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I turn my phone off before tossing it into my purse. Even if Brett doesn’t care about me anymore, couldn’t he at least care enough about his children to quit making such a sideshow of our lives?
Speaking of our children, Liam and Lily walk out of their room looking freshly scrubbed and highly adorable. “On my bed.” I point to my room.
As soon as we’re all crossed-legged and ready to go, I deal out the cards. “Twos and jokers trump the king and in the case of double-war, the winner gets a pack of gum in addition to all the cards.”
“You brought gum with you?” Gum to Lily is about as exciting as cocaine to a crack addict. The girl can’t get enough of it.
“You know I did,” I tell her with a wink. Then I reach into my suitcase and pull out three mini packs of M & Ms. I toss one to each of them and we make short work of devouring those six little bites.
Twenty minutes into our game, Lily lays her head on a pillow and goes to sleep. “You tired too, bud?” I ask my son.
He shrugs his shoulders. “Mom, are you mad at Dad?”
That’s the twenty-thousand-dollar question that I can’t answer honestly. If I claim to be mad at Brett, then Liam will want to know why. “I’m not mad, I’m sad. Neither your dad nor I ever thought we’d ever get a divorce.”
“Then why does he date other women?”
“Excuse me? Where did you hear that?”
“I’m eight, Mom. I know stuff,” he tells me sadly. “Did you do something to make Dad not love you anymore?”Ouch.
“First tell me where you heard that Dad was dating other women?”
He inhales deeply before slowly releasing his breath. “I overheard Jason’s mom talking about it on the telephone. She said, ‘That Brett Kennedy is a real ladies’ man.’ Then she said Dad was already back in the game. I think that means he’s dating again.”
You’d think adults would know enough not to gossip in front of the family they’re maligning. Not that Delia was lying. In fact, at one time I was fairly certain she was auditioning for the role of the other woman.
“And you fired Justine …” my son says accusingly.
“How do you know that?”
“Dad told us. He said you were jealous that she was so much younger and prettier than you are.”
“What?” That bastard.
“I told him you’re the prettiest lady in the whole wide world.”
“Oh, honey.” I reach out and pull my son to my side. “We’re going to get through this, I promise.”
“I don’t want you and Dad to get a divorce. It’s not fair.”
“No, it’s not, honey. It’s not fair to any of us.”
I’m glad we’re in Alaska right now. Because if we were home, I’d be hard-pressed not to give a slew of damning interviews about my loser of a husband. Now that I know he’s been bad-mouthing me to my own children, the gloves are off.
Chapter12
Digger
“That Harper woman seems nice,” Grandpa Jack says, waggling his thick eyebrows at me.
“Don’t start, it’s not even seven a.m.,” I tell him, lifting my mug for a sip of coffee. As Evie starts her day later than us, we’re in the kitchen alone. As usual, Grandpa Jack is using our time together to help me “see the light,” about settling down with a nice girl.
He punches the huge ball of dough for today’s rolls. “She’s so pretty, she could be a model.”
Lifting a bag of flour off the shelf, I set it on the stainless-steel counter to measure out some for waffles. “Only a total sleazeball would try to get a single mom to go for a roll in the hay.”
“I’m not talking about a roll in the hay, and you know it.”
