Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Here we are,” Kurt murmurs soothingly as Lewis brings a bowl of Cheetos into the room. Kurt picks one up and feeds it to me, and I eat it with a laugh. Salty, processed cheese snacks will solve none of my problems, but Kurt feeding them to me like some sort of mama animal at least distracts me for a while.
“I, for one, can’t wait to see what’s next for you, but I know you’re going to crush it,” Lewis says, sitting beside Kurt, who’s feeding me another chip.
“Thanks, Lew,” I say around the Cheetos.
Kurt tries to navigate my wine to my mouth, and I take the glass before it can spill. “I’ve got this part. Thanks.”
“You’ll come back to visit, right?” Kurt says.
“Of course. And seriously, you’ll let me know everything I can do to help get the condo sold? Realtor fees, cleaning fees, all of that … I want to pay it all.”
“Can you?” Kurt says teasingly.
“I’m not poor, just half as rich,” I point out.
“Do you think he’ll actually keep the money?” Kurt said. “That’d be pretty shitty.”
“For that matter, why didn’t you guys just agree to break the prenup from the beginning, do whatever had to be done to exchange funds, and then … hand them back after?” Lewis asks.
“Wonderful idea, Lewis,” I say a little tartly. “Would have been a little more wonderful had you come up with it two months ago.”
“You know what I think,” Kurt says, giving me a little finger waggle indicating that I should listen up. “I think you didn’t think of it because you secretly wanted to go back to New York. And he didn’t think of it because he saw you again and realized his wife is super-hot.”
“Fantastic theory.” I point my wine glass at Kurt. “One you should totally tell his new wife.”
Kurt and Lewis both wince. “Do you think you’ll get invited to the wedding?”
“Probably,” I mutter. “Colin out of guilt, Rebecca to rub it in.”
“Would you go?”
“At the moment? It feels unfathomable. But I don’t even know when it is. If I find a Thor-like date before then … sure.”
And then, because I’m human and heterosexually female, I give myself a little moment of fantasy, imagining Colin’s face if I really did show up with Thor. And because Lewis and Kurt are homosexually male, they let themselves fantasize too. I know, because they both sigh, “Thor,” at the exact same time.
“And you really haven’t talked to him?” Kurt asks with a wistful smile.
“Nope.” I toss back the rest of my wine and hold my glass out for more.
Lewis nods approvingly. “You blocked him?”
“Nope,” I say again.
“Wait.” Kurt holds up a protesting hand. “So he hasn’t even tried to get in touch? No email? No text? Nothing?”
“Well, to be fair, I did leave without saying goodbye,” I point out.
“If you left divorce papers and your wedding ring on his kitchen counter, that was definitely a goodbye, babe.”
“Exactly,” I say, waving my hand, trying to ignore how bare it feels without my beloved ring. “I could not have been more clear about where we stand, so why would he get in touch? There’s nothing to talk about.”
“But you’ll have to talk to him eventually,” Lewis says, as he pours me more wine. “I mean, you said the guy’s practically a surrogate son of your parents. Surely your paths will cross again. Oops! Hold that thought …”
Lewis sets the wine bottle on the table and goes to answer the front door.
“You expecting someone?” I ask Kurt around another Cheeto.
He shakes his head, making a no idea face.
Lewis returns a moment later, eyes wide, and his voice slightly terrified. “Char? It’s for you.”
“What?” I ask in confusion, turning to see who’d have shown up at Lewis and Kurt’s house to see me. A moment later, I realize why Lewis is uncharacteristically terrified.
Eileen Spencer is standing in his living room.
My mouth drops open. “Mom? What are you doing here?”
“What I should have done ten years ago, Charlotte Elizabeth Spencer. Following you to California to tell you that running away from your problems is no way to live your life.”
Chapter 39
Friday, November 13
“She is so scary,” Kurt mouths over my mom’s shoulder as Lewis drags him away toward the bedroom.
He’s not wrong. On a good day, my mom is a little scary. Right now, she looks battle-ready and downright terrifying.
I wait until I hear Kurt and Lewis’s bedroom door close, making a mental note to thank them for retreating to their bedroom in their own house to give us some privacy. Though, if I know Kurt, and I do, his ear will be pressed to the door, and I love him for it. I’d be doing the same thing.
“Mom—”
She holds up a hand. “Me first. There’s something I’m overdue in saying to you.”