It just took me years of kissing him to find that out.
Continuing to regard him as he came to me, I didn’t take my eyes from him as he stopped at our table.
“Amelia,” he greeted.
“Conrad,” I replied.
He took his seat.
The Lobster Market was my idea. Not that I wanted to pollute my memory of being there with Mickey. Nothing would pollute that. But my ex-husband was not going to take me to some diner to have a chat, which was likely to be something I would not enjoy, and get away with an inexpensive diner bill.
He was going to buy me lobster.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he muttered, his attention on putting his napkin on his lap. “Consultation ran long.”
I was used to that from our marriage. However, there was a high likelihood that many of those consultations running long were times he was fucking nurses.
I said nothing.
The waitress came with waters and Conrad ordered a coffee.
Before she went away, Conrad looked at me and stated, “You’ve been here before. Do you know what you want? Because I do.”
He wanted this to go fast.
I was in agreement.
I turned and ordered immediately, “Lobster and steak Oscar. Steak, medium rare. Salad rather than potatoes. But I’d like the roll.”
Her eyes got a little big because that was a lot for lunch but I just smiled because it was the most expensive thing on the menu.
“For you?” she asked Conrad.
“The lobster chowder. Bowl. Salad. No roll,” Conrad ordered.
Still healthy.
Quite boring.
Mine sounded tons better.
She slid away and Conrad looked to me. “You look well.”
God, he was going to try to be polite.
But I knew I looked well.
I looked better than that.
I looked amazing.
Alyssa still did my hair and it still looked marvelous. I got weekly manicures and bi-monthly pedicures. And right then I was wearing gray cords that had a silvery sheen, spike-heeled Jimmy Choo ankle booties with ink-blue suede at the front and black leather at the heel and a black loose-fitting cashmere sweater with a deep V that showed a hint of cleavage that I’d cinched at my waist with a magnificent draping belt.
He couldn’t see my bottom half, of course, but it didn’t matter. I knew it was there. I knew it was fabulous. And I knew he’d fucked up letting go of all the magnificence of me.
Even if he never understood that, which, frankly if he didn’t was even worse for him.
I didn’t return the compliment.
“I’m sure you don’t have a lot of time so perhaps we can begin?” I suggested.
“I had my secretary clear a few afternoon appointments,” he told me.
Perhaps he didn’t want this to go fast, which was surprising.
I still did.
“Okay then, I’ll say I don’t have a lot of time because Lawr is in town and I’d like to spend time with him while he is. So can we begin?”
His jaw went hard as he turned his head and looked out the window.
The waitress came with his coffee and he didn’t say thank you or even look her way.
I thanked her for him and was about to prompt him when his attention came back to me.
“I’ve thought about it and I’ve decided not to move to Austin.”
I was annoyed for me. Him in Texas would be a good thing.
I was happy for my kids. They’d get over being upset with him and they needed their dad close. They also needed lives where they weren’t getting on a plane and flying across country every three weeks.
“I think that’s the right decision,” I told him.
“Tammy doesn’t agree,” he muttered.
Ah.
The new one was called Tammy.
“Nothing changes,” I remarked, but it was frustrated, not annoyed. “You worry about what this unknown Tammy would think and not your current wife.”
His eyes narrowed on me. “There’s no reason to make this ugly, Amelia. That’s one of the reasons why I asked you to lunch, so we can bury the hatchet and try to find some middle ground in order that we’re not always at each other’s throats. It’s not good for the kids. And this is more important now that I’m staying in Maine.”
“You’re correct,” I agreed. “However, I will point out that the woman parade isn’t good for the kids either.”
“That’s hardly any of your business,” he told me.
“I’m afraid it is when my boyfriend and his kids are there, as well as my brother, watching along with me as my son loses his mind and rips into his father.”
He said nothing, just focused on preparing his coffee. He took no milk unless it was skim and one sweetener.
Again, boring.
“I can’t tell you to keep it in your pants,” I went on and he lifted his eyes and scowled at me. “But I can ask you not to involve our children in your varied romantic entanglements.”
“It’s likely Tammy and I will be ending things. She’s definitely going to Austin, and I have a practice and two children so a long distance relationship won’t work for me. I’m losing her. The last couple of days haven’t been easy on me, Amelia, and that’s just the icing on the cake. It would be nice if you’d have a mind to that as you sit across the table from the crippled soldier and aim your gun his way. I know you’ve been dying for this opportunity but I’ll still request you holster your weapon.”
He was comparing himself to a crippled soldier?
Really?
“This was a bad idea,” I whispered irately to the table. Definitely irately. Frustration was a memory.
“How is it not a surprise that I’m asking you to be grown up and you can’t manage that?”
I looked back to him. “You are not a crippled soldier, Conrad. You’re a grown man who treats women like dirt.”
“There is a reason I went looking when I had you,” he replied coolly.
I had to admit, I was curious. Just that, curious. I didn’t really care why but I’d always wanted to know what drove him from me. Not that it meant anything anymore but at least I’d have some answers.
So I sat back and flipped out a hand. “There is? Do tell.”
“You were boring.”
I stared.
I was boring?