Eliza Starts a Rumor(35)

“Does your wife commute, too?”

“It’s just me and my daughter.”

Alison became uncomfortable realizing what her question implied. She’d been seriously asking about his marital status to further her fact-finding mission on the efficacy of commuting while single parenting. Her trip to Manhattan, and spending time in Andie’s office, had her mind ricocheting to her future. Could she actually do it alone in the suburbs, or was it more prudent to move back? How could she leave Zachary without support close by just in case?

He took her being lost in thought as the end to their conversation and readdressed his crossword. She wished she had brought something to read and gazed out the window, the passing trees hypnotizing her into a trancelike state. She could feel the heat of his leg close to hers. The sliver of space between them felt electrically charged. She snuck a good look at him—he was tall, dark, and handsome, but with just the perfect hint of dorkiness. Picture Idris Elba playing an accountant.

Jackie became suddenly aware that not asking her if she were married in return may imply disinterest. He had already definitively decided the opposite. He couldn’t believe the funny woman he had been so comfortable talking to online actually looked like she did. He caught her eye.

“How about you?”

“How about me what?” She laughed.

He laughed, too. “Husband? Kids?”

“Never married. Single mama of a four-month-old baby boy. How old is your daughter?”

“Fifteen years this Christmas.”

“That must have been a nice Christmas gift.”

That Christmas had been the worst day of Jackie’s entire life. He knew it registered on his face, but there was no way he was going down that road. He’d made that mistake before—no buzzkill worse than telling someone that your wife died in childbirth.

“I’m not big on Christmas.”

“Really, why?”

He shared his second reason for disliking the holiday instead.

“Because whenever I did something wrong as a kid my mom would say, ‘Santa is watching.’ It was like I had to be good three hundred sixty-four days a year just to impress this one fat white dude.” Alison laughed. She had a real, from-the-gut laugh, and he liked it.

“You must have been pissed when you found out he wasn’t real.”

“What? He’s not real?”

She laughed again.

Poor Olivia snored, and they laughed even harder. Alison thought there was something so sweet about the way he was letting Olivia sleep on his shoulder. It really touched her.

“What stop is yours?” she asked. “I’ll wake her before we get there.”

“Hudson Valley.”

“Me too! I just moved there.”

Her exuberance was twofold. She was definitely crushing on this guy, so it would be fun to possibly run into him again, but also, she was glad there would be a hard stop to their conversation. She had never mastered ending a casual flirtation gracefully; in fact, starting one was not her forte either. Flirting always felt disingenuous. It was one of the reasons her relationship with Marc was so easy for her. It was very wham, bam, thank you, sir.

Jackie looked out the window as they sped through the last tunnel of their ride. Hudson Valley peeked out from the rocks and the river on the other side, indicating that there wasn’t much time left. If he didn’t make his move, he may not get another shot. He went for it.

“We should exchange numbers in case you have any questions about the town or commuting or whatnot.”

“Sure, that would be nice. Thanks.”

He handed her his phone for her to type in her number, like the suave person that he wasn’t. The train was coming to the station as she pressed Send. He took back his phone as she woke an embarrassed Olivia. He stood up to give them space. When he got into his car, he read her text:


Hope to see you again—Alison.



He wrote back:


Let’s make sure of it—Jackie.



He looked at it again before pressing Send and removed the I and the E:


Jack.





CHAPTER 20





Eliza & Amanda


Amanda waited with bated breath for Pippa and Sadie to return home from their first day of school. She was not worried about Sadie, who was totally agreeable, but about Pippa, who was not. She put the odds of her walking through the door happy at about four percent. Amanda’s dad saw her pacing and consoled her, “It’s OK, Mandy. You did the right thing. We did OK on our own, didn’t we?”

It was meant to make her feel better, but it did the opposite. She never wanted her kids to be children of divorce like she was. It was one of the reasons she had stuck it out for so long with Carson. Her initial impetus for running east was to let them take some time off for mental health and to pull them out of the spotlight, but her lawyer decimated that idea before they even got their luggage at the airport. She called Amanda straight away, in response to the email Amanda had sent her from the plane. She didn’t even say hello.

“Amanda! What, are you crazy? You’re not allowed to run off to New York with your kids. Your domicile is in California. Carson could say you kidnapped them! Come back and file a motion for relocation!”

The luggage on the carousel seemed to be going in one direction, and Amanda’s head in the other. She had not slept one minute on that plane. No way was she turning around and going back. She hung up and called her husband at the hotel where he was hiding. She knew from years of experience that she was well within his window of remorse—that short time after an altercation during which she would have the upper hand. She imagined this particular window to be akin to the observation deck atop the Empire State Building, given the circumstances.