grace?” Christina asked.
“No, of course,” said Emma. The two women closed their eyes.
“Dear Lord, we thank You for this day, for the rain and the sun, this wonderful lunch, and for my friend, Emma, who is here today because of Your loving-kindness. Amen.”
Christina passed Emma the plate stacked with pita bread.
“So, tell me about Bo. Is he the one you hope to spend your winter season with?”
“Bo? Yeah, he’s my best friend. I think I’ve always known he’s the one.”
“How long have the two of you been going out?”
“We’ve been dating for over two years and it’s been wonderful. He’s just so exactly the opposite of me in all the right ways, and yet we’re compatible at the same time. I think we really complement one another.”
“Have you guys had the talk yet, about marriage I mean?”
Christina frowned. “Well, yes and no. I’d like nothing more because I’m ready, but Bo isn’t, and I wonder sometimes if he’ll ever be.”
“Uh-oh, is he one of those commitment-phobic men?”
“No, his case is a little different. Bo was married once before. Together, they had a little boy named Jason, and Bo was a very committed husband and father for those six years.”
“What happened?” Emma asked.
“She thought the grass would be greener somewhere else.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Yes, it is, but there’s more to it than that. When she divorced Bo, she took Jason back with her to Columbia. Bo drove back and forth for visitation, ninety minutes each way, and did everything he could to remain Jason’s father. Fast-forward two years later, she remarried and moved away to Los Angeles with her new husband, and took Jason with them.”
“Oh my.”
“It’s unbelievable,” Christina said, her emotions pierced. “He was the one who got Jason up in the morning, made his breakfast, and tucked him into bed with a story each night. When she decided to leave the marriage, she just severed Bo’s relationship with his son.”
“She can’t do that. He has visitation rights.”
“Yeah, but she has custody rights, and she chose to move Jason twenty-four hundred miles away. Bo was willing to do anything to stay Jason’s father, he even tried moving out there. But he couldn’t make life work in California, and she made it as difficult as possible for him to see Jason.”
“And now he’s gun-shy.”
“Can you blame him? I mean to lose your only son …” Christina’s voice faded into a sad sigh. “When we first started dating, he’d told me up front that he couldn’t go very fast, which was fine with me. He said it was like his heart had been frozen, then dropped to the bottom of the lake through a hole in the ice. That’s pretty cold.”
“Does he ever see Jason?”
“He flies out to California twice a year, stays in a hotel. And Jason comes back to South Carolina for a month each summer. He was just here in July. It’s so sad. There’s no way short visits and phone calls can replace how great they were together for six years. Bo told me Jason doesn’t remember much of when Bo lived in the house with him.”
“Sounds like he needed a good lawyer.”
Christina shrugged her shoulders.
“That’s the reason he doesn’t want to marry again. He wonders if he could survive me doing the same thing to him. Can you imagine losing a child that way?”
“Do you think he’ll come around?”
“I hope so. He said the whole experience ‘fried his wires.’ I’d like to think he’ll learn to trust me over time ’cause I would never do that to him. So I just pray.”
“That he’ll come around?”
“No,” Christina said. “That God will heal him. I only want what’s best for Bo.”
Christina’s love for Bo puzzled Emma. In Boston, Lara talked about men as if they were items for purchase in a mail-order love catalog. Emma didn’t know it until that moment when she heard Christina’s words and saw the caring expression on her face exactly why Lara’s
“No, of course,” said Emma. The two women closed their eyes.
“Dear Lord, we thank You for this day, for the rain and the sun, this wonderful lunch, and for my friend, Emma, who is here today because of Your loving-kindness. Amen.”
Christina passed Emma the plate stacked with pita bread.
“So, tell me about Bo. Is he the one you hope to spend your winter season with?”
“Bo? Yeah, he’s my best friend. I think I’ve always known he’s the one.”
“How long have the two of you been going out?”
“We’ve been dating for over two years and it’s been wonderful. He’s just so exactly the opposite of me in all the right ways, and yet we’re compatible at the same time. I think we really complement one another.”
“Have you guys had the talk yet, about marriage I mean?”
Christina frowned. “Well, yes and no. I’d like nothing more because I’m ready, but Bo isn’t, and I wonder sometimes if he’ll ever be.”
“Uh-oh, is he one of those commitment-phobic men?”
“No, his case is a little different. Bo was married once before. Together, they had a little boy named Jason, and Bo was a very committed husband and father for those six years.”
“What happened?” Emma asked.
“She thought the grass would be greener somewhere else.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Yes, it is, but there’s more to it than that. When she divorced Bo, she took Jason back with her to Columbia. Bo drove back and forth for visitation, ninety minutes each way, and did everything he could to remain Jason’s father. Fast-forward two years later, she remarried and moved away to Los Angeles with her new husband, and took Jason with them.”
“Oh my.”
“It’s unbelievable,” Christina said, her emotions pierced. “He was the one who got Jason up in the morning, made his breakfast, and tucked him into bed with a story each night. When she decided to leave the marriage, she just severed Bo’s relationship with his son.”
“She can’t do that. He has visitation rights.”
“Yeah, but she has custody rights, and she chose to move Jason twenty-four hundred miles away. Bo was willing to do anything to stay Jason’s father, he even tried moving out there. But he couldn’t make life work in California, and she made it as difficult as possible for him to see Jason.”
“And now he’s gun-shy.”
“Can you blame him? I mean to lose your only son …” Christina’s voice faded into a sad sigh. “When we first started dating, he’d told me up front that he couldn’t go very fast, which was fine with me. He said it was like his heart had been frozen, then dropped to the bottom of the lake through a hole in the ice. That’s pretty cold.”
“Does he ever see Jason?”
“He flies out to California twice a year, stays in a hotel. And Jason comes back to South Carolina for a month each summer. He was just here in July. It’s so sad. There’s no way short visits and phone calls can replace how great they were together for six years. Bo told me Jason doesn’t remember much of when Bo lived in the house with him.”
“Sounds like he needed a good lawyer.”
Christina shrugged her shoulders.
“That’s the reason he doesn’t want to marry again. He wonders if he could survive me doing the same thing to him. Can you imagine losing a child that way?”
“Do you think he’ll come around?”
“I hope so. He said the whole experience ‘fried his wires.’ I’d like to think he’ll learn to trust me over time ’cause I would never do that to him. So I just pray.”
“That he’ll come around?”
“No,” Christina said. “That God will heal him. I only want what’s best for Bo.”
Christina’s love for Bo puzzled Emma. In Boston, Lara talked about men as if they were items for purchase in a mail-order love catalog. Emma didn’t know it until that moment when she heard Christina’s words and saw the caring expression on her face exactly why Lara’s
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