Diamonds are for Sharing: Her Valentine Blind Date / Tipping the Waitress with Diamonds / The Bridesmaid and the Billionaire

He’d made life with him impossible and had pretty much killed the love she’d once had for him. When she thought about it now she couldn’t believe she’d stayed as long as she had. What had kept her with him once she’d known he was getting more and more irrational? The fear of admitting failure, she supposed.

“So you’re getting a real estate license?” he noted, interested that she would have chosen a field so close to his. “Why? Residential real estate is dead as the proverbial doornail in most areas right now.”

“I know. But real estate always comes back. And I want to be ready when that happens.”

He nodded, glad for the evidence that she was an optimist. He liked that about her.

She smiled at him. “In the meantime, I don’t mind working as a waitress. It’s honest work and I can make a decent living as long as I only have myself to take care of.”

Jamie chose that moment to begin happily making motorboat noises. They both laughed.

“It doesn’t sound like he’s falling asleep,” Max said.

“Not yet,” she replied. “It takes a while sometimes.”

“Let me take my turn,” he said, reaching for the baby. “You sit down and tell me about your marriage,” he said.

She gazed into his eyes. “Why do you want to know?” she wondered.

He touched her cheek with the palm of his hand. “Because I care about you,” he said simply. And as he said the words, he knew it was true. He’d never known a woman like Cari before, never had a relationship like this. He liked her. He wanted to talk to her. He wanted to know more about her. That had never happened with a woman before. But it felt right.

“Sit. And talk.” He began to pace with Jamie cuddled nicely in his arms.

She sat. She usually hated to talk about the past. But tonight the words just started to flow out.

“I knew Brian for years. All through high school. I had no excuse.” She sighed. Wasn’t that the truth? It was amazing how one could delude oneself. “I knew what he was like. But I had the young girl’s syndrome, thinking love would conquer all, marriage would change him, I would change him, my love would show him the way.”

“Change him how?” Max asked.

“Change him from being a jerk, I suppose,” she said with a short laugh. “Change him into a decent person and a good husband and father. It didn’t happen, of course.”

“It hardly ever does,” he agreed.

She nodded. “Living with Brian was like living with a human geyser. You never knew what might set him off, but you knew he was going to blow. And it was over something different every time.”

Max’s tone was tense. “Was he violent with you?”

She hesitated. What was the point of going over all that? “Only a little.”

She could see the veins in Max’s neck cord and she hurried to add, “I knew where it all stemmed from. His father was an alcoholic and he had a very rough childhood. You always think that love and goodness will heal things like that. And they so seldom do. It’s just not enough to overcome the damage that sort of childhood does.”

It was funny. She’d never told anyone, even Mara, all these details. So why was she telling Max? Of all the people in the world, he was probably the one who least needed to know these things about her. But it was such a relief to tell someone about it.