The Marriage Intervention (21 page)

But as she drifted off feeling miserably sorry for herself, that practical little voice whispered:
This is your real life, honey. You’d better suck it up.
 

And … cut.

***

Morning still came. For the first time in Josie’s life, laying awake all night did not slow the clock.
 

Resentment crept in as she listened to Paul’s even, peaceful breathing. Why was he sleeping so well? Why hadn’t he been up all night, fretting over the impending failure of their marriage? It seemed so unfair. Her alarm went off, but she stayed in bed. What would Paul do for an alarm when he moved out? Where would he go? Who would he wake up next to? She heard his breathing change and looked over to see him touching his face, exploring the row of stitches and pressing lightly on the swelling on his left eye.
 

“Good morning,” he said.
 

Why was he so friendly now, on their last morning together?
 

Yes, Josie had recently realized the many errors of her ways, but Paul wasn’t completely fault-free in this whole thing.
 

“Good morning,” she answered. She could hear the pout in her own voice.

“Babe, don’t do this,” he said, sitting up and turning toward her.
 

“Don’t do what? Say good morning to you?”
 

“You’re talking so grumpy.”
 

“Of course I am. You’re moving out. With practically no warning. After you almost died. I had this big moment of clarity, and you did, too, and they’re opposing. I’m upset. I just realized how much I’ve messed up, but obviously, your heart isn’t really in it.”
 

On a loud sigh, Paul stood up. Even in this moment, Josie could appreciate his washboard abs and well-defined quads. She felt herself flush at the thought of an early morning romp. W
hen was the last time we did
that
?
She bit down on her lip and looked away.
 

Instead of making a coy invitation, she said, “Remember that time we got drunk and went to the fair?”
 

To her surprise, he laughed. “How could I forget? I ate so much that night between the corn dogs and the funnel cake I thought I was going to toss my cookies on one of our rides on the Ferris wheel.”
 

“What about the time we went for a sledding trip without any sleds?” she said. She didn’t know if this was self-torture or just a conversation.

“But we loved the Jacuzzi tub, right? That was a great night.”
 

Suddenly, he was beside her on the bed again, holding one of her hands in both of his, staring into her eyes.
 

“Josie, this isn’t the end of our marriage, okay? This is just some breathing space. That’s all this is.”
 

A loud sob that sounded way more dramatic than Josie would have liked in this situation escaped her, and she turned away and got out of bed. Where was her dignity?

“I don’t want breathing space. Breathing space always ends in divorce, don’t you know that?”
 

Paul sighed again, and to Josie’s disappointment, stood up and began pulling clothes out of the dresser and stacking them on the bed.
 

“Where are you going to stay, anyway?” she asked. She leaned against the wall that opened into the bathroom and crossed her arms.
 

“Uh, well, I’m going to stay with Schmidt,” he said, looking down and scratching the back of his neck.
 

“Terry Schmidt?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t look up. “Terry Schmidt.”
 

“The lifelong bachelor Terry Schmidt?”
 

“The one and only.”
 

“Paul!” Josie threw her hands up and turned to walk into the bathroom and start the shower.

“Stop yelling at me. He’s the only one I can stay with. McAdams’ wife just had a baby, Willis has about eight kids, crazy bastard, and Drew and his wife are trying to get pregnant. I guess they’re having sex, like, every other night or whatever, all over the damned house. He says it gets pretty monotonous so they have to spice things up by doing it, you know, on the kitchen counter or whatever. I ain’t eating off their counters. And those are the only guys I’d stay with.”

Josie poked her head around the doorway and shook it.
 

“Terry Schmidt’s going to have you converted to bachelorhood in less than twenty-four hours.”
 

“He’s a nice guy. Did you know Terry Schmidt is the one who helped me pick out your engagement ring?”
 

That stopped Josie’s ire in its tracks.
 

“No, I didn’t know that.”
 

