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LEANING AGAINST THE kitchen counter, phone in hand, Delaney made an exasperated face as she listened to her mother shoot question after question. She was thoroughly disgusted with herself this morning, greeted by the dirty living room carpet she was supposed to finish cleaning two days ago.
First, she’d let the mess sit overnight while she...dallied with the sexy Viking. Then yesterday, after getting Varik’s invitation to dinner, she merrily abandoned the rest of the task so she could shop for a new outfit.
The room still smelled like dog barf. She doubted she’d ever manage to get all the stains out. It wasn’t at all like her to be so lax.
Her thoughts raced as her mom droned on.
Dear Diary: Here I am, wearing my grubbiest jeans and rattiest sweatshirt the morning after being spurned by Varik the Bold, hauling a scrub brush and a sudsy bucket of pine-scented cleaner from one crusted splotch to another. I guess this is what happens when you turn into a sex-crazed thirty-something.
If she hadn’t answered the phone when her mom called she’d be much further along with her grubby task. But she had a feeling her mom needed to talk about their joint loss of Bekka, which they did at length. Looking around as she spoke to Astrid, she winced. She had to get this cleaned up before Varik brought Thursday home. She couldn’t have him thinking she was a slob, especially after seeing how immaculate he kept his house.
“What? No, I’m listening, Mom,” she lied. “Yes, really, everything’s fine. I’m doing great,” Delaney assured. “No, I’m not feeling blue because I’m thirty-six, divorced and alone. No, I’m not just saying that.” She laughed, wondering if her mother would ever stop worrying about her.
“Yes, I have special plans for tonight. I have a date with a pint of butter pecan ice cream, a jar of caramel sauce, fudge brownie chunks, and a can of whipped cream, which I’ll thoroughly enjoy all mixed together while sprawled on the couch watching Hallmark romance movies. See, Mom? The ideal post birthday celebration.”
Although Delaney thought her reply was rather amusing, it only served to fuel her mother’s concerns. “I was only joking, Mom.” Slapping the heel of her palm against her forehead in frustration, Delaney added, “No, Mom, my plans do not make me sound like a sad, lonely, depressed woman who’s in denial about being middle aged and alone. And, come on, since when is thirty-six middle aged?”
At the sound of the next “but” that came out of Astrid’s mouth, Delaney growled. “Mom! Stop. To tell you the truth, I’m feeling terrific. I...I’ve met someone.”
The expected third-degree followed. She hadn’t intended on telling her mother anything about Varik because she knew she’d have to endure an interrogation, but it was better than having Astrid worry that her oldest daughter was depressed a year after she’d been unceremoniously dumped on her birthday.
“Yes, he’s very handsome,” Delaney answered, “and much taller than me, even when I wear heels, believe it or not. He’s Norwegian, just moved here from Norway.”
Delaney left out the part about him showing up on her doorstep half-naked and how she essentially forced herself on him because she thought he was a male prostitute sent by Grandma Bekka.
“I’m not sure if he has a job, the subject didn’t come up.” Delaney tsked. “It just didn’t, Mom. I wasn’t going to give him the third degree on our first date.” Listening to the barrage of questions, she smiled, remembering the night before. “His name is Varik Jenssen,” she replied. “He cooked dinner for me, which is something Roger never did even once in ten years. Salmon and potato dumplings,” she answered. “Just like Grandma’s. And he plays the guitar and sings and he acts, and he—”
Delaney sighed as her mother rambled on about how she should be careful of men who were too charming because of how easily distracted they could be by other women. She’d heard her mother’s cautionary speeches dozens of times.
“Mom, listen...I don’t want to make you feel bad or angry, but if you remember, the last time I took your advice about men I ended up marrying Roger, a man completely devoid of charm, and look what happened. He dumped me for a kindergartener.”
Cleaning invisible spots on the counter with a paper towel, she listened. “No, I don’t think every man in the world is a scumbag because of Roger,” she told her mom. “It just means that sometimes life is unfair.”
