“Well, hello! What’s your name? Iloveyour hair!” She ducked into a crouch and folded her hands over her knees, her black hair whipping above her head until it settled in a mess around her shoulders.
James smiled around the finger stuck in his mouth, which I plucked out, but he stuck it right back in. “Don’t eat your fingers, son,” I said, but his bright hazel eyes were stuck on the kind woman. I half expected him to flirt or something.
“Would you like to see inside? Maybe you could pick out your favorite room.”
He nodded and dropped his finger. Excited feet chased Shannon inside, and I followed slowly after.
The house was a lot more open than the photos suggested, which was a change. Most of the time a zoomed-out photo turned out to be a room fit to be a walk-in closet.
The yard was where it was at. It had good variety. I wasn’t a fan of the shrub-made fence, but I’d fix that when I had some time and put in a real fence.
We spent long enough in the house that it almost felt like home. I hadn’t expected to settle on another one already, but the first one fell through, and James had already claimed the bedroom across from the master as his. When he asked what we would do with the other room, I didn’t have an answer for him.
“That can be Mommy’s and Duke’s.”
James clung to the dinosaur and talked him through how to use the bathroom, the sink, and what he and the toy would do in their new bedroom. Something like that should have made me happy, but my heart wrenched at the thought of him realizing that this wouldn’t be a home for all of us. I hadn’t thought about facing that reality with him again.
I put an offer in, but this time the owner accepted it before we left. I filled out what I needed to and rushed through the paperwork when I realized James had to be at daycare soon. Aside from dishing out money, I had to schedule an inspection and appraisal, but the real estate agent said she’d send me a few recommendations. Of course, that had a deadline, too. On top of everything else in my life.
When I dropped James off, he was halfway into a nap. Darlene had told his teacher I would be dropping him off late, so they asked me to fill out the paperwork with updated information.
When I left the daycare, I realized Darlene would need the car seat. I could leave it on the porch, so I headed to the house. The driveway was empty, and I really didn’t want to walk up to that porch. It just felt... uncomfortable. Like I was barging in on private property despite being the one paying the mortgage. Sitting in the car for a while, I finally got out, unbuckled the car seat, and left it by the garage.
As I pulled out, a flash of green caught my eye near the floor of the back seat. I frowned. James had forgotten Rawr! in his failed efforts to stay awake. The mailbox was closer than the garage, so I stepped out of the car and stuffed it inside on top of the mail. I pulled the crumpled receipt from breakfast out of my back pocket and clicked the pen I had in my front shirt. I scribbled a note to James, stuck it in with the dinosaur, then climbed back into my truck.
I left the neighborhood by going my usual route, or what used to be my usual route. I used to like looking at the yard around the corner. They worked with another landscaper whose work made me wish I’d worked for him. He was pristine. The stone walkway had a clean cut, and he must maintain it regularly because I rarely, if ever, saw a blade above the rock.
I did a double take in the driveway next door when I noticed a familiar white Mazda. I threw the car in reverse, backed up a house, then put the car in park. I tried to remember who lived here but couldn’t think of a single soul. ThatwasDarlene’s car, wasn’t it? Not that Mazdas were uncommon around here, but I’d made out the silhouette of that weird lumpy car freshener she always had in there that smelled like crap and flowers. I’d barely seen it, but it was a shape so ingrained in my memory that I didn’t doubt it was hers.
She was supposed to be working. I’d almost convinced myself that she had to be until the door opened, and a flushed face with straight dark hair stepped out. It took everything in my power not to pull closer and even more effort not to storm down the sidewalk in a blaze.
She kissed some asshole on the lips and gave him a hug, and that man sure as hell wasn’t Duke the Fluke. My mouth hung open, and it almost felt like déjà vu in a way. It blew my mind that she could be doing this. Wasn’t she trying to move with that idiot? And she was cheating on him?
My mind spun with questions and all the hypocrisy of her preaching to me about what I was doing wrong. Was she cheating on me with Duke? It was an argument we’d had when we divorced. She’d found him not too long after it was official. Had she cheated on me?
For a moment, I thought about men parading around a house I was paying for and being around my son, and my chest filled with fire. This woman was not someone I wanted around my son. I’d let her tell me how horrible a father I was, and here she was lying to everyone’s face as if she had any respect for her family.
This would have to mean something in a custody battle, wouldn’t it? It would have to prove she wasn’t a stable parent, especially if Duke found out, and I could get him to admit whether she’d cheated on me with him.
I zoomed in with my phone and took photos. I barely caught one when her hand brushed through his peppered hair. They kissed, but I wasn’t sure whether my phone got it. He stood in his doorframe, watching her until she backed out of the driveway.
I skimmed the blurry photos, but I could definitely tell she was the one in them. Without much thought, I sent the photos to my lawyer, then wondered if it was a good idea. Did I want to do it this way? Was this necessary to protect my son?
Chapter 19
Christie
I hung up the phone with my mom feeling the worse for wear. I couldn’t tell her about Andrew, though it burned me not to. Thankfully, she didn’t think too much about asking why I was ready to come home so close to my original flight, or if she did, maybe she’d dig into the details when I made it back.
I had to admit that I felt more flattered than burdened when Ryan called to talk about his problems with Darlene yesterday. I wished I had more help for him, but what else could I say? I wasn’t married, and relationships weren’t really my thing. Still, it seemed to help when I suggested he have a real conversation with Darlene to figure out her plans rather than jumping to conclusions.
That had seemed like a no-brainer to me.
I’d planned to look at apartments, but now that I didn’t see myself needing to do that, I was free until tomorrow’s flight. I pushed back hair that fell over my eyes when I looked down at the lit screen on my bed. I picked it up and felt a flutter when I read the text from Ryan asking about dinner.
“When?” I responded.
“Now.”