“Did you know he’s the one who helped me pull off the way I gave it to you?”
 

“Nope. Didn’t know that, either,” Josie said.
 

“He’s a good guy, okay? He’s not against marriage or anything. He just hasn’t found the right woman. He’s actually got a really romantic heart.”
 

Because she didn’t know what else to do, Josie rolled her eyes and walked into the bathroom to shower.
 

***

Paul’s actual proposal had been absolutely no-frills. About as far from romantic as a person could get. He didn’t even have a ring.

Josie always thought it represented the way he loved her, though: straightforward and no nonsense. He didn’t need flowers and candlelight to set the scene to ask her to spend the rest of her life with him. He didn’t need accessories to prove his affection or his devotion.
 

But he swept her off her feet when he gave her the ring.
 

Because she was so in love with him—stupid in love with him—she never even thought about that little detail when he proposed, until someone asked. Then, she’d only shrugged and said, “I’ll be happy with a plain wedding band once we’re married.” And it was true. She was practical. She didn’t need him to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a piece of jewelry. “Put that money towards a down payment for a new house,” she told him when he asked if she wanted a sparkler.
 

Then one Friday afternoon shortly after the proposal, he picked her up from work in a rented Mustang convertible. He had her leave her car key in the office, and a friend of his—Terry Schmidt—delivered it back to the house.
 

They arrived in San Diego six hours later, and checked into the Bayside Manor, a bed and breakfast that overlooked the ocean and had a private beach.
 

Summer and Delaney helped him pack several outfits, including her favorite sundress. She wore it to dinner at Ray’s, a swanky steakhouse where they sat on the patio and soaked up the warm, brilliant sunset.

They sipped cold white wine until long after dark, and then went back to the hotel and passed out side by side on the huge four-poster bed, still in their clothes.
 

The next day, they ordered room service for breakfast, and then Paul took Josie to Clam Shell Cove, an amusement park on the beach. He seemed a little jumpy throughout the morning, but she assumed it was the typical hyperawareness most cops experience in crowded public places.

Just before lunch, though, Paul pointed to the Sky Ride, which took people from one end of the park to the other in colorful cars suspended on cables fifty feet above the ground.
 

They sat across from each other in the hanging car, and Paul smiled at Josie as the ride attendant latched the door. She smiled back, looking so forward to the spectacular sky-high ocean view that she didn’t notice the gleam in his eyes. With the salty breeze blowing Josie’s hair back from her face and the sun shining high in the sky, Paul pulled a red velvet pouch from his shirt pocket.
 

Josie didn’t even have time to wonder what was in it before Paul dropped the ring into his hand and held it out on his palm. The round cut diamond and the sapphires surrounding it sparkled in the sunlight, winking on his palm like planets in the nighttime sky.
 

Josie’s breath caught.
 

I’m so not a romantic, but I so love this man.
 

When she didn’t speak, Paul laughed. “For once, I’ve made Josie Garcia speechless. Put it on.”
 

“You put it on me,” she said, holding out her hand.
 

He laughed again and slipped it onto her finger. She held up her hand, admiring the ring from different angles, watching it shine and sparkle in the sunlight.
 

“Like it?”
 

She nodded, then put her hands on either side of his face and pulled him in for a long kiss.

“I know you said you didn’t need an engagement ring, but I wanted you to have one. It’s a symbol of how I feel about you, like you’re my sun, the center of my universe. You’re the diamond to my sapphires. I want to be near you, surrounding you, all the time.”
 

As the beach sailed by underneath them and the cool ocean air swirled around them, they kissed again.
 

This is what it’s all about. This moment right here.
 

“Wow, Josie, you’re here first,” Benjamin tipped his hat at her as she slid onto her stool at the usual table at Rowdy’s. “One of each?”
 