The doorbell rang. Delaney’s eyes bugged. She glanced at her vintage black cat wall clock with its moving eyes and swinging tail. It was just past noon, too early for Varik to arrive...unless Thursday had reverted to his disobedient persona and Varik decided to drop him off early. Panicked at the thought of him seeing her looking like a scrubwoman, Delaney dropped to her hands and knees, crawling behind the kitchen counter, hiding so she couldn’t be seen from the living room window or the door’s glass side panels.
“I’ve got to go, Mom, someone’s at the door,” Delaney whispered. “I’m whispering,” she explained, “because I’m in the middle of housecleaning, look like crap, and don’t want anyone to see me.”
There was pounding at the door followed by a familiar voice...one she hadn’t heard for twelve months. She sat back on her heels, dumfounded.
“Holy sh—” She stopped herself from swearing in her mother’s ear. “It’s Roger! No, I have no idea why he’s here.” He was knocking and ringing now. “I’d better answer it. I’ll call you later. Yes, don’t worry, I’ll be okay.” Delaney wasn’t so sure about that last part. She couldn’t imagine what in the hell would bring her ex back a year after walking out.
“Shit,” she allowed herself to mutter after ending the call.
She worked to compose herself, not about to give Roger the satisfaction of seeing her emotionally distraught.
“Just a minute,” she called in a singsong voice from the kitchen as she got to her feet. Fussing with her wet, grubby scrub clothes, she suddenly stilled her hands, deciding it didn’t matter if she looked like hell because she didn’t give a damn what Roger thought about her anymore.
With a fortifying breath, she headed for the door and answered it.
One glimpse of the charmless man standing opposite her, looking like an aging imitation of a college kid, almost had Delaney laughing at the irony of it all. The only thing worse than Thursday’s dog barf mess, or Delaney mistaking Varik for a prostitute, was standing on the other side of her threshold.
“Hello, Del.” Roger gave her a sneering onceover as he spoke.
“Roger,” she said through clenched teeth, glaring at her louse of an ex-husband.
He’d changed in the last year. His hair was gathered in back into what Delaney suspected was a man bun beneath a brown suede cap worn with a tilt to the side. He had a mustache and longish squared-off beard. He’d swapped his standard wire-rimmed eyeglasses for a pair of black horn-rims. Roger’s tight, low-slung black jeans had holes at the knees and were rolled up at the ankles. He wore brown oxfords with no socks. A white shirt, suspenders and bowtie were topped with a short, fitted black leather jacket full of zippers and rivets.
He was either costumed as a reject from a bad high school movie, or striving to come across as his idea of a super cool hipster. On a hunk like Varik the getup might look hip. On the marshmallowy Roger Kullerton, it was downright hilarious.
“Cool threads, Roger.” Delaney’s voice was tinged with sarcasm as she eyed him from head to toe. Roger was an ever bigger dork now than when he left her.
“Thanks.” With the affirmative nod of a man brimming with confidence, he said, “I was tired of looking older than my years.”
She thought it was so cute that he actually thought she’d given him a genuine compliment.
“So do you dress like this,” her gazed roamed over him again, “when you teach at the university?”
“Yeah, the students are pretty jazzed about my new style.”
“I have no doubt.” Jazzed, hmm? Interesting...Roger the fussy grammarian had never used words like that. Having trouble ungluing her gaze from her transformed ex, she imagined his new look was the talk of the campus. Roger Kullerton was quite obviously in the throes of a midlife crisis, a clear and cringeworthy descent into second childhood, which was pretty sad, considering he wasn’t even forty yet. She almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
As he looked past Delaney into the living room, his mustached lip curled into a sneer.
“Looking for your bouncy but compatible teenybopper?” Delaney asked. “Sorry, I’m afraid she’s not here. She must have sensed I’d run out of milk and cookies.” She couldn’t help smirking.
“Let’s be adult about this,” Roger suggested.
“About what?” She gave him an incredulous look. “You’re the one who showed up on my doorstep. What do you want, Roger?” Before he answered, Delaney heard a woman’s voice coming from the direction of her bushes.
“I need to use the lavatory,” came the whisper, using Roger’s favorite synonym for the bathroom. Yup, the new Mrs. Kullerton was an English major all right.
“Do I hear the alluring voice of your child bride?” Delaney asked through a saccharine smile. “Oh dear, has she gone through her last diaper?”
