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“Verna,” I said. “You’re wise to all things. Help.”
“Wow. Um… okay.” She tapped her chin in sync with me tapping my toe on the floor.
“Reasons for a court appearance. Hmm. Getting divorced.”
Mallory was not getting divorced. I shook my head.
“Child custody hearing?”
“Definitely not.”
She shrugged. “The only other thing I can think of is getting arrested.”
“That’s–” Arrested? Mallory? There was no way she’d be that impulsive or reckless or crazy to do something that had her thrown in jail.
No, she totally was.
“Holy fuck.”
“Um…”
I took the stethoscope from around my neck and set it on my desk. I went over to Verna, set a hand on her arm. “There’s no one dying, right?”
She frowned. “Um… no.”
“Good. I have to go.”
46
MALLORY
When I sawTheo’s text, that he knew I was in Las Vegas and why, I showed it to Annie and Trixie. I had a box of tissues in hand, and I had barely stopped crying in hours. They’d laughed and told me not to worry, that if I didn’t have a gag reflex and did yoga, Theo wouldn’t be done with me.
From their perspective, it made sense. The men they spent time with found both of those things as important job requirements. I didn’t want Theo to be a customer and with Mrs. Jonsdottir’s house in my name, he couldn’t be anything else.
I wasn’t sure what I was more panicked and upset about. Being found guilty for solicitation or feeling like I was paid for sex by Theo. God, if the judge only knew that a man bought me a house for services rendered, I’d be found guilty.
That was why I had to give the house back. When Trixie arrived with bags of carry out, I explained what I had to do. The women weren’t so sure, because why would a woman turn down a house? It was protection. A place to live where no one could take away.
It was exactly what I always wanted. Not just that specific house, but a place of my own. Where Maggie wouldn’t be choosing Nate over me. Where I never came in last.
But Theo gave it to me just like I gave my mother the money for the utility bill. I was struggling and he took care of the problem. But what about the next time when my car needed new tires? Would he pay for that, too? Was I just someone he pitied? I specifically told him that night in the restaurant parking lot that I didn’t want pity sex. I wouldnotbe a charity case like my mother, always assuming others would solve her financial problems.
Where she used my need for attention and affection as a weapon, offering it sparingly and strategically.
Theo gave me affection, at least in the form of sex. Sparingly. Strategically, as in at six o’clock. His sex hour.
I would not try to get scrapes of affection from Theo that would never come. Well, it seemed I’d tried for them, but it had never come. Only a house. A house was not an indication of any kind of feeling on his part. Annie and Trixie could confirm that.
The other proof? We barely kissed!
I told the ladies as much and they must have recognized how serious I was, how important to me getting rid of that house meant, so they got their lawyer on the phone in a total speed dial move. The pertinent details were shared and within the hour, Annalynn, their ever efficient lawyer, arrived with the paperwork for me to give the house back to Theo before we finished our dinner and first glasses of wine.
She couldn’t have been over thirty and dressed like she was on a legal drama on TV. Form-fitting, modest but bold dress and killer heels. Simple makeup and a personality of a diplomatic shark.
I learned the plat and other fancy information about the house was public record, so all I had to do was sit at Annie’s fancy kitchen counter and sign the document. Annalynn even notarized it.
She tucked the paper in an express mail envelope.
