It's Better This Way(66)

“I know I was the last person you ever expected to hear from.”

Since it was true, she nodded in agreement. Laura’s call had stunned her, and she’d spent a sleepless night wondering what the other woman could possibly want.

“I imagine this is as uncomfortable for you as it is for me.”

If she was looking to find mutual ground, then this was about as mutual as it was going to get. Julia didn’t mean to be rude or standoffish; this woman wasn’t someone she would ever consider a friend. She wished Laura would get to the point.

“I never thought I’d do anything like this,” she said, breathing out a trembling sigh.

    “Laura, I get that you’re uncomfortable. I’d appreciate it if you would tell me why you wanted us to meet.”

She stiffened and sat up straighter. “It’s about Edward.”

Julia was tempted to tell Laura that Eddie was her problem now, but held her tongue.

She exhaled slowly. “Hillary’s wedding is tearing him apart. He’d hoped Hillary getting married would finally bring them all together again.”

Julia had held high hopes for that herself.

“When Marie told him that Hillary had asked Heath instead of her father to escort her down the aisle, he lost it. I’ve never seen him that upset.”

Julia knew exactly how upset he’d gotten. “Did you know that he came to me and basically attacked Heath?”

Lowering her head, Laura said, “I didn’t…I’m sorry, although I don’t know what I could have done. He left the house and didn’t tell me where he was going. Seeing how angry he was, I didn’t ask…I realize now I should have. When he returned, he went into the bedroom. I went to check on him, and, Julia, I found him with his face in his hands, weeping.” Tears gathered in her own eyes. “I’ve never known Edward to cry. It…It broke my heart, and I knew I had to do something to fix this if I could.”

Julia could identify. If Heath were emotionally hurting, she would do whatever she could to ease his pain.

“The problem is Eddie,” Julia said, feeling bad for her ex-husband. “When it comes to the girls, he can’t seem to do anything right. He might be a whiz on the golf course, but with his daughters, he’s consistently stuck in the sand trap.”

“It’s because of me, isn’t it?” Laura asked.

That seemed fairly obvious, but Julia refrained from saying so. “The crux of the problem is his attempts to manipulate Hillary by insisting you attend the wedding and be part of it. And that’s not all. Did you know he put together a seating chart for the wedding and the reception and gave it to Hillary along with a list of his buddies he wanted to invite? A chart which included you, Michael, and Adam. But not Heath, because he didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

    Surprise flashed in her eyes. “He did what?”

“He seemed to believe the money he invested in Hillary’s wedding dress entitled him to make his wishes known on how he wanted the ceremony to go. From what Hillary said, I’m surprised he didn’t decide to write her vows along with everything else. He did offer to pay the extra for his friends, but it was too little too late, as far as Hillary was concerned.”

Laura lowered her head and closed her eyes. “I’ll talk to him.”

“It’s too late. The damage is done.”

Laura looked up then and blinked a couple times, as if trying to hold everything inside. “Please tell Hillary I will stay away from the wedding if she’ll allow her father to be part of her day. It means the world to him. Edward misses his daughters so much. I’ll do whatever it takes to make things right for Edward and his girls.”

Julia sincerely appreciated the effort. At this point, she didn’t know what either of them could possibly do, and said so.

“Do Hillary and Marie hate me that badly?” Laura asked, turning her hands over, palms up, on the tabletop.

Julia decided to share the insight she’d had with Heath. “To the girls, our family as they once knew it was torn apart. I know Eddie felt, as I did, the girls were young adults, ready to start their own lives, and the divorce wouldn’t necessarily negatively affect them. To complicate everything, the anger we all felt toward one another brewed in our children.”

    Laura nodded. “Yes, it was the same with Heath and me. Both boys were already on their own and it seemed if we were going to split, that was the time.”

“Exactly, only we were both wrong.”

“How do you mean?”

“I mean the children on both sides of this divorce were badly hurt. Not knowing what to do with that pain, they looked for someone to blame. The fight at Lake Sammamish certainly didn’t help.”

From the way her mouth twisted, Laura got it. “In the case of your girls, that someone was me?”

“Sending me those text messages escalated matters, and me returning with ones of my own was equally inflammatory.”

Laura’s face fell, and it looked once again as if she was close to breaking into tears. “I…I should never have sent those.”

“I have my share of regrets, too.” A minute or longer passed before she spoke again. “Did you know I tried to talk to Michael?” Julia asked.

Again, Laura looked taken aback. “You did? When?”