“You know that we’re just going to Shake Shack, right?” I say when Simone finally makes her appearance.

It took Simone almost forty-five minutes to get ready and Stuart and I have been sitting in the dining room with a deck of cards I finally scavenged from a drawer somewhere out of desperation. I’ve been teaching him how to play War, which is a simple enough game. I’m actually congratulating myself for teaching him how to count to ten while I’m at it. Perhaps this parenting thing won’t be so hard after all.

“There’s no excuse for not looking your best when stepping foot outside,” she says primly as she finally makes her appearance.

I have to admit, she does look sensational. She has on a light blue wrap dress that ends just below the knees. The hair that was piled on top of her head when I arrived is now down and curled at the ends. Her face practically glimmers in the light which shows off her large brown eyes and perfect smile.

“Are you two ready?”

“Yes!” we both say at the same time. I guess I’m not the only one whose had images of juicy hamburgers and salty fries taunting me for at least the past half hour.

Simone just laughs. “Okay then. Stuart, go and get RiRi’s leash and you can be in charge of walking her.”

He scrambles off his chair, all too eager to take on that responsibility.

“You look nice,” I point out, then focus on the white heels she has on. “You know it’s a couple of blocks at least?”

She just gives me a smug smile. “Why Mr. Bennett, I think you underestimate my ability to walk in heels.”

I twist my lips into a challenging smirk. She just meets me with one of her own.

Stuart comes flying back in with the leash, RiRi chasing his heels. He squats down to attach the leash then pops back up with a proud smile.

“Alright then, let’s go,” I say.

* * *

Stuart is ahead of us walking the dog that vacillates between scampering ahead of him, drawing out the extended leash, then running back to keep up with our nephew.

“He really does love that dog,” Simone says, watching him with a smile.

“Oh no you don’t,” I warn. “Just because I put out, doesn’t mean I’m that easy.”

She laughs then presses into my side, circling my right arm with hers. “Oh please, pretty please can we have a dog, Uncle Archer?” she pleads in a teasingly girlish voice.

A reluctant smile comes to my face and I shake my head in wry amusement. “You’re shameless,” I say, freeing my arm from her grasp and draping it over her shoulder. She smiles and slips her arm around my waist and we walk that way for a while in silence watching Stuart to make sure he doesn’t stray too far ahead of us.

“So how is it that a girl like you isn’t already taken?” I ask idly, hoping it doesn’t sound too obvious. I’m curious to know more about Josh and her, more importantly, how willing she would be to take him back.

“I do believe I am taken,” she replies, splaying her fingers before me to show off the simple gold band we agreed up on for this “marriage.”

I chuckle. “I mean, before the marriage. Would you have agreed to it if you were seeing someone?”

She stares ahead at Stuart and the tiny smirk disappears from her face. I wait, barely conscious of the breath that I’m holding. Her eyes fall to the ground before she answers. “The point is moot. I wasn’t with anyone at the time so I suppose that worked out for all of us.”

She squeezes into my side, and the air in my lungs eases out in a soft exhale.

“You don’t have to pretend you don’t know who Josh is, Archer,” she says.

I quickly look down at her. How the hell did she find out? She’s still staring ahead at Stuart and a small smile creeps across her face when she sees me staring in surprise. She squints up at me, wrinkling her nose.

“CoCo told me he said something to you about him at the party. I guess he went around telling everyone they weren’t allowed to even mention his name.” She rolls her eyes, but not without a fond smile. “He’s a great friend. It was definitely for the best.”

Once again I let the air seep out of my lungs slowly. This entire conversation is getting precarious. I should probably change the subject, but the possessive side of me wants to know more.

“He cheated, to answer your question,” she finally says. She twirls her hand in the air. “Cliché as hell, but there it is.”

One side of my mouth ticks up in a sympathetic smile, waiting for her to continue.

“Glory Michaels, who at least is now forever doomed to D-list blogger status. I suppose I have that to be grateful for. Cheating is a big no-no in the social media sphere. But Josh had the nerve to blame her,” she scoffs, exhaling a quick laugh. “Like she’d ever shown any interest in him before. Not that she gets a pass or anything. But he’s the one who should have known better. The worst part is it happened just a day or two before Kevin and Bette….”

She pauses, unable to complete that sentence. I can actually feel her body tense up and become more animated at the same time.

“Six years. Six years I wasted on that bastard. Everyone kept telling me it was too long without so much as an engagement ring. ‘You can do better, Simone.’ ‘Give him an ultimatum.’ The thing is, I didn’t want to be that woman, forcing him into something he obviously didn’t want. He kept making it sound modern and hip, like we were some cool couple that didn’t have to follow everyone else’s standards. Like we were together because we wanted to be together, not because of some silly ring or a piece of paper. I and bought it, hook, line and sinker. Like the idiot that I am.” She frowns as she looks ahead, unable to look me in the eye.

“Hey,” I say, stopping in place. Stuart isn’t too far ahead of us so I focus on her. She falters a bit, still keeping our original pace and I have to bring one arm around to keep her from teetering over. Frustrated grunts and grumbles fill the air as the pedestrian traffic detours angrily around us. I don’t care. I bring one hand up to her chin and lift her face so she’s forced to look me in the eye. “You are not an idiot. You’re kind and trusting and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Maybe just silly and cotton candy headed,” she says with a small teasing smile.

I chuckle and bring my lips to her forehead. “Sometimes,” I say against her skin, “but who doesn’t love cotton candy?”

“Mmm,” she hums as both of her arms come around my waist and she presses her body into mine.

I bring my hand up the back of her neck letting my fingers glide across the warmth of her skin. This just feels so. Damn. Perfect.

“We should probably get going before we scandalize all of New York.”

“They’ve seen worse,” I mumble, but pull away all the same, searching out my nephew to make sure he didn’t run into traffic during those few seconds that the world became just Simone and me.

He’s running in circles further up, letting a happily barking RiRi chase him. Something about that image is so fitting, like the third side of a triangle the three of us represent. Maybe a dog isn’t such a bad idea after all….

The two of us hurry along to catch up with him. As we walk, I let what Simone has just said marinate in my head. I feel like there’s something there that ties this all together so that it all makes sense, but I can’t put my finger on what it is.

I let it go. Josh is history and right now I’m more interested in eating hamburgers and french fries, heck maybe even having a milkshake. With my family.