22. Agree To Disagree

22

AGREE TO DISAGREE

S loane felt she spent enough time in the bathroom and walked back to see Dane standing there alone.

“Everything okay?”

“Sure,” he said.

“It doesn’t look it to me,” she said. She looked around and didn’t see Mel anywhere. “Are you done talking? Should I go hide?”

She was smiling when she said it. There was part of her that wanted to stay out of the way if Dane’s kids came over.

In some ways, she thought she might be ready to meet them. But in others, it could cause some conflict.

She was no stranger to conflict though and wasn’t sure why she was running from it.

In her mind, she stopped running years ago.

“No,” he said. “Mel was going to take them home. Normally I would be the one to say I’d leave.”

“Why didn’t you?” she asked.

They moved over to a bench and took a seat.

“Because I’m always the one giving in. For everything. She said she’d do it and I agreed. I could see the shock on her face. As if she couldn’t believe I wasn’t arguing with her over it.”

“Do you want to leave?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “I mean we will if you want to, but I’m being selfish and for once don’t think I’ve got to be the one to give in. I do it all the time.”

“You do,” she said. “And I’ll never tell you what to do one way or another. How you and Mel parent your children is between you and her and not me. But something else is on your mind. What is it?”

“It was the stunned look on her face that you were with me.”

“Oh,” she said. “I saw it. I know jealousy when I see it too.”

She’d grown up with it.

When your father was the leader of a cult and had multiple wives or women he’d had children with, jealousy was just second nature.

That flicker in Mel’s eyes was the only thing stopping her from feeling Dane was completely out of her league.

She tried to keep those insecurities to herself now.

She had a high school diploma and barely one at that. She was positive everyone passed her through because they’d felt sorry for her.

But she’d made a name for herself in her business and was proud of what she’d accomplished in her life so far.

It wasn’t just the education though that was different.

She had no idea what Dane’s ex did for a living, but she was more sophisticated than Sloane was.

Mel had a pair of light-colored cotton pants on that were wide and flowing and in style. There were pretty leather sandals on her feet with a soft white T-shirt. She almost looked angelic and no one would ever say Sloane was an angel.

Mel’s hair was darker than Tiffani’s and styled perfectly. Straight enough for her to know that it wasn’t just a blow dry out but had a flat iron applied to it.

Though Mel’s makeup was minimal, Sloane realized it was meant to appear that way but most likely was more.

Here she was with her hair just swaying in any direction it wanted to go after she dried it with some mousse in it.

She put foundation on her face that was more of a tinted moisturizer and not much more than mascara and blush. Today she didn’t even add that because the heat of the day was giving her enough color.

She had good skin and was proud of it, so why cover it up?

“I don’t know about jealousy,” he said. “I think it had more to do with surprise.”

“No,” she said. “But we can agree to disagree.” She bumped her shoulder into his. “Do you think she will say anything to the kids?”

“I doubt it. They’d go nuts if they heard it from her and not me. Or the fact they won’t see me for three days. I told Mel I wanted to do this right, but I was going to tell them soon.”

“You are?” she asked.

He was looking into her eyes. “Would you prefer I don’t? I guess I thought what we had was a bit more than casual. It’s not like I’m going to have you meet them just yet. I want to warm them up to the idea of it first.”

“I’d like to meet your kids,” she said. “I’ve kind of met Tiffani already. I’m going at your pace and following your lead on this. I don’t want you to feel like you have to hit the brakes or put a blinker on because you’re worried about me.”

“Thanks for that,” he said. “You didn’t answer me on if you thought this was just casual or not. I guess if it is in your eyes, maybe I should hold off more.”

She felt bad he was thinking that way.

“I’m not sure what we’ve got, but it’s far from casual. Do we need to put a title on it?”

“No,” he said, reaching for her hand and holding it. “We don’t. And we can get out of here if you want to do that.”

“Actually,” she said. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to walk around some more. I’m having fun. I don’t know the last time I had this much fun, except for having to hide in the bathroom.”

“I don’t want you to ever feel as if you’ve got to hide anything from me,” he said. “I’m serious. I’m one of these people that learns from my mistakes.”

“Stop right there,” she said. “I don’t know what happened in your marriage other than what you’ve told me and maybe a tiny bit of what your sister has said. And you know that too. But from what I’ve gathered, you didn’t make any mistakes.”

“I wasn’t around,” he said.

“Which she clearly knew was part of the deal. And if she didn’t, then she’s not as smart as I thought she was. Or looked. Which is a lot different than me.”

“Mel is on the small side,” he said.

“I’m not even talking about the fact she was probably six inches shorter than me. I think she looked like this soft angel. I’d be willing to bet you liked that about her too. That maybe you needed to protect her at times.”

“I did,” he said. “But at the same time sacrificed parts of myself. ”

“Don’t do that with me,” she said. “I don’t need to be babied. I’ve been on my own for a long time. Not even just as an adult but mainly as a child. My life isn’t like anyone else’s I know. We can all boast we’ve had things happen to us that many don’t, but I think I win a few prizes.”

“Just a few,” he said, holding his hand up, his fingers in a pinch.

“It’s not a prize I want,” she said, “but it’s one I was given. Just have to make the best of it.”

“How about I show you how manly I am and win you a prize at your first festival?” he said, standing up.

“I’ll let you do that,” she said. “I’ve never had a stuffed animal either.”

“What?” he asked.

“Sorry,” she said. “We didn’t get things like that. What we had were things we made or re-purposed. My mother made me a doll, but it had no body on it. It was just a head that was stuffed with more fabric and had eyes sewn into it and then like a blanket as a body.”

“Which people buy now,” he said.

“Trust me when I tell you it was nothing like you buy. My mother was sixteen when she had me. Fifteen when she was pregnant. She ran away from home and I never knew why. But I’m positive she went from one shitty situation into another.”

His jaw dropped. Guess she hadn’t told him that part. She didn’t normally do that.

“How old was your father?”

“You mean the man that fathered me and God only knows how many other kids? He was probably in his thirties at the time. No clue. It’s not like he ever acknowledged me much other than as one of his kids. No one got special treatment except a few wives. Most were just young girls he had kids with.”

“He raped them,” he said. He’d said that to her before too.

“Yeah,” she said softly. “Though you never said that word there. Aside from my mother feeling as if someone was trying to poison her, I was at the age where I was being looked at when we left. I told you that part.”

“You did,” he said. “Jesus. I don’t even want to think of it. I’m so glad you got away.”

“Me too,” she said. “And now you can go win me that stuffed animal of your choice. I’ll even give it a funny name.”

“I’m going to do that,” he said. “Maybe I’ll win you two.”

“Or I can win you one and they can be a couple.”

“I think I like that thought even better.”