“I know.” Amanda let her head fall into her hands. “This is such a mess. It’s all my fault. It’s no wonder Snow won’t speak to me. I’ll probably never see her again.”
“Have you tried to explain?”
“I’ve left her so many messages that she could probably file for a restraining order if she wanted to. Her only response has been this email. Here.” Amanda handed Emily her phone, who frowned as she read the email.
“Well, you’re right about one thing, she certainly doesn’t want to talk to you, at least not at the moment. I wouldn’t lose hope, though. She’s upset and hurting now, and for good reason. That doesn’t mean she won’t come around in time. The two of you had a good thing going. Chances are that Snow will remember that.”
“You really think so? You think she’ll talk to me?”
“I think there’s a chance.”
“Even if she does, I hardly have an excuse for my behavior. She’ll probably go back to hating me right after talking to me.”
“Don’t think like that. Things may work out. You just have to give her some time.”
“That’s not even all of it. Nicole wants me to pay her half of the value of the farm. She says it’s in the terms of the divorce that we split everything equally, and she’s not wrong. I just never imagined when we were signing that contract that she’d ever be so petty. I think I’m going to have to sell it.”
Emily’s face was filled with sympathy and concern. “I’m so sorry, Amanda. Is there no way you can pay it to her in installments?”
“I thought of that, but I doubt she’ll go for it. I’ll try, of course, but it feels like she’s doing all this just to cause trouble for me. I know I wasn’t the best wife, but she wasn’t either. I don’t see why I need to be punished.”
“Nicole did always have a nasty streak. She could be lovely when she wanted to, but I was careful never to get on her bad side.”
Amanda nodded dismally. “I always knew she had that side to her, but I never thought it would be turned against me.”
They were silent for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Eventually, Emily broke the silence. “Come on, let’s eat some ice cream. We can’t do anything right now to solve your problems, but we can drown them in a shower of sugar and cream.”
“Now that sounds like a good plan. What flavors do you have?”
“Chocolate, chocolate mint and chocolate peanut butter.”
“Peanut butter, please.”
“Coming right up.”
Amanda got them both glasses of wine to go with their ice cream. It was a bit early in the day to be drinking, but Emily didn’t comment on it, taking her glass without complaint.
By her third glass of wine and fourth bowl of ice cream, Amanda was feeling considerably more cheerful. She did her best not to think of Snow, instead focusing on trying to outdo Emily in trying to think of the word with the most vowels in it.
The two of them giggled as they came up with increasingly ridiculous words that certainly weren’t in the scrabble dictionary. Amanda capped herself after her fourth glass of wine. She was definitely tipsy now, and she’d need to be sober by this afternoon. She had some people coming to pick up their Christmas tree for the season.
Amanda would stop messaging Snow, for now. It wasn’t doing any good, and was probably just making Snow even angrier.
That didn’t mean she was giving up, though. She’d give Snow some time before renewing her attempts to make it up to her. Amanda would need to think of something better than just sending increasingly desperate messages. Something to show Snow that she truly cared…
20
Snow got out of the shower. It was the first time she’d showered in three days. It felt good to be clean, but she was now exhausted and just wanted to go back to bed, which she promptly did.
She knew she had to pull herself together and move on with her life, but she just couldn’t seem to do it. Daisy had been taking good care of Bluebell, but Snow knew that Bluebell could tell something was wrong. She hated worrying her mom and her daughter, but she just couldn’t seem to get Amanda out of her head.
Snow hadn’t left the house in three weeks, ever since Amanda had let her run out of the house without defending her. Snow usually loved being outside, but her bed was so much comfier and warmer. She just wanted to sleep and hope that this had all been a bad dream.
Someone rang the doorbell, but Snow ignored it. Daisy would get it.
A minute later, Daisy knocked on her door. “There’s someone to see you, Snow.”
“Tell them I’m asleep.”