Marriage Matters (36 page)

Seventy-two

T
he next day, Chloe took her last exam, had her interview with the children’s hospital and went to June’s. Letting herself in through the front door, she called up the stairs, “Grandma, are you home?” The Christmas tree was lit and the lights on the tree were dancing but the house was quiet.

“She’s at Charley’s,” Chloe heard from upstairs. “But I’m here.”

Chloe gripped the railing, relieved. In between breaks, she had tried to call her mother again and again, but the phone went straight to voicemail. Racing up the steps, she burst into the guest bedroom. Kristine was lying in bed, wrapped in at least five different blankets, listlessly reading a book on Venice.

Perching on the edge of the bed, Chloe felt those familiar springs dip beneath her weight. When she was a child, she used to bounce up and down on this bed. June had probably had the same mattress since the sixties. “Mom, you didn’t call me back. I was worried.”

“I’m sorry.” Kristine slid off her reading glasses and rubbed her eyes. They were vaguely bloodshot and Chloe wondered if she’d even slept. “I thought June texted you that I was here.”

“She did. That’s why I came.” Chloe swallowed hard. “No vow renewals for you and Dad? For sure?”

Kristine didn’t answer. She turned a page in the book, studying the pictures. Chloe reached out and took it from her, like taking a toy from Mary Beth.

“Look at me. Are you guys getting . . .” Chloe took a deep breath then forced herself to say the word. “Divorced?”

Kristine fixed her eyes at a point on the wall. Blinking, she said, “Maybe. I don’t know.”

“Mom, you have to talk to him.” Chloe’s heart was breaking for her father. He’d been calling her nonstop since that morning, after he’d talked to her mother. Yes, he worked too hard. Yes, he was gone all the time. But he loved his family. He was desperate to figure out what was going on and how to fix it. “He’s flying home right now. He’ll be here all week, for the wedding. You have to talk to him.”

“I will,” her mother said. “Just not yet.”

“Mom, you have to. You have to work this—”

“We’ve tried to work it out,” her mother said. “I’ve told him exactly how I feel, I’ve told him what needs to change.” She shook her head. “People don’t change, though, Chloe. Relationships just do.”

Chloe bit her lip. That was true. In the beginning, her relationship with Geoff had been filled with promise. That changed as time went on and slowly, she realized he was not the right fit. Maybe that’s what had happened with her parents, too. The thought made her feel as though she was being torn in two.

“I’m sorry.” Kristine took Chloe’s hand. “I’m sorry we’re doing this now, when you’re getting married, when June’s getting married. But,” she let out a little sigh, “in spite of appearances, it
is
possible to have a long, healthy and happy marriage. You and Geoff will be able to do that. I know you will.”

“No,” Chloe said. “Actually, I don’t think we would have been able to do that. Which is why . . .” She took a deep breath and held up her left hand. “I called off the engagement.”

* * *

Breaking off her engagement was one of the most surreal experiences of Chloe’s life.

As she walked through the doors of Geoff’s building, the attendant said, “Hello, Miss,” just like always. This time, though, Chloe noticed things she hadn’t seen before. A small mole next to his ear, the way the strap on his hat bit into the skin on his neck, the tiny dent on his brass name tag.

Passing through the lobby, she noticed the sound of her boots scuffing across the floor. The large potted plant placed under the bright white buttons of the elevator and the fact that the fake leaves were perfectly dusted. That, even though the elevator arrived quickly, the clicks up to the fifty-second floor seemed slow and precise.

Time went back to normal when Geoff opened the door. His bright green eyes looked sleepy and confused. “Everything all right?” He was dressed in a pair of striped pajamas, no ascot in sight.

“I’d . . . I’d like to talk for a minute.”

Geoff looked at his watch. He nodded and moved aside, then sat next to her on the couch. They studied each other for a long moment, tension thick in the room.

“Your messages yesterday.” The words came out sounding much shorter than she’d planned. “They were awful. Why?”

Geoff rubbed his hand against his cheek. Dropping it with a thud, he said, “I apologize. I was frustrated I couldn’t get ahold of you but it all worked out. Miriam took Mary Beth for the afternoon.”

“Yeah.” Chloe nodded. “Which is great. But . . . Geoff. I can’t help but notice. Things have been different between us, ever since she’s come back.”

Geoff turned to her. There was a crease in the middle of his forehead and his green eyes were cautious. “Why are you so threatened by her?”

“I’m not threatened,” Chloe said, meaning it. “In fact, I think it’s good that she came back when she did.” Taking a deep breath, she reached into her coat pocket and placed the box with the engagement ring on the coffee table. “I’m sorry.”

Geoff’s eyes darted from the box to her naked ring finger, then back to the blue box. He made a sputtering sound before saying, “Now, hold on. What is this all about? I’m not about to let Miriam come back and ruin—”

“It’s not about her,” Chloe said, her voice quiet. “It’s about me.” With a pang, she thought back to the first moment she’d laid eyes on Geoff, speaking to her school. The way she’d been so impressed by him, so in awe. “Our relationship . . . it’s not going to work.”

