Page 133 of Untying the Knot
“And I appreciate your smile, which sounds lame, but that smile? It’s turned some of my shittiest days into better ones. There were times when I would come home after some of the worst games of my life, and you would greet me with that welcoming smile and remind me that it was just a game. It was all just a game, and that what I have with you is so much better than any batting average I might ever achieve.”
“Even during the strikeout streak we don’t talk about?” she asks, clearly trying to lighten the mood.
“You mean the streak when I struck out every up at bat for three games in a row?”
She nods. “Now those were difficult times.”
I chuckle just as Mel chimes in. “Okay, now I’d like you to confess something to your partner. It could be small, it could be grand, but if you’re the one who is listening, I need you to understand, the key to a good marriage is listening, acceptance, and forgiveness. So please, don’t use this confession against your partner. Use it as a base to grow. Remember the three things you appreciate about each other while you’re listening.”
“Confession . . .” Myla taps her chin. “It was me who was tilting the pictures.”
I feign shock. “No, that was you?”
She chuckles. “Guilty.”
“I had no idea. Wow, color me stunned,” I say as I move my hands to her side and up her ribs.
“It’s shocking, I know, you might have to settle yourself before your confession.”
Funny thing is, I could either match the ridiculousness of her confession, keep it light after such a heavy moment, or I can bring it right back to being serious and confess something that has been sitting heavy on my chest.
My hands grip her tightly, my thumbs bobbing close to the sides of her breasts. I’m not sure I’ll have another chance to say what I need to say. I have to say it. I have to get this off my chest.
“Myla?”
“Yes?” she says.
“My confession . . . well, it’s not so funny and more God’s honest truth.”
“Okay,” she says, sounding skeptical.
“I will live with two regrets for the rest of my life. One being that even though you were trying to talk to me, trying to tell me that I was hurting you, I didn’t listen. I realize the damage it has done. I’m sorry. And my second regret is signing those divorce papers because, even though you deserved to be let go to live your life your way after the way I treated you, the love I have for you will never fade. And losing you will always be my biggest mistake. Not sure I’ll ever forgive myself.”
“Oh,” she says as silence falls between us.
“Yeah . . . oh,” I repeat right before dipping my head back to the edge of the pool.
* * *
MYLA
“Didyou hear anything from the doctors?” I ask Nichole as I pace the end of the hallway of the floor our room is on.
“That’s really the first thing you’re going to say to me when I answer the phone?”
“Yes, I want to make sure you’re keeping me up to date.”
“Trust me, you’ll be my first call, so stop asking. Unless I tell you something, there is no news.”
“Okay. Sorry.”
“Now, what’s the real reason you’re calling? Wait, let me guess. You’re freaking out because Ryot did something today that made you think, maybe, just maybe, you did the wrong thing by asking him for a divorce?”
I’m silent because . . . well, because she’s slightly right.
“Tell me I’m not telling the truth.”
“It was just a tough day today, well, tough morning. The day isn’t even over. I have dinner with him shortly, and I’m just feeling weird, okay? I need to talk it out.”
