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Chapter Nine
Jensen
Ashley was waiting at the door when I dropped off Max, and I could feel the frigid cold front even before I stepped inside the house. Apparently, she’s still pissed as hell. While I’d much rather forget all about her attempt to seduce me back into our former marital bed, she’s chosen a different path. This one will involve her throwing anger and guilt trips my way for the unforeseeable future.
Good times.
“Good morning,” I say politely, but she completely ignores me.
“Hi, Maxie. How’s my boy? Did you have a good weekend?”
“Duh best! We played baseball! And I found treasure,” he adds with excitement, digging in his pocket for the four quarters he put there after he got dressed this morning.
“Treasure?” she asks, a giggle spilling from her lips that grates on my nerves. “Let me see.” Max places his four prized quarters in her hand. After a few seconds of examining them, she wrinkles her nose and says, “These are just regular quarters.”
I want to thump her upside the head.
“Nope, they’re treasure from Kate’s yard! I dugged them up with Daddy’s shovel.”
Fuck.
Ashley tenses before handing the quarters back to our son. “Kate?” she asks, her wide eyes never leaving our son’s, even though I can feel the wrath building behind those big eyes.
“She lives in the big house. We dugged in her yard and found them,” Max says casually, putting his treasure back in his pocket.
“Dug them,” I correct my son before adding, “Why don’t you run to your room and put your clothes and stuff away. Take the money out of your pocket and put it on your nightstand so it doesn’t end up in the wash.”
“Okay! Bye, Daddy! See you tomorrow,” he says, throwing his arms around my legs and hugging me tight.
“Bye, Buddy. I’ll see you at the school.” Tomorrow is Max’s first day of four and five-year-old preschool. Even though it’s Ashley’s day with him, I’ll be meeting them at the school and walking him in.
When his hurried feet disappear into his room, I turn my attention to my ex-wife. Her eyes are full of fire and I can already tell she’s gunning for a fight. Instantly, I can tell this isn’t going to end well. While Ashley no longer has a voice in what happens in my personal life, we’ve always tried to understand anything involving our son would require transparency on our parts. When she dates, she tells me. That could be to try to make me jealous or simply because we both want to know who’s going to be hanging around Max, but either way, we try to be as transparent as possible.
Of course, I have yet to date since the divorce, but whatever. The one time I tried didn’t go so well. The woman my sister, Harper, set me up with was nice and all, but I could tell the moment she walked in it wasn’t going to be a comfortable evening.
“Kate?” Ashley asks, her voice dangerously close to a high-pitched shriek.
“The new client. Max and I stopped by the house yesterday to pick up some paperwork. While I was on the phone, the homeowner took him over and helped him dig in the yard. No big deal,” I reason, knowing full well she’s not going to let my explanation slide.
“Where does this client live?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest and throwing some serious eye-daggers my way, killing me multiple times in just a fraction of second.
And here we go…
“I’m not fighting with you, Ashley. I have to get to work,” I reply, avoiding her question entirely. I know the moment I confirm what she suspects, our cordial relationship is out the fucking window. “You look nice, by the way. Have a good day at work.”
Then, I hightail it out of there so fast, you’d think my ass was on fire.
I know this isn’t the end of it. The compliment may have been a last-ditch effort at peace before the war breaks out. She won’t let this drop for a second. I just pray she doesn’t give Max a hard time when she discovers the woman we spent part of the afternoon with—the same woman who shared dinner with us Friday night—is the very one who stole my heart when I was sixteen and never really gave it back.
Fun times for all.
* * *
It’s not a fun afternoon, that’s for sure. Our large mower took a crap and the new parts weren’t in stock at the tractor supply store. It’ll take forty-eight to seventy-two hours just to get them in and then another day for the shop to put them on. The delay put Jonas a few hours behind and it was only worse once I ran one of the smaller back-up mowers to his location to finish the job.
The plants started to arrive today, which would normally put a smile on my face. However, when the North Pole Arborvitae arrived instead of the Stewartsonian Azaleas, I knew my afternoon was truly fucked.
After a quick call to the nursery where I purchase all of my product, I try to wrap my mind around the layout and design, wondering if I can incorporate the shrubbery that arrived into the scheme. The North Pole Arborvitae is a hearty, fast-growing plant that will work well in most conditions. They require some regular pruning to keep their shape, and they’re perfect for privacy.
