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I flip through it, frowning, not seeing anything I should be concerned about until I see it on the third page.
Suzanna Lodge to be married on April fifteenth at Barrington Church, to her long-term fiancé, Benjamin Baker.
The air goes out of my lungs. I don’t feel jealous, like I might have thought, or upset. I mostly feel annoyed.
“So, Suzanna’s back in town,” I say wryly and throw the paper down on the desk.
Grayson frowns, ”Are you okay?”
I roll my shoulders, feeling irritation spread across my body, tensing my muscles. “As long as she stays away from me and my kids, I don’t care what the fuck she does.”
Okay, so I’m still angry. Who wouldn’t be?
“Your ex-wife left town in the middle of the night three years ago and disappeared off the map, and now you’re okay with her being back in town?” Grayson asks incredulously.
“I’m notokaywith it, but I don’t care that she’s getting married.”
When I say it, I realize that it’s true. I’m over Suzanna Lodge, and that part of my life is over. She left it all behind when she dropped me and her own kids, and I don’t want anything to do with her. It’s almost a relief that it doesn’t hurt anymore, not like it used to. I thought for a while that maybe she’d broken me forever, and maybe she has.
But at least the sight of her name doesn’t devastate me the way it would have a year after she left.
Grayson smiles at me. “I’m glad that you’ve moved past it, Derek. I really am.” He pauses, pecking at a button on the computer. “This system is so different from ours,” he grumbles.
“So, quit using it and wait for the IT guy,” I say dryly, and Grayson groans.
“I guess.” He looks at me for a long moment. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Fine,” I say evenly, even though I don’t really like the idea of her back in town. I don’t want Maggie to see her while we’re out, so I think I’ll keep the kids at home as much as I can. I should tell Kenna....
It won’t matter. Kenna will probably want to move out as soon as possible. I feel my shoulders slump, thinking about it.
“Something’s definitely going on with you,” Grayson says. “You want to go to the Dive tonight?”
“Can’t,” I say firmly. “Got the kids.”
“I heard you got a new nanny,” Grayson smirks. “Is she pretty?”
“Don’t,” I say, my eyes snapping to his.
He holds out his hands. “Sore subject. Okay.”
I sigh. “Nota sore subject.”
Itisa sore subject, and that’s all my fault. I overstepped my boundaries with Kenna and now I don’t have a clue what to do about it.
Grayson frowns, standing up and clapping me on the shoulder. “Come on, Derek. You can talk to me.”
I groan, looking over at him. “You didn't use to be this helpful before Lilian came back into your life, you know?”
He grins. “I know. She makes me a better man.”
I make a mock gagging sound in the back of my throat. “Fine. Take me to breakfast or something, and I’ll tell you all about it. It’s depressing here this early in the morning.”
* * *
Graysonand I go out to a breakfast diner nearby the office. It’s a small place with a lot of businessmen, but no one is in there this early. It’s only about five-thirty, after all.
“What were you doing in the office so early, anyway?”
