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My senses? To her, that means the wedding is back on. No fucking way. I pull from her grasp and look down. She’s only five feet four but might as well be ten feet tall for how she acts.
Dot frowns, foot tapping furiously, clearly impatient though that could all change once I say more.
“If you mean come to my senses by not walking away from my business, then yes.” I riffle through the stack of mail on the desk. “I also wanted to talk to you about something else. While we’re over and I don’t owe you updates on my personal life,”—I rest the pile of envelopes on the desk and look at her—“out of respect for you, I wanted you to know I’m with Wren Tyler.”
Her forbidding gaze narrows. “No. Over my dead body.”
I snort at her childish response. “Dot, you’ve no say in this. What we do need to talk about is the Nest.”
“How long has this been going on? Were you with Wren the past few days?”
I bristle at her utterance of the name of the woman I love and hope she didn’t notice. Luckily, she’s so caught up in her mission to make my life a living hell that she remains silent but menacing as she follows me to the long workbench.
I peruse the outstanding work orders and try to plan my day. She steps closer, perfume cloying. “Don’t you have anything to say?”
Eyes still on the paperwork, I clench my jaw at how much she sounds like a disapproving mother. Always does when it comes to interactions with me. I don’t know why she won’t let this go, let me go.
I release an exasperated breath and look at her. “I don’t owe you an explanation.”
“Dammit, Oliver, answer me.”
“Dot, if you aren’t going to talk about the Nest, we’ll let our lawyers figure it out.” Going the legal route isn’t my preference, and with any luck, if my plan works, things won’t need to go that far.
I saunter over to my tools and pull out the smoothing plane to work on my latest project. “Goodbye.”
She flinches at the finality of us though quickly rallies, spine straightening and nostrils flaring. “I’m not going anywhere.”
With safety glasses now in place, I start to smooth the grain of the dining table I’m currently working on. Never content to be ignored, she closes the distance, all the while spewing comments like they are facts or commands. Dot’s an erupting volcano, and I’ve nowhere to run for cover.
“We are not over. Come home.” She shoves my arm and I drop the tool.
“Dammit, Dot, what more do you want from me? I gave you two freaking years to end this nightmare of a relationship the way you wanted. I left it up to you and that wasn’t enough. Let us end this and get on with our lives. The Nest is mine.”
“It’s as much mine as it is yours.”
I rub at the back of my neck where a leaded tension builds, overbearing and unwieldy, but I’m not backing down this time. “And without me, what are you going to do with it?”
“Daddy will come after you for doing this to me.” Here we go. I wondered how long it would take her to bring her father into this.
“We ended a long time ago and should have severed ties then. Kendall Davies—she’s my lawyer—will send you the papers. I’m buying you out.”
“No. We’re getting married. We belong together.”
My stomach turns at my stupidity for ever getting involved with Dot Malone. What the hell was I thinking?
“Oliver, why are you doing this?” Tears streak her face and she wipes at them with the back of her hand. “Give me one more chance.”
Her fingers curl around the fist at my side, and though I don’t like to see anyone in anguish, Dot’s a master manipulator.
“Why her of all the women in this town? Why Wren?”
“This has nothing to do with Wren. Leave her out of this. We were done before we even began. We were a mistake.”
She bristles at my words and I soften my tone, not wanting to hurt her or wake the beast, only wanting to get through to her. “This doesn’t have to hurt any more than it already is. We've dragged out our breakup for too long. It's over.”
“We aren’t over,” she screams, and so her rampage begins.
This is how she gets. Out of control like a child having a tantrum because they haven’t gotten their way. Except, she’s more colorful.
