Rosie
I’d slept alone in our bed last night.
Which shouldn’t have been a relief, but after the look on Joel’s face when I’d admitted—
God, I couldn’t even believe that I’d admitted it to myself, let alone said it out loud to him.
Which was part of why I was working from home today.
Avoiding the office and the feelings growing in my belly.
Avoiding the truth that was growing heavier by the moment.
That was why I’d gone back downtown after the bus had driven away. Why I’d spent hours in the dark avoiding as I tried to forget about the look on his face.
A combination of shock and horror and—
Disappointment.
Or maybe I was projecting.
I groaned, dropped my head into my hands, leaning forward and resting my elbows on my desk.
Working from home.
Ha.
More like staring at my inbox that was growing by the second and pretending to get shit done.
On that note, I couldn’t sit at my desk for a moment longer.
I pushed up to my feet, my chair rolling backward, and grabbed my water bottle. I’d top it off, pretend I was doing something productive.
Drinking those eight glasses of water a day.
Go me!
Shaking my head, I topped off the metal bottle, screwed on the lid, and debated between carrots and a cookie.
But when I remembered they were snickerdoodles—my mom’s specialty (though these were store-bought ones that Joel had kindly picked up)—any sugar craving disappeared.
Carrots it was.
I dumped some in a bowl, slopped some hummus in with them.
Yay.
Also, yes, my expression at the healthy snack wasn’t pleased.
But since I didn’t have a vat of ice cream or the time or energy to make something else, I just picked up my bowl and started to carry it from the kitchen.
Knock. Knock.
Immediately, I went on alert, debating between answering it and turning around, hightailing it to my office, and hiding.
But—dammit—I was Billie Fucking Rose.
I ate chaos for breakfast.
I set down my bowl, moved to the front door, and pulled it open.
But when I saw who was on the other side, I regretted not hiding. Because…
It was Willow.
Joel’s gorgeous, put-together, not-so-ex-wife Willow with the perfect winged liner and perfect body and perfect face and perfect outfits.
Which, today, was a perfectly paired crisp button-down and slacks, flats, earrings, and a statement necklace.
She looked like she’d walked right out of a stock photo titled Working Woman.
And I…
Well, I’d changed out of my pajama bottoms.
That was the best I had.
“Billie,” she said softly as I was wrestling the comparisons away, as I was working equally as hard to put another time when this woman had showed up out of the blue on my doorstep out of my mind.
Chipping away at my happiness.
My world.
My relationship with Joel.
And I didn’t know why she was here now.
“Willow,” I said, pushing that away. “Can I help you with something?”
“Can I—” She bit her lip, blond hair shining in the sunlight. “Can I come in?”
No. God, I didn’t want to deal with this.
But…another day, another thing I didn’t deal with. I forced a smile, stepped back. “Of course. Can I get you anything?” I asked after I’d closed the door and led her into the kitchen. “Coffee? Carrots?” I held up my bowl.
Willow blinked. “No,” she murmured after a moment. “Thanks.”
We stood there staring silently at each other for far longer than I was comfortable with.
“What can I do for you?” I eventually broke down and asked into the taut silence.
Her shoulders rose and fell on a breath, and then she extended her hand, passing over a folder. “I signed the divorce papers.”
My mouth dropped open so quickly, my jaw actually ached in protest.
Another breath, her eyes holding mine again. “Our visas came through.”
Now my teeth clicked together.
“I have an apartment lined up and I’m going to get my son here, going to get my mom here.”
“I—” Here I faltered.
Because this was the best damned news I’d had in ages.
“Are you staying in town?” I asked carefully.
A shake of her head. “No,” she murmured. “I’m going back to LA. There are more jobs and it’s closer to the doctors who can treat my mom.”
“I see,” I said carefully, even though inside I was torn between a niggle of worry about her, her mom, and her son in a big city like Los Angeles, and so fucking glad Joel was almost done with her, almost done with this mess.
“I can’t keep doing this to you and Joel,” she said, making me feel like a dick for that half-mental celebration. “You’ve both been through enough.”
“I—”
She squeezed my hand. “It’s done now.” She backed away, dropped her arm to her side. “I’m guessing you’ll pass the news on to Joel at the right time?”
“Uh…yeah.”
Her mouth quirked up, probably because I sounded really fucking eager to do just that.
“I—” I began, but she was already turning for the front door.
She paused and glanced back after she opened it.
“I won’t bother you and Joel again. I promise.”
Then she stepped outside, shut the wooden panel behind her.
She’d lied before.
But today I believed her.
I flipped through the divorce papers, made a call to Amy—Joel’s lawyer and the best family law attorney in River’s Bend.
Then I called my man.
“Willow was here,” I said when he answered.
A blistering curse.
“No, wait, it’s good news, honey.”
And then I told him.
And then…I went back to work for the first time since my return with a real smile on my face.