“Do you have a husband?”
Jenny cleared her throat. Twice. “No.” She glanced at the young girl. “I don’t have a husband.”
“Why not?”
What to say to that? Because the only time I ever let myself care about a man, I mean really care, he dumped me two weeks after I met his parents, told me I wasn’t “corporate” enough to fit into his plans? Or, Because every man I’ve ever met wants to reshape who I am so I won’t even recognize myself?
She couldn’t tell her any of those reasons, so she settled with, “Because I just never wanted to.”
“Never wanted to what, Aunt Jenny?” Natalie called from behind. Jenny swung around to see Natalie, Danielle, and Elliot heading through the gate. Elliot’s gaze shot from Jenny to his daughter and back. He raised a dark brow but said nothing. “Never wanted to what, Aunt Jenny?” Natalie repeated.
“Nothing,” Jenny mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. She was roasting all of a sudden, cooking like a steak under a broiler.
“Never wanted to get married,” Sydney said, sliding Jenny a look from the corner of her eye.
If the world had opened up that instant and sucked her under, Jenny would have considered it a blessing. Heat scorched her face and it had nothing to do with the weather conditions. “That’s not exactly what I meant,” Jenny said in an attempt to salvage a scrap of dignity.
“Daddy used to say some man needed to cut your tail,” Natalie said, leaning over and petting Ruby.
“That is not what he said.” Danielle shot her a look of disgust. And then, as though she were reciting a nursery rhyme, she corrected her sister. “He said, some man needed to clip her wings.”
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