“All because of a few messages?” he demanded.

A picture of Ben’s laughing blue eyes danced through her head.

“It’s not the messages,” Chloe said. “Or the fact that you expected me to drop everything to take care of your child or that your ex-wife is in town and that you deserve the chance to put your family back together.” She thought back to the beginning of their relationship. The way Geoff had encouraged her to get out and enjoy her life. “We were right for each other, for a while,” she said. “But not forever.”

Geoff sat in silence with his shoulders slumped. His hair was neatly gelled into place, his profile strong and handsome. She remembered how they’d first met, him singing his heart out in his office, wearing just those green sweatpants. If her heart wasn’t aching, she might have smiled at the memory.

Reaching over, she touched his knee. “I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head. “No, I . . . You’re right. I . . .” Putting his face in his hands, he whispered, “I think I still have feelings for her.” He looked at Chloe, his face stricken with guilt.

At his words, Chloe’s eyes filled with tears.

Geoff’s face fell. “No, please don’t cry. I would have married you—”

“No, no. It’s . . .” Letting out a shaky breath, she looked out at the skyline of Chicago. There were so many windows, so many lights, so many people. It broke her heart to think that she and Geoff had found each other, shared something special and almost turned it into something so wrong.

Chloe thought of her wedding dress, that moment she’d stood in front of the mirror. She tried to imagine walking down the aisle, saying “I do” to Geoff but she couldn’t see it. Not at all.

“We almost made a huge mistake,” she said. “For two people who are so smart, I can’t believe we almost did something so stupid.”

Geoff stared at his hands for a long moment. Then, he reached over and pulled her in tight. The relief coursing through them was palpable.

Seventy-three

K
ristine stared at her daughter. “You did
what
?”

Chloe chewed on her upper lip. “It’s for the best. You know it. I know it . . .” She paused for a moment, then picked at the soft white yarn of a blanket. “You’ve only been asking me to postpone the darn thing from the beginning.”

Leaping up off the bed, Kristine paced back and forth. Yes, she’d worried that Chloe’s engagement happened too fast. But her daughter was in love with him. She didn’t want her to throw that all away just because her parents had set a bad example.

“Call him back.” Kristine turned to face her. “You saw me panic last night, you got nervous, it scared you and—”

“
Mom
. This is not about you! Geez, between you and Grandma,” Chloe muttered, shaking her body as though shaking off an annoyance, “it’s a wonder I can get a thought in for myself.”

Kristine stared at her in surprise.
Where was this coming from?

“In case you’re wondering,” Chloe said, “I didn’t break off my engagement because of what’s going on with you and Dad. I broke it off because Geoff and I are not right for each other. He wants his family back together. I know he does. It’s going to be hard and painful and all of those things but they deserve a chance to try again. I’m not going to stand in the way of that.”

Kristine took a cautious step toward her daughter. “Honey, Geoff adores you. I’ve never seen anyone treat you so . . .”

“Mom.” Chloe grabbed a pillow as though choking it. “
Stop
.” Dropping the pillow, she said, “Yes, he treated me well. Which was nice.” At the memory, an affectionate smile lit up her face. “But I don’t love him.”

Kristine paused. “You don’t?” She wrinkled up her forehead, trying to process this. “I’m sorry, but . . . for some crazy reason, I thought you did.”

Chloe smiled, ducking her head. “Yeah. People do kinda tend to get that impression, when you say yes to a proposal. I just . . . got caught up, you know? From the first moment I saw him, I had the biggest crush on him. Then, when he was interested in me and we started dating and it was so much fun . . .” She took a breath. “Geoff could have given me a lot. But we never would have had the one thing that really matters—love.”

Kristine stared at her daughter in surprise. After years of creating milestones, thinking that Chloe wouldn’t really be an adult until she finished school, got a job or got married, her daughter had grown up right in front of her.

“Mom.” Chloe rolled her eyes, exasperated. “Seriously. You don’t have to cry.”

“I’m not. I haven’t been cry . . .” Kristine brought her hands to her cheeks. Sure enough, they were damp to the touch. Getting down on one knee, she pulled her daughter into her arms.

Seventy-four

F
or all of her bravado, Chloe’s stomach felt like it was filled with thorns when it came time to tell her grandmother that she would not be sharing the wedding. They sat at the dining room table, the same one where they had spent so many Thursday nights. The words came out very clean and practical, then Chloe burst into tears.

June absorbed the information quietly, her eyes shutting only briefly with pain.

“I’m sorry, Grandma.” Chloe reached out and touched her arm. “I know how important this day is to you. I know that you wanted to share it with me and Mom. But I can’t marry Geoff. I’m in love with Ben. I always have been.”

June looked down at the table.

“I wanted to go through with it,” Chloe pleaded, grabbing her hands. “I almost did it because . . . because I wanted to make you happy.”

