So Much for My Happy Ending by Kyra Davis Page B

couple—the dirt!”
    â€œJackie’s a hottie. Dark, long brown hair. She’s kind of on the tiny side but she’s toned, you know, one of those chicks with definition in her abs and shit.” He took another bite of sandwich and I waited impatiently for him to continue. “She’s a bit of a wild woman,” he finally added, “and not the easiest gal to get along with. I’ve always made it a point not to get too involved in her love life.” He met my eyes and then slumped slightly when he realized that I was not going to just let the subject drop. “Okay this is what I know. I was Tad’s trainer for a while, that’s how we met. When he got a load of Jackie he befriended me in order to get to her.”
    I shook my head impatiently. “Tad wouldn’t do that. He’s insanely ethical.”
    Jeremiah lifted his eyebrows as a silent indicator that he wasn’t buying it. “It doesn’t matter why we started hanging out. What matters is that we did and it turned out that we have a lot in common.”
    I pressed my fingers to my lips in order to keep myself from pointing out that apart from male genitalia, Jeremiah and Tad had nothing in common whatsoever. But it hardly seemed a point worth arguing.
    â€œSo he and Jackie hooked up and Tad and I became buds. When things didn’t work out for them, Jackie moved out and Tad fell off the face of the earth. That’s what I know.” Jeremiah took a large bite out of his sandwich, oblivious to the fact that my heart had stopped beating.
    â€œDid you say—” I stopped myself, not wanting to give away that I was so ignorant about the romantic history of the man I had agreed to marry. How could he have not told me that he had lived with someone before? Wasn’t that one of the things couples were supposed to share with one another? I didn’t need him to confess to the details of his first sexual experience, but to not tell me that he had lived with Jackie…
    â€œYo, you all right?” I refocused my eyes to see Jeremiah staring at me from over his sandwich.
    â€œFine,” I said weakly. I smoothed my hands over my cotton-Lycra black skirt as if I expected to find a wrinkle.
    Jeremiah took one last bite and then unfolded his glasses once more, and without putting them on gazed into their lenses as if the UV protective glass doubled as a crystal ball. “We should all get together one of these days.” His words came out a little too slowly. “I haven’t seen Tad for a while. I’d like to catch up.”
    A simmering anger was beginning to melt away my shock. “Oh, I definitely think that’s a good idea. How about you drive me home tonight? Maybe we can surprise him.”

SEVEN
    I t was eight o’clock when Jeremiah walked me to my door. He openly admired the exterior of our house as I fished for my keys. It wasn’t all that impressive, but it was a house and that put it a step above the majority of the other San Francisco residences.
    â€œTad knows the owner—he’s giving us a deal on the rent.” I spoke in a voice that was barely above a whisper. I didn’t want Tad to hear us. I wanted to spring Jeremiah on him the same way his former living situation with Jackie had been sprung on me.
    I finally found my keys, and flung open the door. “Hi, honey, I’m home,” I announced. I could hear the notes of a commercial jingle coming from the living room.
    â€œGoddess, I’ve been wondering when you’d show up.” Tad entered the foyer carrying two glasses of wine. He stopped short when he saw Jeremiah. I’m not sure what I expected, but I didn’t expect him to look as if a ten-pound dumbbell had been dropped on his foot. Despite my anger I felt myself start to reach out to him, but then as quickly as it had come his expression of pain disappeared, washed away by something that looked like dull