“Come on, Del,” Roger’s jaw muscle twitched, “Karen needs to use the lavatory.”
So her name was Karen...
“Be my guest.” She stepped aside, gesturing for them to enter.
Roger turned, beckoning toward the bushes. “Come on, Karen. She won’t bite.”
“Don’t count on it,” Delaney muttered, anchoring her arms across her chest.
A hugely pregnant young woman waddled up the salted walk, sidling next to Roger. Delaney made a conscious effort not to let her jaw drop. She had no idea the nearly adolescent home wrecker was expecting.
Karen’s sleek brown hair flowed to her shoulders in a blunt cut. She wore oversized black horn-rim glasses similar to Roger’s, and a simple navy blue maternity dress under a camel-colored wool trench coat. A pair of no-nonsense shoes completed the ensemble.
Resembling a stern, straight-laced school teacher, the homewrecker was far more attractive than Delaney had imagined...or hoped.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Delaney.” Karen presented one hand to shake while her other hand traced the enormous bulge in her middle.
Surrendering the fight not to slip into sarcasm, Delaney said, “So are you two here to ask me to be the godmother of little Roger, or whatever his or her name is, in there?” She gave a humorless laugh as she gestured to Karen’s sizeable protrusion.
Uttering one of those little cough-laughs, Karen lifted an eyebrow as she gave Delaney a scathing head-to-toe appraisal. “That’s hardly something you need to worry about, Delaney.”
Yes indeed...Karen was an ideal match for Roger. “I’ll try to get over my disappointment,” Delaney replied with her most insincere smile.
“Where’s Ruff?” Roger blurted. Delaney had been so embroiled in the icy give and take with Karen she’d nearly forgotten Roger was there.
“Thursday,” she corrected.
“What are you talking about? It’s Sunday.”
“The dog. I changed his name to Thursday.”
Roger screwed his features. “That’s a preposterous name for a dog. Why in God’s name would you name Ruff after a day of the week?”
“He’s named for Thor, the Norse god of thunder.”
“Then why not just name him Thor?” Roger continued.
With a roll of her eyes, Delaney explained. “Because you brought him home on a Thursday, the day of the week named after Thor. Thor’s day.”
His beady-eyed expression reminded Delaney of a horn-rimmed-eyeglass-wearing rodent.
“I can see that reasoning.” Karen offered a curt nod. “It’s a logical conclusion.”
“On the contrary,” Roger looked as though he’d swallowed curdled milk, “it’s the most asinine, ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
She looked at the watermelon in Karen’s belly, than back at her ex-husband’s getup and smiled. “Not as ridiculous as some things, Roger.”
In truth, seeing his young wife pregnant stung. Delaney longed to have children, but Roger put his foot down on the matter from the beginning, insisting he had neither the time nor inclination to be a father. Naively trusting in her husband’s judgment and the advice of the doctor he’d taken her to see, a university colleague of Roger’s, Delaney allowed herself to be coerced into having a tubal ligation, ending any possibility that she might accidentally get pregnant.
She’d had the surgery only a year before Roger walked out. If only she’d known...
“Look, Del, I don’t have time for games. I’m here for Ruff.”
“You’re what?” That threw her. Granted, Thursday may have violated her emergency chocolate stash and ruined her carpet, but Delaney loved him fiercely and wasn’t about to give him up to the jerk who couldn’t be bothered to visit the poor dog even once in the past twelve months.
As Delaney opened her mouth to respond, a jiggling Karen spoke up, “I truly do need to use your facilities, Delaney.” Her colossal belly bounced as she cradled it. “I have an urgent need to urinate.”
Alarmed all that rattling might shake the baby out onto the living room floor, Delaney said, “Oh, please don’t bounce like that. Through there, down the hall, first door on the left.”
Delaney’s attention returned to her ex as she pinned him with a steely glare.
It had been awful watching the dog waiting eagerly by the front door every day for his master. She’d see that stubby tail of his wag as he glimpsed every passerby from the living room window, clearly hoping it was Roger. He’d make a low, moaning whimper that sounded like a dejected cry. Then he’d slant his head and look to Delaney as if she had the answer. It just about broke her heart.
