Michael and Adam! This made Heath increasingly curious as to what they had to tell him.
He didn’t look at the menu, as he nearly always ordered the same entrée. The restaurant’s gnocchi was by far his favorite, and he didn’t see any reason to sample another dish. As soon as he was seated, the server arrived for their drink order.
“You might want a whiskey sour for this, Dad,” Michael suggested.
Heath frowned. He never drank anything heavier than wine for lunch. He shook his head and ordered a glass of the house red. His sons asked for a bottle of sauvignon blanc, as they had chosen the special of the day: octopus salad. Once their drinks were served and their luncheon orders placed, Heath looked across the table at his sons. He was proud of his boys and was grateful they’d maintained a solid relationship, despite the fact that Heath and their mother were no longer together.
“All right. Give it to me,” he said, bracing himself.
Both boys appeared stiff and uneasy, as they looked to each other. Adam nodded toward Michael as if to suggest his brother start.
“Dad,” Michael said, his dark brown eyes round and serious, “do you have any idea who Julia is?”
“You mean other than the woman I’m falling in love with?”
Again, his sons shared a look.
“Does the name Edward Jones, the pro golfer, mean anything to you?” Adam asked him.
A chill shot down Heath’s spine. “Edward is your mother’s husband,” he said cautiously not understanding how this had anything to do with Julia.
“Dad, Julia is Edward’s ex-wife.”
Shock rippled through him. Julia had been married to Edward Jones, the man his ex-wife had left him for. The man Lee had had an affair with, long before Heath was aware his wife wanted out of their marriage.
“I should have ordered that whiskey sour,” he murmured, as he struggled to absorb what his sons were telling him.
“How do you know Julia?” he asked. To the best of his knowledge, she had never met his sons.
Michael was the one to answer. “After their house sold, I helped Ed move his desk and some other keepsakes he wanted. Julia was there. I only got a glimpse of her, and from her reaction last night, she must not have seen me. If she did, she didn’t remember me. It doesn’t matter because I recognized her.”
“When you mentioned you were dating a woman named Julia, we didn’t make anything of it. I mean, Julia’s a common name. It wasn’t until Michael saw her last night that he connected the dots,” Adam said.
Yes, this information was a jolt. No denying it. But it wasn’t the end of the world. So Lee had married Julia’s ex. That was nearly six years ago now. It didn’t mean he couldn’t have a loving relationship with Julia.
“I’ll admit this came at me out of the blue,” Heath said. “I had no idea. What I don’t understand is your reaction to Julia. She did nothing wrong. Edward was the one who stepped out on her. She’s the innocent party in this.” He didn’t mention he was also the innocent party, despite his willingness to admit he contributed to Lee’s unhappiness.
“You don’t understand,” Adam said. “Before the divorce was final, Julia sent a series of nasty texts to Mom.”
Michael nodded. “Mom showed me what Julia wrote. She spewed hate on Mom and called her names you wouldn’t want me to repeat.”
Heath found this hard to believe. The Julia he knew would never resort to this kind of malicious behavior.
“Julia put Mom and Edward through hell. For one thing, she spitefully refused to sign the divorce papers. She did everything she could to make life miserable for Mom and Edward. Even when she knew he wanted the divorce, she refused to let him go and forced him to promise to wait six months.”
Heath remembered Julia mentioning she had done everything she could to keep her family intact.
“Did it ever enter your mind that Julia was fighting to save her marriage?”
“There was nothing to save,” Michael insisted.
“Dad,” Adam protested, “you need to seriously think about what she did. This woman you’re so hot for had our mother in tears with the things she said and did. Can you honestly say you’re comfortable associating with someone who does those sorts of things?”
“We have all done things we regret,” Heath countered. “Besides, this happened a number of years ago now. Emotions were running high—”
“It isn’t only Julia, Dad,” Michael said, cutting him off.