Page 41 of Fierce-Colson

She knew how that worked. Sometimes it was just forced on the police.

“A combination of both. I didn’t come from much. Or not like you. I had college loans to pay for, wanted a better place than I had. I wanted to be the one to provide it.”

She could see that. Maybe it was old school now, where most split costs, but it was sweet just the same.

“And she didn’t like the time you spent at work?”

“No. Our relationship was built more on having fun. We were young. Ten years ago we’d dated. Got engaged a year later. Then I started putting more time in and she felt like I wasn’t around enough for her.”

“Everyone has to grow up at some point.”

“They do. Trust me, when I wasn’t working, I was all about fun, but we didn’t want the same things. She wanted to go out and do things, but then wanted a family right away.”

“Kind of hard to do it all if you want to be there for your kids,” she pointed out.

“Yep. Stephanie didn’t appreciate that when I told her the same. That I didn’t have the best example of parents in my life. Not my father, that is for sure. My mother did her best. She did better in my eyes once she left him. Which is wrong of me to say that.”

“You can’t help what you feel.”

“See, you get that. Not many did. Or do. Stephanie thought that was harsh of me. Her parents were divorced also. She felt her mother did more than her father, like mine, but that I shouldn’t knock it.”

“Were you?”

He shook his head and took a sip of his beer. “No. Do I think she should have left my father sooner? Yeah, I do. I even told her that. I wasn’t saying anything that wasn’t said to her. She’s apologized enough and that made me feel like shit, but at the time, it’s how I felt.”

“And now?”

“Now doesn’t matter. I said it and can’t take it back. I just let her know that I’ve moved past it. We are in a great spot. I’d be lost without her. Especially when it comes to Bella.”

“We’ll get to that, because it sounds interesting. The child of her ex and she’s helping you?”

“Exactly. I get my go-with-the-flow nature from her. Stephanie and I had a wedding date set, it was like a year out and she was ready to make plans. The more I said for her to do what she wanted, the more she pulled away.”

Her head went back and forth. “You probably thought it was her day and you didn’t care as long as she was happy, right?”

“That’s it, right there. I didn’t care all that much. First, because I’m not fussy, but second, she is. So if I’m not bothered, let her have what she wants.”

“But she most likely took it as you weren’t interested?” she asked.

“That’s what she said. After that, it didn’t matter what I did. If I tried to be there or give an opinion, it wasn’t what she wanted. She turned into bridezilla. It was just another thing for us to fight about and she called off the engagement before I could.”

“Why didn’t you do it?”

He shrugged, took another sip, then said, “It’s hard. I didn’t want to hurt her. I was going to do it, but I was trying to figure out how. That was the one time she was more mature than me and just cut the thread.”

“Sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing.”

“I know. It hurt. Even if we were at each other’s throats, it still hurt. I loved her at one point, but knew by then, the love was gone. Maybe I was more bothered by that than anything else. That it seemed to slip away too easily.”

Marly wondered if he just wanted something so badly because he didn’t have it growing up.

And how do you ask that without insulting him?

“And your marriage and divorce? What about that?”

“Jill. I met her shortly after Stephanie and I split. Guess I moved too fast there. She was two years older, wanted to get married herself.”

“This is the go-with-the-flow thing?” she asked.