It was two solid months before Thursday finally stopped waiting for Roger’s return. After that, he began waiting for Delaney to come home from work, greeting her with the same love and enthusiasm he’d previously reserved for Roger.
The big mutt had wheedled his way into Delaney’s heart, taking up a treasured place of residence. Now he was all she had left. And she was all Thursday had. He was her buddy, her pal, her friend. They were family! She couldn’t give him up now. She wouldn’t!
Roger fell into the all too familiar stance of exasperation he did so well. A dimpled smirk, thumbs looped in his jeans pockets, and weight resting on one leg. She used to think that expression was endearing. Now she wanted to rip it right off his dorky hipster face.
“I’ve come for my dog. Where is he?”
“Gone. He ran away.”
“I can always tell when you’re lying, Del.” He scanned the room with an expression of disbelief, uttering a growl of revulsion. “What the hell happened in here?”
Delaney had almost forgotten about the spattered carpet. “Oh, that.” She shrugged. “It’s the aftermath of a wild party. I was just cleaning it up.”
Karen came back into the room. Breathing in an audible exclamation, she stepped over the messy patches on the carpet, wincing as if they were land mines.
“Wild party? Hardly,” Roger jibed. “This is Ruff’s mess.”
“Oh good grief. All this...” Little Miss Preggers noted, gesturing around the room, “is making me queasy.” Turning her attention to her husband, her eyebrows knitted. “I thought you said he was a well-behaved dog, Roger.”
“It’s exactly what I would expect with Ruff living under Del’s lackadaisical influence,” he replied as if Delaney wasn’t even in the room. “My ex has never been a proponent of hygiene.”
Delaney’s jaw dropped. “I beg your pardon?”
“Where’s Ruff?”
“He’s skulking.” Delaney was unable to expunge the sneer from her expression.
“Chocolate?” He pointed to the mess that used to be her stylish living room. She nodded. It wasn’t a question as much as an accusation as he glanced at the shredded packaging. “What the hell’s wrong with you, Del? You know dogs aren’t supposed to eat chocolate.”
“Well of course I know that, Roger. I’m the one who warned you about chocolate being toxic for dogs, remember? I also informed you garlic can be poisonous for dogs, which is one of the reasons I never added it to his meals even though you kept insisting that I do just that. You don’t think I purposely fed chocolate to Thursday, do you?”
“You? Share chocolate?” Roger snickered as he gave his ex-wife a onceover. “That’ll be the day.” His gaze landed on the toppled Christmas tree. “What, pray tell, is that?”
“Exactly what it looks like,” Delaney answered.
“It’s February.”
“Yes, and it’s my townhouse. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. It’s none of your business.”
“A decades-old aluminum Christmas tree...” Karen studied the fallen tree as though it were a purposeful art installation. “How terribly...quaint.”
“I’m so glad you approve,” Delaney said.
“I’m afraid you misunderstood my reaction,” Karen said with a passing smile.
Shifting his weight from one leg to the other, Roger emitted an impatient sigh followed by a yawn.
“Nap time for you youngsters? Good idea. It’s time for you and your playmate to leave, Roger.” Delaney gestured to the door.
“Let’s not have a scene. Just give me my dog and I’m out of here.”
“You call that a scene?” Delaney said incredulously. “Just wait until you see what I’m capable of if you try to take my dog.”
“My dog,” Roger snarled.
“Look, Roger, you can’t just waltz in here and take Thursday away from me.”
“I most certainly can. According to the court, Ruff is mine, remember?”
“You haven’t even bothered to see him since you walked out last year...on my birthday.” The memory of Roger’s heartless departure iced Delaney’s spine and she stiffened.
Shifting her attention to Karen, Delaney said, “Did you hear that, Karen? My ex-husband, left me on my birthday...Valentine’s Day.” She elevated her chin. “That is the kind of man you married.”
One of Karen’s shoulders lifted in an elegant shrug. “While I sympathize with your obvious sense of resentment mixed with bereavement at losing Roger, Delaney, I don’t see what possible difference the day of the year makes.”
