The Men I Didn't Marry (29 page)
Holding hands, we run back to Pier 60 in what must be record time. When we get there, Eric is lying on the floor, with a crowd gathered and a beautiful woman practically lying on top of him. Bellini.
Tom rushes over and kneels beside his best friend Eric, whose eyes are wide open. He looks fine and happy. I kneel next to my best friend, who looks even happier.
“Everything’s under control,” Bellini says looking up from her position hovered over Eric. She turns back to her patient and presses her lips against his, then turns away, presses, turns away, presses.
“What are you doing?” asks Dr. Tom.
“Eric was choking, so first I did the Heimlich,” explains Bellini calmly. “And once he was okay, I laid him down to do some mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”
“Good work on the Heimlich, but I’m not sure you need to do mouth-to-mouth,” says Tom, gently pulling Bellini back.
Grinning, Eric half sits up and reaches for Bellini—his new medical practitioner of choice. “She definitely needs to do that. I’ve never felt better in my life.”
Tom laughs and we all stand up. “Come on, Eric, give me five minutes to check you out. Then you and Bellini can get back to playing doctor.”
The two men walk away and Bellini and I look cheerfully after them.
“You better watch out. Eric’s a pain in the neck,” I say fondly. “Demanding and self-centered.”
“Also good-looking, rich, and a great kisser.”
“True, but he’s arrogant.”
“Boldly confident,” parries Bellini.
“Never available.”
“Not the clingy type who gets on your nerves.”
I laugh. “I give up. You two are a perfect match.”
Bellini gives me a hug. “You don’t mind if I take your old boyfriend?”
“Of course not. I’m ready for a new one.”
I look up and see Tom Shepard, warm-hearted, supportive, and sexy, walking toward me. His head is slightly down, and I notice him slide off his old wedding ring, hold it in his palm for a moment, and then discreetly tuck it into his pocket.
“Any lingering regrets about all the men you didn’t marry?” Bellini asks me, watching Eric as he heads her way.
I shake my head. “I’ve finally realized you can’t go back. All you can do is move forward.”
Tom comes up next to me. I think for a moment about how much fun we’ve had tonight and all we still have to discover about each other.
I can’t begin to guess what the future will be. Maybe twenty years from now, I’ll look back and remember him affectionately as a man I didn’t marry. Maybe I won’t think of him at all. Or maybe I’ll be waking up next to him in bed every morning, blissfully content.
Tom holds out a hand to me. “May I have the first dance?” he asks.
“Of course,” I say. I smile to myself, realizing that if you let yourself, you really do learn from the past. A few short months ago, I would have hemmed and hawed and made excuses about how I have two left feet. But now I just add, “Though maybe we should get our real shoes back first.”
“Absolutely not,” says Bellini, the arbiter of the au courant, as Eric reaches for her hand. “Ballgowns and bowling shoes. I love it. You two could be starting a whole new trend.”
We all laugh and I slip into Tom’s arms to glide across the dance floor. A trend? Probably not. But with any luck, we’ll start something a little longer lasting.
Between them, JANICE KAPLAN and LYNN SCHNURNBERGER have lived in three countries, raised three children, and published nine books— including the bestselling novels
Mine Are Spectacular!
and
The Botox Diaries
. They’ve produced hundreds of hours of network television shows and written articles for just about every women’s magazine in America. Both have appeared regularly on television shows including
The Oprah
Winfrey Show, Good Morning America,
and
Today
. Each is happily married and living in New York. Visit their website:
www.janiceandlynn.com
Also by Janice Kaplan and Lynn Shnurnberger
MINE ARE SPECTACULAR!
THE BOTOX DIARIES
The Men I Didn’t Marry
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
are the products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
2007 Ballantine Books Trade Paperback Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Janice Kaplan & Lynn Schnurnberger
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random
House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kaplan, Janice.
The men I didn’t marry: a novel / Janice Kaplan & Lynn Schnurnberger.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Divorced mothers—Fiction. 2. Middle-aged women—Fiction. 3. Upper class—
Fiction. 4. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. 5. Suburban life—Fiction. I. Schnurnberger,
Lynn Edelman. II. Title.
PS3561.A5593M46 2006
813’.54—dc22
2005057089
eISBN: 978-0-307-41725-1
v3.0