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“Excuse me?”
“I’m here to see Colton Palmer. Please let him know Verona Carpenter is here to see him.”
My back goes straight.
I might be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Carpenter was Melody’s last name.
“Colton’s not home right now, but if you want to come in and take a seat, I can give him a call.” I glance at my watch. “He should be home from work in the next 15 or 20 minutes.”
Her eyes narrow at me. “I’ll wait,” she says, waltzing past me and into the living room, her eyes taking in everything and clearly finding it lacking. She turns to look at me where I’m still standing at the door, giving me an exasperated expression. “Well are you going to just stand there or are you going to call him.”
I close the door and cross back to the kitchen, grabbing my phone off the counter and giving Colton a call.
“Hey there,” he says, his voice soft and with a bit of a playful lilt to it that, any other day, I would absolutely love.
“Verona Carpenter is in your living room,” I tell him, not wanting to mince words.
There’s a long pause before I hear him curse silently to himself.
“I’m on my way home. I’ll be there in five minutes.”
He hangs up.
Clearing my throat, I walk out to the living room and offer Verona a glass of water, but she declines. I ask if she wants to take a seat, but she declines that as well, choosing instead to stand rigidly next to the fireplace.
I can’t help but let out a sigh of relief when Colton’s car pulls into the driveway and he walks through the front door a minute later.
“Verona.”
Colton’s voice is filled with distaste as he closes the door behind him.
“Colton. I’d say it’s lovely to see you, but we both know that’s a lie, and I’m fairly certain we’re finally at a point in our relationship where there’s no need to be anything other than honest with each other, wouldn’t you agree?”
My mouth drops open at not only her tone, but at what she just said. Who talks like that?
“What do you want, Verona? I sent you everything of Melody’s, including her ashes so you could do your own funeral. Did I forget something? Your broomstick, perhaps?”
The bitchy lady gives him a smile, an expression that sends a chill racing down my spine.
“I’d be happy to discuss why I’m here,” she says, her eyes falling to me briefly before returning to Colton, “except I don’t intend on having your bed warmer present during that conversation.”
Each word out of her mouth gets worse and worse, and my head jerks back like I’ve been shot.
“Excuse me?” I say, all the attitude I can muster crawling out of the depths as I stare Lucifer in the face. “Did you just call me a bed warmer?”
“Emily is Teddy’s nanny.” Colton’s hand comes up to briefly touch my shoulder. “Emily, can you head up to check on Teddy while I speak with Verona, please?”
I grit my teeth and glare at her, not even trying to hide my distaste, before following Colton’s request. Sure, I’d like to throw down right now and light this lady on fire, but I can also sense that Colton wants her here even less than I do, so I’m sure he’ll handle it just fine on his own.
Crossing the room, I take the stairs quickly as Colton and Verona stare at each other like agitated cats.
Ugh.
I have never encountered someone as underhanded and bitchy as that woman in my entire life, and I have dealt with some pretty horrible people.
Once I’ve gotten to Teddy’s room, I peek inside, thankful that the kiddo is still snoozing. Then I slip inside his room, leaving the door cracked open so I can try to hear what’s going on downstairs.
chapter nineteen