“That’s the most foolish thing I have ever heard,” June snapped. “I thought you were smart.”

Chloe made a face. “Smart, maybe. Brave? No. I just couldn’t marry a man I didn’t love.”

“Well. Of course not.” Placing her chin in her hand, June gazed off into the backyard. The garden was covered with clean white snow. “Out of curiosity, would being with Ben make you happy?”

At the idea, an odd picture flashed through Chloe’s mind. That moment when she and Ben were both standing on the ice and he told her things between them would never be the same. “Yes,” she said. “Nothing could make me happier. But . . .” She shook her head. “That will never happen.”

“Why?” June said. “If you feel this way about this young man . . .”

“Grandma, I know we haven’t done those dance lessons quite yet,” Chloe said, patting her hand, “but I hear it takes two to tango.”

Shaking her head, June gave a little sigh. “Well. I got my wish. This wedding certainly is going to be the biggest thing Chicago has ever seen. Think of the scandal. I can see the headline in the society pages now:
Here Comes the Bride. Maybe.
”

Chloe bit her lip. “Is it bad that I want to laugh?”

June gave her a stern look. “I would not recommend it. Not at this moment in time.”

Chloe fiddled with the corner of a red placemat. It was woven through with silver sparkles. “Do you think you’ll ever forgive me?”

“Darling girl,” June said. “This is
your
life
.
I want the best for you. That is all that I have ever wanted and that I ever will want. Everything else is just noise.”

* * *

Later that night, June sat in the chair in Charley’s den, staring at the fire burning in the fireplace. More snow was blowing outside and tiny pellets of ice tapped at the window. She was perfectly cozy, wrapped in a white blanket lined with faux fur, but her heart was troubled. So much had gone wrong with Kristine and Chloe. June couldn’t help but think that, in some way, it was all her fault.

Charley walked into the room, carefully balancing a tray. On it sat two mugs of hot, milky tea and a plate of biscotti. Jumping to her feet, June went to help him.

“You sit back down this instant,” Charley told her, setting the tray on the table between them. “Let someone do something for you for a change.”

June sat, gratefully accepting the warm cup. The heat helped soothe the arthritic ache that seemed to affect her hands when she wasn’t using them every day, out in the garden.

“Now.” Charley settled into the chair across from her. “I intend to say something to you and I don’t want you to get angry.”

June sighed. “Just say it.”

“It seems to me . . .” Charley picked up his mug of tea and took a thoughtful sip. “It seems to me that I was wrong.”

June froze. “What?”

“I was wrong, June. I thought that your meddling was causing trouble but it was doing just the opposite. It was keeping your family together.”

Charley pulled out the drawer on the table between them. Taking out a deck of playing cards, he shuffled with cool precision. Then he dealt them out a game of gin.

“Charley, you don’t have to say that.” June sighed. It had been so foolish to suggest to Rue that her grandson should propose to Chloe. What a mess that had turned out to be. “It turns out you were right.”

“I most certainly was not.” Charley was wearing a light blue sweater and a plaid sweater vest. As he said all this, June couldn’t help but notice that his eyes were an even brighter blue than usual. “Perhaps some of your suggestions were ill-guided, but your heart was in the right place.”

June didn’t answer, just picked up his discard.

“At the moment, your family appears to be falling apart.” Charley’s voice was quiet. “I doubt it’s a coincidence. You need to step in.”

“Absolutely not.” June rearranged her cards. “You told me very clearly that I need to let my family make their own decisions and their own mistakes.”

Charley took a sip of tea. “Well,” he chuckled, “they’ve certainly done that. Now, it seems to me that they need some guidance on how to put everything back together.”

June considered that. Suddenly, she blinked. The hand she was holding was very heavy on hearts.

“It seems like that Ben is a nice kid,” Charley said, his voice thoughtful. “Chloe sure did seem to brighten when she brought him around here.”

June looked at him in surprise. “When on earth did you meet Ben?”

“Oh . . .” Charley took a bite of biscotti. “It seems like I might have seen him around here once or twice.”

For heaven’s sake. Ben hadn’t been to this house in . . . at least a year, when he and Chloe stopped by after biking along the lake. She and Charley hadn’t even been speaking yet.

“Charley Montgomery,” June said, starting to laugh. “How long, exactly, have you been watching me?”

He smiled. “Oh, I’d guess just about the same amount of time you’ve been watching me.”

Goodness, she loved this man. June pressed her lips together to hide a tiny smile. Selecting a piece of biscotti, she dipped it into her tea.

Charley reached out and put his warm hand over hers. “Lead your family, June,” he said. “I was wrong to tell you otherwise.”

June drew the next card in the deck. The Queen of Hearts, exactly the card that she needed. Laying down her hand, she said, “Ha! I win.”

“Well, look at that,” he said. “An entire hand of hearts. If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.”

June looked down at the cards, then back up at him. “Why, Charley Montgomery.” She shook her finger at him. “Don’t you think for one moment that I don’t know that you stacked that deck.”