Love's Second Chance (Second Chances #1)(66)

“You put me to shame, Tasha. Look at you all hot and sweaty.”

“Please, don’t give me that crap. I have to work at my image. You are just one of those lucky skinny bitches. What are you doing here anyway, aren’t the kids at school?”

“Yes they are. I’m watching Emily’s little guy. She needs some rest, and I thought I’d let him run around here. Why aren’t you at work?”

“I have no clients and no court, so I am enjoying this beautiful day. Let’s go sit and chat.”

Tasha took a sip from her water bottle and followed Rebecca to a bench. Rebecca waved to Andrew to let him know where she was, and he waved back as he excitedly followed another boy over to the slide.

“So, what’s been happening girlfriend? How’s Jack?”

“Jack is…Jack. He works and he sleeps.”

“Wow, let me please contain myself…sounds pretty boring. Is he having an affair?”

Rebecca was caught off guard by the blunt question. She had suspected for some time that he had been seeing someone. They didn’t seem to have anything left between them anymore. They barely spoke to one another, and although they slept in the same bed, that was it, they slept. They hadn’t had sex in over a year. Neither one of them even bothered to try anymore.

“Hello…Becca?”

“Sorry. I, um, I don’t know if he is. I’d like to think he’s not. I mean, I’ve been with him since I was eighteen. I’ve never been with anyone else.”

“Well, that’s your fault. I always told you he was too old for you. Eight years difference is too much. He wanted to settle down with someone young, now he’s middle-aged and never around. I mean, at least that’s how I see it. I see you with your kids all the time. You are the one who is always driving them here and there, to this event or that. What about you, Becca?”

“What about me? I get to stay home with them. Jack works hard. He works really long hours. That’s all. When he comes home, he’s tired.”

“No offense, babe, but the shop closes at five. He doesn’t come home until after eight every night. I’m sorry, but that sends up red flags. I’m just saying, girlfriend, that you need to think about you. The kids are going to be gone soon enough, and what will you have then? Richard and I split when Ashlee was small. We just knew that we couldn’t be married. He’s a great friend and a wonderful father. We have a much better relationship now than we had before, so just think about it. You’ve been with one man your whole life, and you are not happy. You just don’t smile the way you used to. Even Emily agrees with me.”

“Wow! So you discuss me and my marriage with Emily, too? I’m the last to know? Gee thanks,” Rebecca said in astonishment.

“We both love you, Becca. We are just concerned for your happiness. You deserve to be happy, and quite frankly, Jack doesn’t do that for you.”

Tasha changed the topic of conversation to a lighter one before she headed back down the beach to finish her run. Rebecca was left in the park on a bench, thinking about her life. She knew deep down that her friends were right. She had run off with Jack eighteen years ago. She married him at eighteen and had Riley by nineteen. She had never gone to college. She barely made it out of high school. If she didn’t have the kids, what would she have?

Her thoughts wondered back to Jack and all his late nights. She wasn’t stupid; she heard the late night texts that came to his phone when he thought she was sleeping. She was awake when he’d sneak out of bed and not return for an hour. No, she wasn’t stupid. However, she was afraid—afraid he would replace her.

For the rest of the day, she felt as though she was forcing herself to get everything done that needed to be done. She put on her happy face as she rushed Adam from school to hockey practice, and then swung by Riley’s school to pick her up from basketball. She cooked dinner and helped with homework. She folded the laundered clothes and towels and put them away. She tucked Adam into bed, and listened as Riley gossiped with her friends on the phone.

Jack came home around eight o’clock that evening. He stayed downstairs while Rebecca remained upstairs. Around midnight, she felt him sneak into their bed and roll on his side. She really did feel dead inside. She had been trying so hard to be the perfect wife and the perfect mother that somewhere along the way she never had a chance to figure out who she really was.

Part of her wanted to curl up with her husband, just so she’d know they were all right and that he did still love her. She was too afraid of his rejection, and the thoughts of him with someone else made her stomach turn, so instead of reaching out to him, she forced herself to close her eyes and fall asleep.

She woke the next morning and got out of bed. She didn’t hear the shower running as usual. She made her way down to the kitchen, but Jack was nowhere to be seen. Adam was sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal.

“Where is your father?” she asked him.

“Oh, he left for work already. He said something about being short-handed.”

Rebecca poured a mug of coffee and took a seat at the table with her son.

“Are you OK, mom? You look sad.”

“I’ll be OK, buddy.” She forced herself to smile for him.

Riley came bounding into the kitchen and shouted, “Hey Mom, Ashlee is going with her dad to New Hampshire this weekend. I really want to go. Can I go?”