"Yep. That's divorce," he repeated.
"It was like he decided that things were over, and I was in so much shock that he'd had papers drawn up that I just sort of...signed them?"
"What?" he said in surprise. "You didn't have a lawyer look over it or anything?"
Grace shook her head, and Trent asked, "Is that even legal?"
"Dunno," she said with a helpless shrug. "I don't think it matters now. He got everything. The car, the dog."
"That's rough," he commiserated. "Sounds like he shanghaied you. And he took your dog? That's low."
Grace nodded along. It was rough. She missed her dog. She thought that at least if she'd lost everything else—her marriage, her baby, her home—she would at least have gotten to keep her dog. But apparently, Aaron had the same thought, and he'd had it a lot quicker than Grace did.
"My wife left almost two years ago," Trent shared as they walked through the mid-morning sunlight. "Right after we had our son. I don't know if Maisie mentioned it, but I had started dating my last girlfriend when I was fourteen years old."
Grace's eyes went wide. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "You were legit high-school sweethearts? That's so crazy. I feel like you never hear about anyone our age sticking it out that long with the same person they met in school. Not even college!"
"Yeah, we got married when we were still teenagers," he said, sounding strangely proud of it. "Her parents had to sign for it and everything."
"Oh my gosh! I didn't know people actually did that!" she said, feeling like his love story with his wife was something that belonged in a teen drama. "So, wait, have you ever dated anyone else?"
"Nope, and I didn't want to."
"Weren't you scared to marry her then?" she asked, genuinely wanting to know the answer. She loved Aaron with all of her heart when they got married, but she was still mortified by the thought that 'this was it' and she would never have any of those little firsts every again.
The first moment you realize you like somebody.
The first kiss.
The first I love you.
She couldn't imagine never having dated anyone except for Aaron and then deciding to marry him.
"I guess I should have been scared," he chuckled. "But she was all I'd ever known, so, no, not really. I knew what to expect from her. Back then, I did, anyway."
"I would be scared to get married so young. I got married twenty-four, and I thought that was young."
"Why would you have been scared?" he asked.
"I don't know. I guess...put it this way. Are you the same person you were when you were eighteen?"
Trent thought about it. "No," he said.
"Neither am I," she agreed. "So, what happens if you keep changing, but you end up growing apart instead of together?"
The hazel-eyed man nodded along. "Yeah, I guess so, but that didn't bother me. We'd already had four years together in the prime years of teenage growth. If something was going to go wrong, it would have happened already. Even at the end, I never would have guessed we would have grown apart. I didn't feel her change. I didn't see it coming, you know?"
"So, what happened?"
He let out an amused sigh and admitted, "She found someone else to grow with, I guess."
"I'm sorry," she sympathized.
Trent didn't respond right away. He looked far off into the distance; his eyes glazed over in thought as they walked together. Suddenly, he made a clicking noise with his jaw and said, "Yeah, well, so am I. But, hey, that's life."
"I'm sorry if this comes off rude or insensitive or whatever, but, like, how do you even begin to start over when you've been with someone for that long? Most people are in their thirties before they've been with someone that long."
"That is the question, isn't it?" he smirked. "I have no idea, so I've never tried. Besides, it's kind of hard to date when you have a two-year-old."
"You don't have a nanny?"
Trent tilted his head from side to side. "I do, but I don't like to leave him for too long. And anyway, it's a lot to ask someone."
To Grace's surprise, she and Trent had found plenty to talk about on their walk. Before she knew it, two hours had gone by, and the pair had wandered deep into the suburbs. She secretly hoped that Trent had been keeping track of which turns they had been taking, otherwise she would never know how to get back to Bill and Maisie's.
Grace gestured ahead to a food truck that had been parked outside the neighborhoods, and suddenly, she knew exactly where they were. "You hungry?" she asked.
"I could eat."
"They do awesome tacos," she raved. "I've had lunch here every day for the last two weeks. And clearly developed a horrible, fattening addiction."
Trent looked her up and down, then said, "You look good to me."
She smiled and blushed at the comment, then made her way up to the counter. "Four of ma's tacos, please," she requested, then turned to Trent and said, "You like spice?"
"Not especially," he winced.
"No spice on any of them, thanks!" she said.
They chatted about Grace's time as a chef and Trent ask her what her favorite meals were to cook—boeuf Bourguignon, chocolate croissants, peach tarts, and drunk pork tacos with apple jalapeno salsa, respectively, until their food was ready.
They grabbed the tacos, complimentary chips, and lime-drenched guacamole and took it over to one of the picnic tables by the truck to eat.
"So, what about you?" Trent asked, starting his question as though they had been in mid-conversation.
"What about me?" she repeated with a smile. "Are you asking about my breakup story?"
"I showed you mine," he winked before rolling his taco up in his hand and going for a first bite. "You said you were together since you were twenty-four. How old are you now?"
"I'm twenty-seven. So, we got together at twenty-three and had a good four years before it all fell apart."
"Cheater?" he asked, mouth full.
"Nope," she said, and he instinctively raised his eyebrows. "Are you surprised by this?"
"It's usually infidelity," he shrugged. "In fact, I can't even guess what else drives people away, besides boredom, maybe? Or abuse?"
"We got in a car accident," she said, feeling herself tense up even saying the words out loud. It was like just talking about it had conjured up old feelings that made her body cascade with stress.
"And he got a brain injury and left you?" he said.
Grace laughed, but her tone was somber as she said, "No. But he had a lot of guilt about it, I think."
"You don't break up with someone for that," he said lightly. "I do believe the resolution to that is called 'apologizing'"
"Yeah, well, it's a complicated thing."
Trent nodded, but she could tell from his expression that he didn't understand. In three bites, he'd managed to devour one of the tacos. He was still chewing but pointed down at the taco with his finger before giving a joyous thumbs up.