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“Are you a part of her game?”
“What game?”
“Whatever game she’s playing to keep my son, my money, this f—” He looks at the little boy in his arms. “Freaking house from me?” His level tone doesn’t give much away. Tommy rocks happily in Rhett’s arms, none the wiser to our conversation.
“If this is her game, then I’m just a pawn. She’s the client I met at the store. I clean this house.”
“You clean my house?” The question sounds like a warning in his deceptively calm voice.
Tommy slaps Rhett’s cheek loudly. “Dah! Green beans, please.”
“I was about to feed him.”
Rhett’s attention flicks from his son to me. “You should go. I’ve got it from here.”
Something inside me cinches painfully tight. An emotion I didn’t know I possessed for this man. Our fun and flirty friends situation suddenly feels like an aching loss.
I slip on my shoes and grab my purse from the floor. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” I look him in the eye as I try to decipher if he feels it too.
Rhett pinches the bridge of his nose with his free hand and closes his eyes. Three seconds tick past before he opens them and releases a steady exhale.
“No…You didn’t.”
The confliction on his face doesn’t jive with his words.
I want to suggest I stay or that we meet later, but before I can, the door flies open, and I’m knocked to the side. My left ankle rolls beneath me. A sharp pain shoots up my calf as I manage to catch myself on the door handle.
“Oh, pardon me. I didn’t know you were standing there.” Nora enters the foyer. She glances back and forth between the two of us. “You’ve met my husband. I’m sorry, I didn’t know he’d be here.”
So many things go through my head, like who the hell doesn’t know where their husband is, but my ankle takes priority. This isn’t my party to crash. If I’ve learned anything about Rhett, it’s that he’ll want to deal with this in private. Even if the jealous part of me wants to demand to know what’s going on.
Tension crackles through the air like the static before a lightning strike.
“What the hell is going on, Nora?” Rhett breaks the staring match, asking my question out loud.
“I don’t know what you mean. I was rushing back to meet you here so we could discuss like you asked.”
“No, you asked.” Rhett takes a step forward. “I’m trying to wrap up this ridiculous charade. Wh
y is Evie here?”
I test weight on my ankle, ready to step forward and get Tommy out of here. He’s not my child, but no kid should watch their parents fight.
Nora pulls a self-righteous face. “She’s just my cleaner. What’s it to you what I pay her to do?”
“Do you often leave our son with your hired help?” Rhett fires back.
Ouch.
“She seems trustworthy to me, though I may need to reconsider.” Nora’s face twists in disgust.
I fight back a wince.
“You know what she is to me. You saw the two of us, didn’t you?” Rhett keeps at her.
This conversation gives me whiplash. I wait with bated breath for Rhett to spell out what exactly I am to him.
“The two of you?” Nora looks back and forth between us with a sneer. “That’s a new level of low for you, Rhett.”
