The New Husband Read Online Free PDF Page A

watched TV. As she consoled her shattered children, Nina bristled at how unfair life could be—how cold, cruel, and brutally unfair.
    Then she saw a truck coming down her driveway and for a second did a double take, because it was the same make and model as the oneGlen drove. A moment later, she noticed Daisy’s glorious head sticking out the passenger’s side window, tongue flapping in the breeze. The car came to a stop and out stepped Simon Fitch.
    It was not the first time Nina had met Simon. That encounter had taken place five school grades ago, when Simon was one of three teacher representatives assigned to help Nina get a local D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program off the ground. They’d had a few pleasant conversations during that time, worked well together as she remembered, but she hadn’t seen him in years. Connor didn’t have Mr. Fitch for social studies when he attended Seabury Middle School, and Maggie, being in seventh grade, wouldn’t have him for a teacher until next year.
    Nina didn’t even remember what he looked like until he exited the car, letting Daisy out his door and into the arms of her deeply relieved family. Simon had brown hair cut short, kind eyes, and a little dimpled chin that made his boyish face ruggedly handsome.
    â€œFound her wandering along the side of the road on Whipple Street,” Simon said. “My guess is she’d been in the woods.”
    There were licks galore, kisses, and laughs, and Nina felt a nest of burrs and twigs tangled in Daisy’s thick fur.
    â€œLucky she came out when she did or I might have missed her as I was driving by. Glad you had her tagged.”
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    â€œAND THAT was how our relationship started,” Nina said after she finished recounting for Dr. Wilcox the day that Daisy had inadvertently brought them together.
    â€œWhat was your first date like?”
    Nina smiled at the memory. “Well, it wasn’t a date, but our first chance to spend time together was at my place. Simon remembered me, not only from the school program we worked on together, but because of Glen, because we’d been in the news. Anyway, I offered to have him join us for dinner, trying to think of something I could do as a thank-you for finding Daisy. I knew he wouldn’t accept money. Hedeclined my invitation, but sweetly said given what I’d been through I could probably use someone to cook for me. He told me he’d bring something by the next day because he was making his best dish for some school potluck thing and he’d make extra for us.
    â€œI didn’t really think I’d see him, but the next night he showed up with a baking dish of eggplant rollatine, which just so happens to be my favorite meal. It’s my comfort food. My nonni—that’s my grandmother—used to make it for me whenever I went to visit, and now I make it for my kids. They love it as much as I do. He showed up at dinnertime so I asked if he wanted to eat with us, and invited him in. That time he said yes.”
    â€œDid you think Simon was interested in you romantically?” Dr. Wilcox asked.
    â€œMaybe. I wasn’t really paying attention. I remember it felt strangely intimate to have him there, a bit unsettling, but I didn’t think of it as a date. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever date again after what Glen did to me—to us.”
    Dr. Wilcox glanced at her watch as though she were instinctively aware of how much time had passed.
    â€œI’m afraid that part of the story will have to wait until next time,” she said. “Our hour’s up.”

 
CHAPTER 5
    I hate him. I absolutely, positively hate him.
    Maybe, if after a year or something, Mom had wanted to go out on a date, sure, fine, go do it. But this was a real relationship. So yeah, my dislike of Simon was pretty much instant, and also justified. I told this to Mom a bunch of times of course, but she’d say