What did Ben do to piss her off?
I paused and debated how much I wanted to tell her.
“I kicked him out.” I finally settled on just getting it out of the way. “While I was burying my grandmother, he was here having an affair.”
“WHAT?!” she shrieked.
Well, at least I know she didn't know about it.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” She wasn’t yelling anymore; her voice had dropped into a low growl.
“Yeah… also, do you know how one would go about lighting a hot tub on fire?” I tapped my chin, “I’d have to drain it first, but it’s electrical, so I’d need to disconnect it from the power source too, right?”
Lily stared at me like I was speaking another language.
“Why?”
“I caught him fucking her in it.” I gently reached out and closed her jaw when it dropped.
“I- I- I’m…” she sputtered and took a deep breath, “I had no idea. I came straight here to yell at him for allowing you to go to North Dakota all alone because I could tell by the way you took off so fast after the wake that you were devastated. You left so suddenly, I couldn’t even get the same flight as you back!”
“I never got to thank you for taking the time to come up for the funeral.” I gave her an appreciative smile. “Did Killian and Hailey fly back with you?”
I’d forgotten all about how my three friends had flown out to North Dakota late last night so they could be by my side this morning. I had meant to thank them after the wake, but…
“No, they said they’d take the flight in the morning like they originally planned. I think last night, and tonight were the first kid free nights they’d had since the twins were born.”
“Yuck… North Dakota for a funeral is a terrible vacation…” I muttered and wandered into the living room.
“It wasn’t a vacation!” She looked so horrified that I couldn’t help but snort.
“They have twin toddlers, going to the grocery store alone is a vacation.”
“You are a strange woman…” Lily muttered and sat down on the couch with a huff.
“So, what are you going to do?” She asked after a few seconds of silence.
I shrugged. I hadn’t had time to come up with a plan yet. All I knew for sure was that Ben and I were over.
“I guess I need to get a lawyer…” I mused, and Lily nodded. Another wave of nausea rolled over me, and I grimaced, “and a pregnancy test.”
Her eyes went wide, and her mouth did the fish thing as she tried to form words.
“I’ve been puking all week…” I admitted, “hopefully it’s something viral and I can just wipe my hands of this whole chapter, but I need to know sooner rather than later.”
“Let’s go to the pharmacy,” Lily suggested. She stood up and looked expectantly at me.
Lily had always been a sensible creature. A few years ago, I signed up for a couple of basic computer courses at the community college to learn how to use some of the programs that would make organizing the pharmacy's data easier and how to redesign the website. Lily was in one of the classes with me, and we bonded through our shared struggles with HTML. She had been redesigning her website, as she owned a wedding dress boutique, and at the time was starting to become very popular from foot traffic and word of mouth alone.
Ben had thought the classes were a waste of money, but had begrudgingly admitted that my parents' website was archaic and desperately needed updating. As soon as I finished the courses and showed him the new website, he started demanding that I quit.
“Can I just point out the irony of being a silent co-owner of an entire chain of pharmacies and still needing to leave the house for supplies from one.” I chuckled dryly, but Lily scowled.
“It would be strange if you got so hoity toity you wouldn’t drive to a pharmacy.”
“I’ll definitely never be one of those mega wealthy women who can’t do anything on their own.” I assured her.
Growing up, my family was very comfortable but not wealthy by any means. Now, after a few smart investments, my parents had left the middle-class bracket and were comfortably in thewealthy zone. It had been a while since I had checked to see what my brother and I were making off of our shares of the company, but I was pretty sure it was becoming substantial.
