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“What did you eat over the weekend, Jessie?” Tony asks.
“What did I eat . . .? Can’t you come up with a more normal question? Which meal? And why do you want to know?”
“Oh, no reason. I just . . .”
From the corner of my eye, I catch Tony staring at me, but I ignore him. He can wait; I have a lawsuit to deal with.
Tony lets out a loud, obvious sigh, drawing the attention of some of the other teachers in the room. “I’m just having cravings for Five Guys.”
Jessica giggles. “Um . . . Yeah, Jacob and I had some burgers yesterday,” she says in a more somber voice when she realizes people are staring at them.
“Yeah, I’m just . . . specifically craving Five Guys,” Tony says. When he catches me giving him a dirty look, he quickly adds, “I mean, it can’t be any other kind of burgers. I know what I like, you know?”
“Yeah,” Jessica says, shooting me an apologetic look. “Jacob’s pretty particular about his burgers, too, but he prefers In-N-Out. The other day—”
“Well, I mean, maybe Jacob’s not a Five Guys kind of guy, but come on. What’s better than Five Guys? Right, Ava?”
“Yeah. Great burgers,” I say quickly before Tony attracts even more attention. I scan the room. There are too many ears in here. “Do you guys want to go outside . . . Uh, get some fresh air?”
Jessica and Tony exchange a look. The staff room has the best snacks and the cushiest couches. There’s no reason why I’d want to go outside where chaos reigns and our students can find us.
“What happened?” Jessica asks in a low voice. Her green eyes dull with worry.
“Let’s get out of here,” Tony says as he gets up.
Two minutes later, the three of us are in the room where my next class will take place.
“My ex is suing me,” I say from my desk as Jessica and Tony drag chairs up to the desk.
“What?” Jessica asks. “What a jerk!”
“Have you talked to him?” Tony asks.
“No. Liam says I shouldn’t make any contact with him.”
“Liam . . .?” Tony’s eyebrow shoots up. “Is that one of the sexy brothers from our brunch the other day? By the way, that’s what we’re calling them. The Sexy Brothers. Like they’re some kind of a band.”
I nod. Averting my gaze from Tony, I try to keep the discussion on topic. “So apparently, he wants me to pay him back for everything.”
“What does that mean?” Jessica asks. A ray of sunlight from outside hits her red hair, making it light up like a flame.
“That means everything he’s ever spent on me during the three years we were dating.”
“Including gifts?” Jessica’s eyes widen.
“Yeah. Dinners, too. He has this ridiculously detailed list of items he wants me to pay him for.”
“What kind of items?” Jessica asks.
“All kinds. From expensive designer stuff I never even asked him to buy for me, to things like a twenty-dollar Spanish textbook and a $27 meal. He’s even put a cardboard cat fort on the list.”
“You have a cat?” Jessica asks, her eyes lighting up.
“No, it’s my parents’. They went out of town, so Joseph and I stayed in their house with their cat for a few days.”
“Oh, like pet-sitting?”
“Yeah. That’s when he got the stupid cat fort from the pet shop. My mom loved it, of course.” I roll my eyes.
“So . . . this lawsuit, it didn’t happen during the weekend, right?” Tony asks as he leans back in his chair and adjusts the suspenders he’s wearing over his crisp white shirt.
“No. I got the thing this morning. A guy just came, stuck an envelope in my hand, and said, ‘You got served.’”
“Wow. I’ve never met your ex, but sounds like you dodged a bullet when you guys broke up,” Jessica says.
“So let me get this straight. You just got the document this morning, right?” Tony asks.
“Yes,” I say impatiently. Why does he keep asking the same question, over and over again?
“You also said that . . . Liam’s working on it.” An impish smile spreads across Tony’s cheeks. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
I sigh. I didn’t think they were going to find out this soon. “Yeah,” I admit. “They stayed over last night.”
Jessica gasps and lifts her hands up to cover her mouth, but she sounds more impressed than outraged. “‘They’? It wasn’t just Liam? Damn, girl.”
Tony stares at Jessica. “You’ve never called anyone ‘girl’ before, have you?”
“Not even once.” Jessica shakes her head. “Wait, so is Liam a lawyer, then?”
“Yeah.”
“What does he think about the case?”
“He told me I had nothing to worry about.”
Both Tony and Jessica seem to exhale and relax at the same time.
“That’s great news,” Tony says.
“Yeah. You’ll be fine. You have a lawyer on your side.”
