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Henry made a disgusted noise and left.
I was game. This guy was going to lob all kinds of double standards on his ex-wife, and I was not here for it.
“Avery, can you watch the others?” Emery asked before she pushed out the door. I followed her.
As soon as the door closed behind us, Henry rounded on Emery. “His coach? You’re fucking his coach?”
Of course he’d go there. I held my hands out in aslow-downmotion. “Hey—”
“My intern? You’re fucking my intern?” Emery hissed in a mocking tone. “Sound familiar?”
Henry’s jaw clamped shut, and I bit back a grin. He wasn’t used to a fired-up Emery. He had molded her into what he’d wanted; he didn’t know the real her.
I did.
If he thought he was going to have time to think of a retort, Emery beat him to it. “Before you bitch about having a guy under the roof with your kids without you knowing, go look in a mirror. You didn’t tell me when you moved Jenni in. You didn’t tell me she would be coming with you to pick up the kids. You don’t feel like you need to tell me what you’re doing in your personal life, and I don’t either.” Her ex straightened with a chagrined expression. “And before you bitch about what I’m doing with the coach in the house, just go ahead and remember that I was supposed to be alone in that house until tomorrow.”
Henry’s hands turned into fists. “My boss got ahold of me, and I have to be on call the rest of the weekend, and Jenni starts her overnights tonight.”
Wasn’t it his job to find someone to take care of them like Emery did when she asked her mom? Why had it sounded like he was blaming the kids when he’d first arrived? The guy didn’t like taking responsibility for himself.
Emery crossed her arms. “What kind of message does that send to them, Henry? You missed your last weekend. You’ve missed half your weekends for work.”
“That I have a good work ethic.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure.”
Henry flicked a finger between me and Emery. “So, is this a thing? Do I have to worry about a trail of men trooping by my kids?”
I was about to say something—no woman should be talked to like that—but Emery had it handled. “That is none of your business.”
“The men who have access to my kids is my business.”
“No, Henry. It’s not. When you moved out and agreed to the most minimal partial custody possible, you were also saying that you trusted me and my decisions with the kids. So, you’re going to have to trust me.”
Pride puffed out my chest. She’d defended me.
Henry’s nostrils flared again. This guy wasn’t used to being questioned. He was used to issuing orders and having young nurses like Jenni look at him like he was a god among men. He was used to his patients fawning over him and watching him with awe.
He did not like his ex-wife standing up for herself.
Henry’s eyes narrowed like he was coming to a conclusion. When resolution filled his gaze, his expression turned into a stern pout. “I’m going to say goodbye to them.”
He didn’t wait for a response, leaving me, Emery, and Jenni standing around.
Emery pretended Jenni didn’t exist, and I did the same.
“You okay?” I asked.
“I will be.” She ran her fingers through her hair. In her pajamas, with just-been-fucked hair, and righteously angry, she was a glorious sight.
A few minutes later, Henry stormed out of the house and past us without a word. Jenni got into the Suburban without being prompted as Henry got behind the wheel, and they drove off.
Emery shoved her hand through her hair again, tugging against tangles. She’d taken on her ex in front of his new girlfriend in bare feet and pajama pants.
This was what had attracted me to her. She was real. The other women I’d been with were real, too, of course, but I never got to see that side. The drawback of meeting someone at the bar was that I never knew which side of them I was seeing, and I never got to know them well enough to find out.
But after her unbridled laugh at my bad pickup line, I’d known it was the real her, and I’d known she couldn’t be anything else.
