Page 44 of The Work Wife

“I know you snuck out of the house your senior year to go to a party.”

“And I know that’s not in my record; you stole that information from my subconscious while I was sleepwalking the other night. Wes told me.” She stuck out her tongue. “Nice try, apple pie.”

“I see married life is maturing you.”

“Whatever.”

“You know how much I hate that word.” There had been a time when that word had been the extent of her side of their conversations. Back when she was a surly teenager who knew everything.

“I’m sorry I was so much trouble. I bet some days you wished you would have left me with my mother so you wouldn’t have had to deal with it.”

He hung the towel on the handle of the oven and shook his head. “Not once did I ever wish I’d left you with your mother. In fact, most of the time I wished I would have never let her take you in the first place.”

She pushed out her bottom lip and tilted her head to the side at his emotional display. But then he spoke again.

“Yeah, I think you must have suffered some kind of damage from being around all the drugs.”

“I don’t think you can get a contact high from a line of coke in the next room.”

“Well then, I don’t know what your problem is.” He snickered at his own joke.

She didn’t think she’d ever heard her father laugh out loud. She’d heard him chuckle and snicker, but he was always too serious for actual laughter.

He kissed her forehead and squeezed her shoulders. “I love you, sweetie.”

“I love you, Daddy.”

They took their places in the living room as the news came on. It felt like old times.

Wes came back an hour later with a pie from the diner up the street. “I brought dessert.” He held it up with a big grin.

“What kind is it?” she asked. While Jamie saw pie as the lesser pastry to cake, she wouldn’t pass it up if it was offered.

“Apple crumb.”

“Hmm,” her father grumped. “You might not be so bad after all.”

When her father was in the kitchen, Wes nudged her with his elbow and pointed. “I think that’s the best thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“Don’t push it. You didn’t bring ice cream to go with the pie. It’s obvious I could have done better than you. I’m clearly slumming.”

“Seriously?” He followed her. “You think you would have found someone better than me on that dating site? The free dating site?”

Her father had walked into the kitchen in time to hear Wes’s comment.

“That Jacob guy you were seeing did time for sexual assault. I was about ready to have my friend in the computer crime lab hack into your computer so I could shut down your profile.”

“Not cool.” She frowned. “I don’t want the two of you bonding by ganging up on me about things I am not even doing anymore.”

“I’m just saying, I’m better than Jacob.”

“Time will tell,” her father mumbled just loud enough for them to hear.

They ate their pie in silence and then went to get ready for bed.

“Did you have a nice walk?” she asked as he pulled his T-shirt over his head. She saw some muscle definition in his back and gave an impressed nod before he turned around. His going skins in front of her was no big deal.

He turned his back and reached for the button on his pants. They’d come up with this plan the first night so it wouldn’t seem strange that they went to the bathroom to change. After all, husbands and wives didn’t have an issue changing in front of each other.