The panic subsides, and my heart slows in relief.
It’s a different ex who’s scoping out my place. Because, yeah, in addition to having a failed business, I have not one but two failed marriages.
You’re supposed to be wiser as you get older, but at thirty-eight, I’m more of a hot mess than I was at eighteen.
The relief that it’s Tony in the car and not Paul is soon replaced by indignation.
Ever since I accidentally let slip that Paul had left in bad circumstances, Tony think’s it’s his duty to come down here to LA whenever he can to keep an eye on me as if I can’t look after myself.
It would be sweet if it wasn’t so hypocritical. For all the years we were married, he was in the military. He left me alone more days than he was home. I had our daughter alone. I practically raised her alone.
I knew when I married Tony that he was going into the military. After all, it had always been his dream. But I wasn’t prepared for the life of a military wife.
We always knew we’d get married one day, but when I found out I was pregnant at eighteen, it sped things up. Tony had already enlisted, and he wanted me to be looked after as a military wife. He wanted to know I wasn’t on my own when he was away.
And I was looked after. But it was lonely.
I hated Tony being away so much. I hated that I was raising Amy on my own. I tried for twelve years to make it work, but finally Tony agreed to a divorce.
Now he thinks he can come down here and stake out my place like he’s on some military mission. Well, I’m not his responsibility anymore.
After the divorce, I moved out of the military compound. I got a house for me and Amy and focused on raising our daughter.
I started a health supplement business on the side, but it only flourished once Amy turned eighteen and I had more time to focus on the business.
Tony was back for good by then, so I figured he could be there for Amy. It was my time. She moved in with her dad, and I moved to LA with Paul.
Everyone said LA is where I need to be for health supplements, and it’s only a few hours from the Sunset Coast but it feels like a world away.
I miss Amy. I miss the ocean. And if there’s a part of me that still misses Tony, I keep it buried deep inside me. That ship has sailed.
So when I see him out my window, keeping watch again, all I feel is anger. He wasn’t there when I needed him, and now he’s here when I don’t want him.
I march down the stairs and out of the front door. As I cross the road, he winds his window down with a sheepish look.
“What are you doing here, Tony?”
2
TONY
Caroline stalks across the street, her arms folded across her substantial chest and her lips pressed together. Her blonde hair is in a top knot that bounces as she walks, causing the escaped tendrils to trail down her neck, tickling the delicate skin of her throat.
I swallow hard and my dick stirs, which is wrong because she’s obviously angry at me.
The years have been kind to my ex-wife. Caroline was always curvy, and now she’s filled out, comfortable in fitted leggings and a t-shirt that clings to her in the heat. She wears her size with confidence in a way she never did when we were kids.
I wind the window down and give her a sheepish smile. No point in driving off when she obviously knows I’m here. And by the look on her face, she’s not happy about it.
“What are you doing here, Tony?”
Her brows push together in a scowl, her fiery amber eyes lasering in on me.
Caroline’s exasperated, and I don’t blame her. Only last week she berated me for keeping watch over her. She told me to stay away, but I can’t. Not when she might be in danger.
We’ve always stayed in touch. Amy, our daughter, was the excuse. But the truth is, I’ve always kept watch over Caroline. Whenever I was back from deployment, I’d watch her, just to check in, to make sure she was all right.
I must be getting sloppy if this is the second time she’s clocked me in two weeks.
