Page 26 of Old Habits
“Why?” she asks. “It’s not like we were together at the time. You broke up with me.”
“Yeah, like twelve hours before.”
“Would a week have made a difference? Or a month? Pretty sure we were as broken up by hour twelve as we would have been by hour one hundred.”
I sit back. “Okay. You’re right about that, but… Come on, it’s been a long time. I can hardly even remember what we fought about in the first place.”
“I can.” She takes a slow, quiet breath. “We broke up because you wanted to get married and start pumping out kids… and I was a nineteen-year-old girl who’d never even seen the ocean yet.”
“Yeah, I did. I wanted our lives to start. I didn’t want to wait. That makes me a bad person?”
“Our lives were already happening, Will,” she argues. “What was wrong with how we were? Why couldn’t we be Will and Jovie for just a little bit longer?”
“I wanted more.”
“You weren’t entitled to it.”
“I never said I was!”
“You called me a selfish child.”
“Well,” I pause, “some people would argue that your behavior was childlike and self-absorbed.”
“Some peoplelike your sister?”
“Not everything is Sara’s fault, Jove.”
“And not everything is mine, either.” She frowns. “When is the blame going to fall on you for once? But no — not perfect Will Myers. He can do no wrong.”
“Gee, that’s funny. Because I certainly didn’t get that memo when you up and disappeared on me without so much as a note. Do you have any idea how horrible that felt?”
“Probably about as horrible as it felt to have you break up with me less than a day after proposing.”
“I’m sorry. Did I beat you to that punch? I kind of figured it was over when you rejected the proposal in the first place.”
She leans back. “I didn’t reject the proposal.”
“You didn’t say yes.”
“I didn’t say no. I asked for a few days to think about it.”
“Well, you’ve had four years. What’s your answer?”
She doesn’t even hesitate. “No.”
“And there it is.” I throw up my hands. “This is awesome, Jove! Real happy we did this.”
“I know you’re joking right now, but honestly, this feels really good to finally get out,” she says.
“I agree!”
“Then, why are you shouting?”
“I’m not!”
She tilts her head at me and I close my mouth. We go silent, our chests rising and falling fast as we glance around at the wide-open eyes of everyone around us.
Well, what do you know? Ten minutes face-to-face and we’re already at each other’s throats. Life with Jovie Ross is a constant rollercoaster. Sometimes, you’re riding high on passionate adrenaline with your hands in the air. Other times, you’re digging your nails into your restraints, eyes squeezed shut, just waiting for it all to be over so you can get the hell off.