into him. Then pressed the backs of his fingers against her forehead.
“I’m not harboring any unrequited love for my ex-wife, honey,” he assured.
She looked to him, pressed his knuckles to her lips, then settled back into her chair, but didn’t let his hand go.
“I promise, I don’t think you are,” she said. “All you said that you both shared, that was big. But I got where she was coming from with what she said in your living room. Those are things men just can never understand, but women can’t avoid. We’re routinely reduced. It’s something we live with and struggle with and fight against. But once we hit a certain age, what we’re allowed to be significantly diminishes. I’m an anomaly. I spent my entire career being accused of being famous for who I fucked or who I was seen with, and trying to ride the coattails of that, only for it now to be occurring to people I had any talent or anything to say. For most women, it isn’t even the other way around. They don’t get that part where anyone feels they have anything to say. But for her, I can’t even imagine the whiplash. I mean, for all the actresses we grew up watching, there are very few Imogen Swans and Nicole Kidmans and Sandra Bullocks who remain relevant and sexual and dynamic even into their forties, much less past them. Instead, you see TikTok morphs of Phoebe Cates or Bridget Fonda then and now, like it’s a shock that people actually age. Like those women bear some responsibility for the passage of time and what it does to every living being. Like they need to answer for allowing themselves to be human.”
“I thought you weren’t on TikTok.”
“Cadence showed me. She was ticked.”
“I can imagine, that’s revolting.”
She smiled at him, bright and…
Jesus Christ.
Loving.
His chest caved in again, but this time it felt a fuck of a lot better.
“I’m glad you both had it out, no matter how emotional it was,” she declared. “I know at first your kids were worried and watchful, but they eventually seemed relieved. Especially after they got her texts, and you were being you.”
“If I’m not giving you what you need, or you have something that’s eating at you and you need space to deal with it, don’t let me give up on you,” he warned, and her hand squeezed his.