"Dinner was delicious." Reba smiled and clinked her glass with his. The mood was significantly lighter than it has been when he first arrived and if she had to admit it, she'd say it had turned into a great evening.
"Was it because I was shirtless the whole time?" He winked and sipped his wine.
Reba took a sip of her wine, hoping he wouldn't notice the light blush that crept across her cheeks.
"Well, thanks." He added. "Maybe you'll be lucky enough to get another meal outta me one day."
"When you quit bein' so cheap." She quickly quipped, then bit her lip. She really didn't want to ruin the mood, but she relaxed when Brock just laughed.
"Touché."
She laughed too, leaning back in her chair. "Guess I'm on clean up then."
"No, no. Leave it for now, let's just relax."
Reba cocked her eyebrow. "You should really be gettin' home. It's gettin' late."
"Tut, tut, Red. I told you already. I ain't leavin' til we talk about what happened today."
Suddenly the air was thick. He was serious? "Brock, c'mon now. It's been a long day for both of us."
"Not budgin'. Where am I gonna go? Back to the condo? We've had a bottle and a half of wine Reba."
"So, call a cab."
"Reba." He leaned in an gave her a smile, a knee weakening smile.
"Fine, fine! You can stay but no funny business and no more therapy talk. Got it?"
He held his hands up in defeat. "For tonight, I'll let it go. But that's it. Tomorrow we're talkin'. Properly and with no interruptions."
"Thank you." She mentally patted herself on the back, maybe she could just avoid him after tomorrow and then she wouldn't have to talk about it at all? Doubtful.
"Say, is my shirt done?" He said bringing her out of her own thoughts.
"Oh, yeah, should be. I'll get it."
He held up his hand as he stood. "I got it, you relax." He smiled and walked out the back door.
Reba tidied the plates and set them in the sink, she could leave that until tomorrow. She grabbed the remaining bottle of wine and took it into the living room along with her and Brocks glasses then she plopped on the couch and tucked her feet under her butt.
Brock walked through the back door, closing and locking it behind himself. He chuckled when he saw that Reba had cleaned. That woman couldn't help herself. Before making his way into the living room he took the neck of his shirt and pulled it up to his nose, inhaling in the sweet scent. He couldn't describe it but if he had to it would be a vanilla hug. He shook his head with a laugh and walked into the living room, surprised to see Reba was still downstairs.
"Hey."
She craned her head back and smiled. "Shirt come out okay?"
"Perfect."
"Great."
A heavy silence fell between them so Brock took it as his cue to take a seat beside her on the couch and grab his wine. He was trying to buy himself some time. He knew he wasn't allowed to bring up today's events. She needed time to process everything, he knew that. But, that was the problem. He didn't want her to be analyzing and processing what had happened, he wanted her to just talk to him and throw caution to the wind, the same way she had done in therapy when Dr. Baker had told her to go on. He ran his hand through his hair and took another sip of wine, settling into the couch.
Reba watched Brock out of the corner of her eye, she watched every move he made. She shifted her weight to face him and licked her lips. "You can stay in Kyra's room if you want. All the kids are out tonight." Against her better judgement she could give him a bed. She told herself it was only because he refused to leave her house. She knew that if she had wanted him to go, he would've. Maybe this was just her wanting him to do something that he didn't do almost four years ago? Maybe this was what she had been waiting for all this time so she could finally move on and get over him.
"That would be great."
He smiled that million dollar smile at her and she felt her insides tighten. Why did everything have to be so easy with him? Why did they have to get along so well and fight so well? She guessed twenty years of marriage would do that to a couple.
Reba finished her wine and stood from the couch. "I'm off to bed. It been a long day."
She watched her ex-husband stand, he set his wine glass down then faced her, stepping in close she could smell his cologne and it was heady. She took a deep breath, unsure of what he was doing. He smiled again and then pulled her into a tight hug, almost lifting her off the ground. She wrapped her arms around him in return, not too sure what she had done to deserve this, but she revelled in it.
"Thank you." He whispered into her hair, inhaling her scent.
"Oh." She smiled and rested her head against his chest, enjoying the feeling of his arms being wrapped around her.
She pulled away slowly and smiled up at him. They didn't need any words. They were two friends sharing an innocent moment. She took a step back, but didn't move out of his embrace. She contemplated for a moment then moved back in again and slowly pushed herself up on her tip toes and kissed him gently on the side of the cheek. Close enough to his mouth that he would know it was more than a friendly kiss but far enough away that he would know not to push it.