When he sauntered off to fetch the drinks, she realized she was holding onto another secret. She tried to think of how to avoid talking to the girls about her marriage all together. Not that she didn’t want to tell them Paul moved out. She simply wasn’t ready to tell them just yet. They’d be so disappointed that their Marriage Intervention hadn’t worked. By not telling them, she was actually protecting their feelings. This wasn’t about her. Benjamin returned with a water and a bowl of green olives for Summer and a Guinness for Delaney. He set Josie’s vodka cranberry on the table in front of her, and when she downed it in one gulp he held up two fingers and raised his eyebrows. She nodded, and he returned a few seconds later with number two.
 

Summer came in next, but she was on the phone and didn’t even make eye contact with Josie when she sat down. She was speaking pretty quietly and Josie sensed this wasn’t the conversation on which to eavesdrop. To give Summer some privacy, she took a bathroom break. As she walked through the bar on her way back to the table, she noticed that Summer’s pregnancy was starting to show. Not just the tiny bump where you weren’t sure whether she was pregnant or just slightly overweight, but the mini-watermelon shaped bulge that left no question a baby was growing in there.
 

Josie smiled to herself, but felt the smile slide off her face when she saw the expression on Summer’s. She was pale, and she was biting her bottom lip, which was always a sign of worry. Josie quickened her pace, and was reaching for Summer’s arm when Delaney came through Rowdy’s front door, practically dancing.
 

Summer and Josie had enough time to exchange a quick glance, during which Summer gave Josie a tiny “don’t worry about me” head shake. The moment passed quickly, swallowed up by Delaney’s excitement. She giggled maniacally, holding her left hand up, wiggling her fingers.
 

“He did it! It happened! He proposed! I said yes! We’re getting married!”
 

Josie noticed Summer take a deep breath and visibly shake off whatever was bothering her, and she followed suit. They stood up to hug Delaney, shouting congratulations and signaling for champagne.
 

“So he says, ‘I know you saw the brochure in the junk drawer,’ and I just start laughing,” Delaney said, her eyes glowing with excitement. “And I say, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’”
 

“Then we’re both just laughing, and he takes my face in his hands and he says, ‘I love you, Delaney Collins.’”
 

Delaney started to giggle-cry and Summer handed her a bar napkin.
 

“Of course I said, ‘I love you, too, Jake Rhoades the Dreamy,’ and then we’re both laughing again.”
 

“And then?” Josie prompted. “Did he get down on one knee or anything?”
 

“No!” Delaney said. “Then he walked away! It was the strangest thing. He just left me standing there in the kitchen!”
 

“So … did he actually propose, or not?” Summer wanted to know.
 

Delaney laughed.
 

“Not that day. I was flummoxed. Seriously. But he did today. Right before I came here. He showed up at Dr. Rick’s office, they’re friends, you know? And I think she’s known it was coming all day. She’s been grinning like the Cheshire Cat or the cat who ate the canary or whomever. Anyway, he’s waiting by the car when I come out, and he’s holding a bouquet of tiger lilies, just like he gave me after our first date. It was so cute, you guys. He looked almost sheepish. And he held out the ring, no box, no nothing, just the ring, and he said, ‘Delaney Collins, I’d be honored if you’d be my wife. Will you marry me?’”
 

Summer and Josie responded with appropriate “Awwww” and “Ohhhh” sounds, and Delaney stretched her arm across the table so they could admire the ring. Again.

The solitaire diamond shone, and the image began to waver when Josie’s eyes filled. A fat tear dropped onto her arm, and Summer handed her a bar napkin, too.
 

“Our Delaney’s growing up,” she said, blowing her nose.
 

Josie nodded, “We’re so happy for you, Dee.”
 

“Are you actually crying?” Delaney said. “Josie Garcia is crying over an engagement? This deserves a toast of its own.”

Delaney raised her glass, but before she could speak, Josie said, “To Delaney and Jake, and a long, happy marriage.”
 

***

How was it possible to feel so sad—no, make that devastated—and so happy at the same time?