Spicy (Palate #1) by Octavia Wildwood Page A

is,” Gavin agreed.  “I hate to say it but there’s not much substance there.”
    “But she has big tits.”
    He chuckled at that.  “Yes, she has big, fake tits.  Your point is what, exactly?”
    “Well that has to be the reason you keep her around, right?  Her looks…?”
    “Yes.”
    “I knew it!”  Normally I’d celebrate being right because I had a way of being annoyingly competitive.  But this time proving my point brought me no joy.  In fact, it only upset me.
    “Are you going to let me explain or are you going to keep interrogating me?” Gavin asked.
    “What is there to explain?” I grumbled.
    “Well let me talk and I’ll tell you,” he teased.  Then, just like that, the humor was gone.  Gavin became somber and began walking again, giving me no choice but to fall into step beside him.  “Did you know I was married once?” he asked.
    “What?  No…I had no idea.”  My head was spinning.  I never would have taken Gavin for the settling down type, but it seemed there was a time when he’d been exactly that.  A million questions were swirling around inside my head, but I forced myself to stay quiet and let him take the lead.
    “Her name was Jessica and we were high school sweethearts,” h e explained.  “We married after college, back before my career took off.  I was barely making minimum wage back then but it didn’t matter.  She was the only woman I’d ever loved.  Or at least I loved the person I thought she was,” he added.
    I recognized the rawness in his voice well.  It was the same bitterness that consumed me every time I spoke of Joel’s father.  I could sense that, like mine, Gavin’s wounds ran deep.
    “So I’m guessing things didn’t work out?” I ventured when he fell silent.
    “Nope, we got divorced before we even made it to our first wedding anniversary,” he replied. 
    “Oh.”
    “Call it stupid pride or…whatever, but when my career started taking off I just had this urge to flaunt my success.  So I hammed it up for the cameras at every opportunity.  I flirted with women like Trisha whenever cameras were around.  I schmoozed with beautiful celebrities.  In the beginning it was about spiting my ex-wife.  Now I guess it’s just become a bad habit.”
    “I…guess that makes sense?”   It seemed reasonable enough that a guy would do stupid things to save face after having his heart ripped out, but did it mean he was still in love with his ex?
    “I’m not sure how else to explain it,” Gavin said.  “It sounds stupid and petty and honestly, it was.  Sometimes I think divorce has a way of bringing pettiness and spite to the forefront.  I wanted to prove a point, I suppose, and make it clear that I was better off without her.”
    “Do you believe that?”
    It was Gavin’s turn to stop walking.  “You know,” he said contemplatively, “they say that ignorance is bliss.  I think that’s complete bullshit.  Ignorance is ignorance and bliss is bliss.  A relationship that’s built on lies is exactly that:  lies.  So yes, I’m better off without her.  I wish I’d never met her.  I wish I hadn’t invested so much time and energy into our relationship.  But at least now I know not to make the same mistake again.”
    “Isn’t that a bit dark?”
    “I don’t know, is it?”  Gavin looked at me like he knew my heart and my innermost secrets.  “Have you dated anyone since the college professor?”  It seemed he already had a good idea of what the answer would be.
    “No.”  The sun was almost completely down now, though the night air was still warm.  I studied the long shadows our bodies cast on the sidewalk intently.  “ I’ve been a little busy, you know, raising a kid .”
    “Then you’re not all that different than me.  Your love story turned sour it made you swear off relationships.  You can say you’ve been busy – and I don’t doubt that you have been – but that’s really what it comes down to,