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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
He was waiting for her when she returned home almost two hours later.
Chloe closed the front door, hearing the television blasting upstairs. “Mom?” she called, walking toward the living room. “Joshy? Sasha?”
It was then that she saw him. He was sitting on the plum-colored sectional, his feet stretched toward the navy leather ottoman between him and the large-screen TV on the opposite wall. The look on his beautiful face was one of barely concealed contempt. “Nice of you to finally put in an appearance,” he said.
“What are you doing here?” she asked her husband. “Where’s my mother?”
“Last I saw her she was passed out in Josh’s room.”
“Oh, God.”
“And in answer to your first question, I’m here because my son called me at work, hysterical because you weren’t home; his grandmother was sprawled across his bed, he thought she might be dead, and he didn’t know what to do. I rushed right over, found the old drunk asleep in his room, got the kids settled down, made them some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and assured them that your mother was, regrettably, very much alive. Then I told them they could watch TV in our room until you got home.”
“Thank you,” Chloe said quietly, collapsing onto the right wing of the sectional, tears of anger filling her eyes. “I guess I should have known better.”
“Yes, you should have,” Matt agreed. “Where the hell were you anyway?”
She fought the urge to tell him it was none of his business. “What difference does it make?”
He shook his head. “You know, I always thought that, however scattered and irresponsible you can be sometimes…” He paused half a second to let his words sink in. “…that you were a great mother, that you would never put our kids at risk…”
“I didn’t put our kids at risk,” she began, then stopped. He was right. She should have known better than to rely on her mother, no matter what the circumstances.
There was a moment’s silence. “So, what did she say?” Matt asked. “This lawyer you went to see. Pamela Lang, was it? Not a bad-looking woman for a professional ball-buster.”
Chloe’s eyes shot toward her husband. Her mouth opened to speak, but no words emerged.
“Your laptop was open,” he offered by way of explanation.
“No. I closed it before I went out.”
“My mistake. Guess I opened it.”
“You had no right.”
“Just trying to find out where you were,” he said. “To figure out what was so damn important that you left our children alone.”
“I didn’t leave them alone.”
“Sorry. Called your mother. Don’t think the courts will find there’s much of a distinction.”
Chloe felt a sliver of panic snaking its way through her chest to her throat, making speech both difficult and painful. “Are you threatening me?”
Matt leaned toward her, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’ll do whatever I think is necessary to protect my children, Chloe. You should know that.”
“Does that include pretending to be single and trolling for women online? I don’t think that exactly qualifies you for father of the year. Do you?”
“I made mistakes, Chloe,” Matt said. “I admit it. But my mistakes never put our children in harm’s way.”
Chloe nodded, trying to make sense of his words, to understand what he was getting at. She couldn’t. “So, what are you saying?”
“What are youdoing?” he countered.
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re the one who went to a lawyer, Chloe. Not me. Do you want a divorce? Is that what this is all about?”
