Burning Bridges

"You think I want my daughters seeing? Well, I don't!"

"They know you have nipples," he said.

"You are an evil man," I told him.

They came back from the restroom and the dude took us to our table. I walked kinda behind them, and no one at the tables we passed said anything about my nipples showing, at least.

Q had come by Uber, so I made him ride home with us. I was hoping Jake would be gone, but I was a little nervous and wanted some support.

He was gone, but he'd left a note:

"Synthia,

I know you think you're being strong, but you're really showing your insecurity. You'll be calling me in a week, begging me to come back. I will, but there are going to be some changes. You might as well resign yourself to it."

I showed the note to Q. "Are you going to call him in a week?" he asked.

"I'll be calling him before that to find out where he can be served with the divorce papers," I said.

He smiled. "That's what I thought. Don't let anyone tell you that standing up for yourself and your girls, standing up for what you believe in, is "weak" or that you aren't "secure" in yourself," he said. "You're comfortable in your own skin, you're the smartest and most gorgeous woman I've ever met."

I went to him and he wrapped me in his arms. "I won't."

"He's an idiot," he said. "Every other man on the planet would be fighting to be with you, to keep you. He'll remember that soon enough."

"Thanks," I whispered.

"What are we gonna do, you and me?" he asked.

"Hear me out, now," I said. "How about we just date, see how deeply we fall in love, communicate effectively, respect each other, have mind-blowing sex, and if that all falls into place, then boom, we get married?"

He laughed. "Sounds like you are the girl with the plan. What are the odds all that happens?"

It turned out they were 100%. I was thinking one in ten when I said it, but all that happened. It took 18 months, part of that for the divorce to come through, part of it to convince him he couldn't live without me, and three days to sell the girls and our parents. I looked good in red. I'd done the white, it didn't work out that well, and the girls were even more gorgeous in champagne.

We exchanged vows in a rose garden, on a bridge over a little stream. It wasn't burning.