"Good night, Brock." She whispered as she stepped back and turned to walk up the stairs.
Brock stood in complete shock, all he could do was watch the fading figure before him as his ex-wife and the love of his life descended the stairs and disappeared.
Reba leaned heavily against her bedroom door after she closed it. What had she done? She had practically thrown gasoline onto the flames between her and Brock. How could she go back now? What was she going to do? She sighed heavily and held her hand to her forehead making her way to her bed. She slipped out of her jeans and tossed them aside, deciding she would deal with all the mess in the morning. Reba threw her blouse and bra into the pile and slipped into a cotton nightgown, throwing her hair into a bun before she wandered into her bathroom to wash her face.
She climbed under the covers, thankful for their weight, wishing she could stop her mind from running wild. She sat up reading for a while hoping it would clear her thoughts, but all she could think of was Brock. Brock who was probably fast asleep in their daughters room by now.
She tried to force herself to read the words on the pages, which only resulted in her focusing on trying to focus and still not paying attention to the words on the pages. She closed the cover and set the book down on her lap. She was tired of this. Her mind was too cluttered. At this rate she'd never fall asleep.
She sighed, that same damn question Dr. Baker had asked them was looming in her mind. Now even heavier than before. She wanted to know. She needed to know what he would have said. Was he lying in Kyra's bed wondering the same thing? She needed to talk to Brock about it. She flicked the covers back in exasperation and set her book on the nightstand. She needed to talk to Brock about it right now.
Setting her naked feet quietly down on the floor she tiptoed her way to her bedroom door and grabbed hold of the door handle. She exhaled. She turned it in her hand and pulled the door open, peaking out for a moment before stepping out into the hall. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw Brock appear at the end of the hall. It was too late to backtrack now.
Brock squinted down the hall. "Reba?"
"Hi." She licked her lips, her mouth was dry. "What are you doin' up?"
"Had to pee. You?"
"Oh, well," She fumbled for words, now that the opportunity to talk was here she wasn't so sure she could handle it.
"Well?" He chuckled.
"I- uh, actually I wanted to talk to you."
Brock raised his eyebrows, though he knew she couldn't see, the hall was dark and it was late. "You did?"
"Yeah, you wouldn't quit talkin' 'bout talkin' now I can't quit thinkin' 'bout talkin'" She mumbled like he was putting her out.
"Reba, I told you we can talk tomorrow."
"No, I wanna talk now." She rubbed her hand together, this wasn't going very well at all, she thought.
"Here? In the hall?"
She shrugged.
"Can I pee first?" He had no idea what to think, she was such a confusing woman.
"I guess so."
Brock nodded and took the few steps into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. Meanwhile Reba backed into her room and grabbed herself a pillow and a dressing gown before going back out to the hall, throwing her gown on and taking a seat leaning against the wall with her pillow behind her back.
She heard the toilet flush and she stretched her legs out, crossing them at the knee just as Brock came into her line of sight.
"Comfy?" He chuckled
"Not really, but it'll do."
Brock took his seat against the opposite wall, his legs stretched out beside Reba's, he gave her a smile. "So."
"So." She breathed.
"You wanted to talk?"
"Actually you wanted to talk."
"Well, yes I did. But you're the reason we're plopped down in the hall right now." He chuckled. Was she nervous?
Reba nodded, she didn't know how to bring it up, how to start this particular conversation, wishing she had a glass of wine in her hand she took a deep breath.
"I wanna talk about today."
Brock didn't say anything. Why wasn't he saying anything? She rubbed her hand on her bare thighs only now realizing the dressing gown she had worn wasn't a great idea.
"I want," She paused, this was a lot harder than she had expected it to be. "I want to know what you would've said." She mumbled. "If Barbra Jean hadn't walked in. Keepin' in mind you didn't know she was gonna ask you for a divorce and for all you knew things were gettin' better, not worse and that soon she may have asked you to move back home and we wouldn't even be in this situation because none of it would've mattered." She rambled on making no sense at all. It wasn't until Brock hand reached out and laid on her thigh that she stopped talking and took a breath, looking through the darkness she could feel his eyes on her.
"Reba, stop." He chuckled. "I always knew it would end in divorce so that wasn't even a forethought when Dr. Baker asked us if we still loved each other. All I was thinking about was what you would say.