“Wow...” Delaney gave the woman a long, hard look. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“Indubitably.” Karen’s condescending titter was something a pompous stick in the mud might give. “But then, unlike the masses, I’ve never been a slave to mawkish sentimentality.”
“Forget it, Karen,” Roger piped up. “It’s like speaking Greek to her. Del is an immature, over-emotional woman who has no real concept of the crass commercialism of days expressly designed for celebration by greeting card companies and florists.”
“That’s a pity.” Karen said it like Delaney was a dull-witted moron and it was the saddest thing she’d ever heard.
“No doubt you now you have a better understanding of what I tried to convey to you about her,” Roger said.
“Incontrovertibly,” Karen responded.
Determined to remember the ten-dollar word so she could look it up later, Delaney folded her arms across her chest, reminding them, “I’m standing right here, you know.”
Any anger she’d initially felt at their arrogant comments fizzled. She couldn’t possibly dream up a more suitable partner for her ex. No doubt Karen’s fondness for sophisticated verbiage made Roger horny. Yes indeed, theirs was a match made in grammar heaven. It gave Delaney a sense of perverse joy to realize they’d live miserably-ever-after together.
As for the pity Karen mentioned...Delaney gazed at the woman’s swollen belly, sorry for the joyless existence their baby faced.
Barging ahead, Roger asked, “Since when did you become such a big fan of Ruff’s anyway? I thought you didn’t want anything to do with him?”
“Thursday. And that was before.”
“Before what?”
“Before you abandoned him and I had to watch him cry every day for two months until the poor pining dog finally realized you weren’t coming back.”
“Leave it to you to become incongruous and irrational.” Roger stared at her with unveiled loathing. “Dogs don’t cry, Del. They’re senseless, stupid animals.”
“Oh really? Then how did he figure out how to open my nightstand drawer and find my chocolate stash, hmm?” Proudly jutting her jaw, she braced her fists against her hips in defiance.
“Why am I not surprised you’re still hoarding chocolate?” Roger’s contemptuous onceover made Delaney painfully aware of every extra pound on her frame. “I knew you’d never lose the weight.”
She pinned Roger with a frigid glare. “I could come back with a crack about knowing your hair would never grow back either...” Her lip curled into a half-smile. “But that was before I spotted the hair plugs.” She eyed the dotted areas of his scalp, visible at the edge of his cap and smirked. “It’ll take more than a hair transplant to fight off impending middle age, Roger.”
Tugging his cap snug, he snarled, “Hair plugs is an antiquated term. The procedure now used is called follicular unit transplantation, or FUT.”
“FU...does the T stand for too? As in, FU too, Roger?” Granted, it was childish, but Delaney couldn’t help snickering.
“Try to abstain from your juvenile antics, Del. And I’d advise you not to make this ugly or you’ll force me to file a lawsuit.” His cold gaze chilled her to the bone. “Karen’s brother is an attorney. He’s agreed to take my case if you become obstinate.”
Oh God!
Delaney squelched the hot rush of tears threatening to surface. The last thing she wanted was for her heartless, hair-plugged ex to see her crumple into a sniveling heap.
“Let me elucidate the state of affairs for your edification,” Roger said in professor-speak. “I wasn’t fully prepared to take the dog until now.”
It was impossible for Delaney to miss the fact that he spoke to her as if she were a two-year-old. Some things never change. She didn’t miss Roger’s condescending attitude one single iota.
“The child’s arrival is imminent.” His hand rested on Karen’s bulge for emphasis...in case poor addlebrained Delaney didn’t know what child he was talking about. “I want Ruff to be there so he and the baby can bond. He’ll be good company for Karen and the infant while I’m teaching classes.”
“As long as the animal is sufficiently trained before allowing him free reign in our new house,” Karen added.
“New house?” Delaney’s gaze shot to Roger in time to catch him swallowing hard, looking self-conscious, as he damn well should. She’d spent the last decade fixing up the ill-kempt handyman special he chose to purchase for them. The cheap son of a bitch claimed they couldn’t afford repairs, much less a house in better condition. He reasoned that since Delaney was mechanically inclined, she could devote her time to getting the fixer-upper into functional condition.
