Amanda wondered what she would even say if Snow did agree to see her.
The truth about the divorce had just seemed so complicated. Amanda wanted to move on with her life, and she already saw Nicole as her ex-wife. It had just been so much easier to call her that rather than explain the messy truth.
Even if Snow forgave her for that, Amanda truly had no excuse for not defending her. Yes, she struggled to focus on anything except the direct threat during fights, but that was completely on her. She should have overcome that shortcoming for Snow, and she didn’t.
Maybe it was better that Snow stayed away from her. Amanda didn’t deserve someone like Snow.
She blinked back a few tears and sank down to the ground with her back against a particularly large fir tree.
Amanda pulled her phone out and dialed Emily’s number. She needed to hear a friendly voice right now—the voice of someone who didn’t hate her.
“Hey, Amanda.”
“Emily.”
“What’s wrong?” Emily asked at once.
“It’s Snow. I—I messed everything up. She’s gone, Ems. She’s gone, and she’s not coming back.”
“Where are you? I’m coming to you.”
“I’m home, on the farm.”
“Sit tight. I’ll be there in twenty minutes with ice cream.”
Amanda smiled at that. “Thanks, Ems. I’ll see you soon.”
Emily was true to her word. She rang the bell twenty minutes later, holding a shopping bag that contained three different flavors of ice cream.
Amanda bit back a sob as Emily pulled her into a hug. “It’s alright, Amanda. We’re going to work this out, okay?”
“There’s nothing to work out,” Amanda said in a choked voice. “Snow hates me now. She won’t take my calls or answer any of my messages. It’s over.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“Everything was going so well. We had finished our shoots and we were out celebrating. We had a picnic date, and it was wonderful. We came back and had sex. It felt so right, Ems. Like we were meant to be together.”
With anyone else, Amanda wouldn’t give details of her sex life, but this was Emily. The two of them had always been completely open with each other, and she didn’t feel self-conscious about revealing a few details.
“Then, oh god, it was a total disaster. We were having sex in the lounge when Nicole came in.”
Emily winced. “She still has a key?”
“Apparently. I guess I never thought to ask for it back. I just assumed she wouldn’t use it, now that we’re separated. I suppose I assumed wrong.”
“What did she want?”
“She started screaming at Snow. She called her a slut and told her to get out. I was so wrong-footed by her sudden appearance and so focused on trying to find out why she was screaming in my house that I didn’t think to defend Snow, not until it was too late. Snow grabbed her stuff and ran out.”
“Oh dear. I know you struggle to multi-task during fights, but I guess Snow doesn’t know that. I’m sure if you explain it to her—”
“There’s more. I never told her that Nicole and I aren’t official divorced.”
“What? Why not?”
“It just never felt like the right time. At first, I didn’t know her well enough to discuss my private business with her, and by the time I felt like I did know her well enough, I felt like it was too late to enlighten her to the specifics of the contract status. I didn’t think it would really matter. Nicole and I would be divorced for real soon enough.”
“You should have told her ages ago.”