“Well said, in this company. I promise to treat mine like a lady and have the most respect for her the next morning.” He winked at Zach.

Carlos and Curtis both narrowed their eyes at John in reaction to his comment about their sister, and Zach laughed. “I’m kidding. I’ve met her. She’s a very nice lady. We’ll have a nice day together.” He waved his hand. “See ya’ll later.”

“Funny guy,” Curtis told Zach.

“John—he’s harmless.”

A moment later Curtis was excusing himself and following a group of nurses out the door. Carlos shook his head as he watched his brother amuse the women with his charm.

“So, are you going to give it to me straight?” Zach scooted closer to the center of the booth. “You really don’t want a party, do you?”

“Oh, that’s fine. I could use a night out with the guys.”

Zach nodded. “So is everything set and ready for the wedding?”

“I think so. I’m not allowed too close to the bridal bible,” he scoffed. “But I think we have almost everything set.”

“Regan is so excited she can hardly see straight. She hasn’t entertained since Tyler was born.”

“Kids take a lot outta you.”

“They sure do. I wish I could help her out more with the house and Tyler, but I have so much work.”

“Work will always be there. Just stay under her radar. Pick your socks up off the floor. Load and unload the dishwasher. And never believe her when she just says the word fine.”

Zach gave him a slow nod. “I’m glad I have you to set me straight.”

“Well, I wish I would have had the knowledge up front.”

“Kathy’s lucky that you’ve been trained.”

Carlos reached for his wallet and settled up his part of the bill. He wasn’t comforted by the thought that being trained meant that he’d screwed up the first time. Had he flown under Madeline’s radar, maybe he wouldn’t be getting married for a second time, he’d still be married to Madeline.

Zach reached for his water. “You guys going to have kids too?”

Carlos shrugged. “She’s mentioned it. Her parents have mentioned it. I guess we’ll see what happens. What about you guys?” He quickly changed the subject.

Zach took a drink. “Oh, yeah. She wants them close together. So I suppose we’ll start trying when Tyler is about a year old. Does that sound about right?”

“Don’t ask me. My kids just kinda happened.”

“Yeah. Too much thought takes all the fun out of it.”

“I suppose.” Carlos looked at his watch. “Well, I should be heading out.”

“I’ll call you and let you know what the plans are.”

“Thanks.” He shook his brother-in-law’s hand and headed out of the diner.

Lunch hadn’t settled with Carlos. The food was fine—it was the whole conversation. No, he didn’t want a bachelor party. He didn’t need to go out and live up the single life one more night. He’d never been a fan of the single life. Curtis seemed to be the only person who needed to live on the wild side once in a while. Sooner or later, Carlos thought, his brother was going to get caught by something wild, and it would want to tame him. Wouldn’t he be in for a shock?

Things at home just hadn’t been right. They hadn’t been any different either, he realized. He was preoccupied. Kathy seemed distant. Even the kids seemed just tossed back and forth between them all.

He was used to it happening when it came to the kids at school. Once spring hit, no one could concentrate. But the fact that it was happening in his own home, with his wife to be, and himself, was throwing him off.

He just needed to relax. Everything would be just fine.

But even he couldn’t make himself believe his own lie.

The way Madeline looked at it, there was no time like the present. Her boss had offered her vacation time, and she thought she should use it wisely. There was never a good side to having cancer, unless your boss had gone through it and knew when you deserved to celebrate your remission.

Carlos’s wedding was in less than two weeks, and she really didn’t want to be there.

That wasn’t true. She did want to be there, but she didn’t want to be a guest.

She blew out a breath. At what point were her feelings for him going to go away? She deserved to watch him get married and be happy. He’d watched her marriage for years. Only truth was, she hadn’t been happy.

Madeline searched the travel website for the best deal. She was headed to Cancun, without Arianna, though maybe they’d take that trip some other time. For now, she just needed sun, and it needed to be as far away from Carlos Keller as possible.

Twenty minutes later, she had booked her flight and printed her itinerary. Now all she had to do was dig out her passport. She and Matt had gotten passports two years earlier. It was on a whim. They didn’t even have plans to go anywhere.

She opened her closet and found the firebox that held all her important papers. Inside were the birth certificates of her children, social security cards, and of course the unused passports of both her and Matt. She’d have to send him his.

Deeper into the box she found her marriage license to Matt. She took it out of the box and crinkled it into a ball. What a worthless piece of paper that was. She let out a growl of frustration and opened the ball of paper and flattened it out.

Further in the box, she found a manila envelope that contained the final documents from her marriage to Carlos.

She shook her head. What an unhappy box. Unused passports and forfeited marriage licenses. When she sat the metal box down on the floor to look in the envelope, she heard a clanking noise. She knelt down to take a look and noticed Carlos’s wedding band loose at the bottom of the box.

She fell to her knees on the carpet and took out the ring. It wasn’t fancy. A small, round, piece of gold was all he’d worn to symbolize their unity. She held it to her chest. She’d been twenty years old when she bought that piece of metal. Twenty years old, and she’d known what she wanted more than anything. No matter how angry they were at each other, they’d never taken their rings off until the day the papers had arrived saying their marriage was obsolete.

She slipped it on her middle finger. It was much too big. She wondered if he’d like to have it. Then again, maybe Eduardo or Christian would like it. She stood and walked to her dresser; atop of it stood a wooden jewelry cabinet. She opened it and took out a chain. She’d wear it around her neck and when she thought about it, or if someone asked about it, she would make her decision on who would get to keep it.