Arching an eyebrow, Delaney turned her attention to Karen. “My, isn’t that thoughtful of Roger to ensure you’ll be living the American dream.”
“Thoughtful as well as level-headed,” Karen agreed. “We’re living on the North Shore in a neighborhood and dwelling more befitting a professor of Roger’s stature.”
“Karen...” Roger started, looking more uncomfortable by the second. And with good reason. The North Shore was one of the most affluent, elite areas of Chicago.
“You chose a fine property, Roger.” Patting his arm, Karen went on, “I’m sure the dog and the child will enjoy having the scenic brook just beyond the backyard.”
“Does it babble?” Delaney asked.
“I’m sorry?” Karen was clearly confused.
“Karen, it’s not necessary to share our personal details with my ex-wife.”
“Tell me, Karen, wouldn’t you prefer to have a brand new dog to go with your brand new house, your brand new baby, and your brand new husband?”
“Frankly, I’ve never been a dog or cat person—or a baby person for that matter.” Karen absently smoothed her hand over the sizeable protrusion again. “However, this is a matter of importance to my husband and I support his affection for the creature.”
“You mean the dog or the baby?” Delaney asked with an innocent batting of her eyelashes.
Delaney saw Roger flinch out of the corner of her eye as Karen eyes flashed with annoyance.
“It’s time to get back to the purpose of our visit,” Roger said. “The dog. My dog, Ruff. I don’t have all day, Del. Where is he?”
It was as if a thousand hot needles pricked at Delaney’s heart and soul.
“Please, Roger...don’t take him away from me.” This time she couldn’t stop the sob that escaped.
“You’re making this far more difficult than it has to be.” Roger’s already beady eyes tapered to slits.
“But, Roger, you don’t understand. I need—”
“Come on, Ruff,” Roger called out. “Time to go, boy.” He followed that with a shrill whistle. “Ruff! Here, boy. Let’s go.”
Delaney’s eyelids closed and she steadied herself against an end table, worried she might pass out from the stress. She’d never fainted in her life but she’d never faced this magnitude of tension either. The thought of losing her beloved canine companion was a million times worse than losing Roger.
Opening her eyes, she turned a pleading gaze toward her ex-husband, fairly certain it wouldn’t do her any good, but she didn’t know what else to do. Maybe somewhere under that cold unfeeling exterior of his, buried deep inside, Roger had a heart.
“Roger, please,” she began, chilled by the steeliness of his scowl. “Can we talk about this? There must be something we can do to come to a compromise.”
There wasn’t even a flicker of change in his expression. Perhaps if she appealed to Roger’s propensity for penny pinching...
“I’d be happy to buy you and Karen another dog. I’ll pay for its training.” She turned to Karen. “It’ll be fully trained. No worries about spoiling your nice new house like this.” Delaney motioned to the mess across her rug. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Karen?” She got a blank, bored stare in return. “For heaven’s sake, Roger, I’ll even pay for its food and grooming for the first year.” It didn’t matter that she’d have to get a second job to keep her promise. Keeping Thursday was worth any amount of time or money.
Emitting a lengthy sigh, Karen took her phone from her purse, glancing at the time. “If we don’t conclude this unfortunate episode quickly, Roger, we’ll be late for our Lamaze class. Either get your dog or forget about it. Either way, we’re leaving in ten minutes.”
Clearly, Roger’s wife was just as callous as he was.
“I’m willing to do anything, Roger, if only you’ll agree to let me keep Thursday. I just can’t bear to let him go.” Tears rolled down Delaney’s cheeks. “You have Karen and a newborn on the way. I only have Thursday. He’s all I have left. Please, Roger...please.”
Delaney’s heartfelt pleading didn’t matter. The look Roger gave her was akin to a knife in her heart.
“After being married a decade, you should know I’ve never been moved by histrionics.” His tone was perfect practiced calm. “Legally the dog belongs to me. You’ve merely been the animal’s caretaker this past year, nothing more.” Looking around the room in disgust, he added, “And you’ve obviously failed at that.” Fishing a folded paper from his pocket, he waved it. “This is the court document giving me ownership. I’m not leaving here without my property.”
With that declaration, Delaney’s heart shattered and her entire world came to a screeching halt.