“And we still have third winter to look forward to,” Tonya said. “In April.”
“Brian and I have plenty to keep us busy inside.” It was hard to miss the enthusiasm in Layla’s voice as she gave Tonya the latest rundown on the marketing efforts they had set in motion in order to capitalize on their newfound popularity. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, live videos, tweets! Everything was happening so fast, and sometimes it felt like all she and Brian could do was hang on and enjoy the ride. The texts between them were fast and furious as they exchanged information and ideas.
Josh and Sasha arrived, and Josh’s eyes lingered on Layla as they exchanged a knowing smile. Their lunch on Friday had turned into spending the weekend together, which turned into Josh not going back to his own house until late Sunday evening. Layla smiled when she thought about the time they’d spent together and the things they’d done.
Maybe she wasn’t so cold anymore.
She thought about Thursday, when Sasha would go back to Kimberly’s and she and Josh could be together again. The anticipation of it felt almost as intoxicating as the reality, and if she could bottle that feeling and sell it to others, she’d be a millionaire.
“Looks like things are humming along with Josh,” Tonya said after Josh and Sasha had made their way into the building. “That look he gave you was smoldering.”
“You know that feeling when things are still pretty new, but you can tell you’re on the brink of taking it to the next level?”
“I do,” Tonya said.
“That’s how it feels with Josh right now.” Layla floated through her days and nights, high on the thought of Josh and the budding realization that she was falling in love with him and that it seemed like he might feel the same way. It was the polar opposite of how stressed-out and unhappy she’d been at the end of her relationship with Liam, when her life had felt like a long hard slog through quicksand. This was so much better in a million different ways. A year ago, if someone had told Layla that in twelve short months she would be this happy, she wouldn’t have believed them.
Layla squinted at the parking lot. The woman hurrying toward them looked a lot like Kimberly. As she drew closer, Layla could see that it was definitely Josh’s soon-to-be-ex-wife. The strap of a child’s tote bag hung from her arm, and she carried a plastic container of some sort in her hands.
“Hi,” Kimberly said when she reached them. “Did Sasha already go in? She wanted to bring her American Girl doll to school for show-and-tell and thought she had it at her dad’s. I just missed them at the house.”
“They’ve already gone in, but I’ll make sure she gets it,” Layla said.
Kimberly handed her the tote, but when Layla kept her hand out for the container, Kimberly held on to it. “Oh, that’s not for Sasha.” She was looking over Layla’s shoulder toward the entrance of the school building, and she must have spotted Josh on his way out, because she raised her hand and gave a little wave.
“Hey,” Layla heard him say as he came up behind them. “Did Sasha forget something?”
“She called me from your phone when you were in the shower because she wanted to bring her American Girl doll to school. She thought it was at your house.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know she called you. She didn’t say anything to me. I would have waited, or we could have swung by and picked it up.”
“It was no trouble,” Kimberly said. She paused, looking at Josh. “Did you do something different to your hair?”
“Nope.”
“Oh, it looks different. Not different bad,” she said quickly. “It looks nice.” She handed the plastic container to Josh. “Here. I made those blondies you like. The recipe makes so many, and I thought you might want to have some at your house.”
“Oh,” he said, sounding surprised but also like he was touched by the gesture. Layla remembered that Josh said Kimberly had taken up baking.
“They’re the ones with the white chocolate and the peanut butter chips,” she said.
“With the sea salt on top?”
“Yep. I used extra salt like I did that one time when you said they were really good.”
“Well, thanks.”
“It was nothing.”
Josh turned to Layla and Tonya. “Have a nice day.”
“You too,” they said, and Josh headed toward the parking lot, Kimberly falling in beside him. Layla watched as they walked side by side, chatting the whole way.
“Well,” Layla said under her breath.
“Yeah,” Tonya said.
* * *
At lunchtime, when Layla was heating her leftovers up in the microwave, Tonya waited with her, spooning yogurt out of the container as she leaned up against the counter. “I don’t know how much you should read into that,” Tonya said.
“I’m trying not to.” But her thoughts had returned to it no matter how hard she’d tried to put it out of her mind.
“Who wanted the divorce, do you know?”
“He said he was waiting on her to file the paperwork, so I’d always assumed she was the one who asked for the divorce. They got married right out of high school. Josh said they’d grown in different directions and weren’t the same people anymore.”
Layla thought she knew about Josh’s split from Kimberly. Except that when she really thought about it, the way she had been all morning, she realized that it was a completely different scenario from her separation from Liam, which had been frustrating, heated, and no-doubt-about-it final.
Much different.
Josh and Kimberly had spent half of their lives together, and their separation seemed amicable, friendly. The type of split that still fostered feelings of kindness and not the urge to throw something heavy at your spouse’s head during the heat of an argument that had gone completely off the rails. And they had a child, so they would always be in each other’s lives.
“Maybe she’s changed her mind,” Layla said. “Maybe he was the one who fought for them to stay together, and her coming around now with her blondies and compliments about his hair opens the door to reconciliation. A while back, Sasha announced in class that her parents were getting back together. I didn’t put too much stock in it, but I asked Josh about it and he told me there wasn’t any truth in it.” When Josh was with Layla, he certainly didn’t act like a guy who wanted to patch things up with his ex-wife.
“He’s not legally divorced, which was something I hadn’t worried about until now,” Layla said as the microwave dinged. “Now I’m getting a front-row seat to what his life must have looked like with her when it was good.”
“What are you going to do?”