The back door opens and several sets of footsteps echo closer. My heart is in my throat when I see that it’s Ethan, Allison, and Felicia.
Jamie’s wife watches me warily as she strides up to her husband and wraps her arm around his waist.“Boo, Allison and I were saying we should go on a double date while we’re still in town. For old times’ sake.”
Jamie’s thousand-watt full-of-bullshit smile lights up. “Definitely.”
Needing to see his reaction despite the dread building in my belly, I glance at Allison and Ethan across the island. She tugs on his arm and stares up at him. “Wouldn’t that be fun?”
Confusion etches across Ethan’s face, and he removes her hand. “Allison, I don’t think that’s—”
Her other hand slithers up his chest, and a pout forms on her lips as she leans closer to him.
My vision hazes red like that elevator scene fromThe Shining.
“Get your fucking hands off him.” The words are out of my mouth before I can think better of it. And now that I’ve started, I can’t stop. “You had your chance with him, and you walked away from him and your kids, you selfish bitch.”
Everyone stares at me, mouths open, eyes wide. Let them stare.
It takes a second for her to gather herself, and I can almost see her talons extend, but I also see victory in her eyes.
She wants this.She’s been waiting to strike like a viper.
“Guess what, you slut, now that I’m a partner on this ranch, you’re fired, so get your shit and your trampy ass out of my house. This is my kitchen. Those are my kids. This ismyhusband.”
Ethan rears back like someone slapped him. “Allison, what the fuck is wrong with you?”
Little feet come padding down the hall, interrupting him. Mila immediately hugs Allison. “What’s wrong, Mommy?”
With a dramatic sniffle, Allison wipes her eyes. “I’m just trying to make Daddy see how much I love you guys.”Oh, my God. This woman has no limits.I’ve never seen her extend one compassionate gesture to her kids or husband in private. Allison turns to Ethan. “Didn’t you tell me you’d doanythingto have me back? That you’d doanythingfor your kids to have their mommy home? Didn’t you say they cry at night because they miss me so much? We could end all of that right now.”
Ethan glances down at his daughter, a pained expression on his face.
The tick tock of the clock on the wall swells in my ears as he stands still and I silently beg him to say something. Anything.
Chuckling, Jamie smirks at me and stretches an arm around his wife. “Gotta say, man, I’m kinda surprised you hired Tori. What with her record and all. Hope you didn’t let her drive the kids anywhere.”
“What?” My voice is fragile, like spun glass. One misstep and I’ll break apart.
Why would he bring that up? He knew how mortified I was about that time in my life.
His wife sneers like she just stepped in a steamy pile of horse shit. “I thought you needed certain standards to hold this kind of job.”
“Sorry, Tori,” Jamie says as though the man feels even a hint of remorse. “Want to make sure my friends know the real you. Know that they’re getting a college dropout who partied so hard, she nearly killed a car-load of her friends when they were out joyriding. Not sure that’s the kind of woman I’d hire to watch my children.”
The gasp I hear is mine.
Because that’s a version of the truth, but it’s distorted and ugly. It’s my life, the blood and guts of it all smeared and inside out, like some victim of a horror movie.
For a second, I can’t breathe.
I’m underwater.
Sinking. Sucking in water. Suffocating.
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.
I don’t know how to explain what really happened. How to untangle the thread of truth from the ball of lies Jamie just threw in my face.
Absurdly, my thoughts go to that astronomy course I nearly failed. Of the way planets collide so powerfully, they rip apart time, gnawing it open with their jaws.
