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“Just a few minutes ago. We’d just gotten home—back to Patrick’s,” I quickly amended, hoping he didn’t notice the slip.When did I start thinking of Patrick’s as home?
“How’d she know you were there?”
“She says she’s been here all along. What does that mean?”
He made a strange noise in the back of his throat. “She used to say that to me when we got serious. I thought she meant we were soulmates. That we’d been together from the start, even if we didn’t know it.”
“I want her to go away.” I covered my face with my hand. “I’m sorry. So sorry I brought this on us.”
“This isn’t your fault. You can’t control her actions.”
“But I’m the one who brought her back into our lives.”
“If we can take what she says at face value, she never left.”
Patrick strode in with an ice pack, Blake toddling along beside him, hand-in-hand. A lump formed in my throat.
“You’re a good dad,” I blurted, staring at them.
“I appreciate that, sweetheart.”
“I was talking to Patrick, but you are too.”
He perched on the arm of my chair. Blake went straight for the window, adding to the smattering of handprints on the glass.
“Hey, Dad.” Patrick stretched his arm across the back of the cushion. “Your daughter says I can’t call you that, but I’m ignoring her.”
“Hey, son.”
See, he mouthed, a sexy grin spreading. “Is there any history of mental illness with your ex-wife?”
I looked at Patrick like he’d lost his own mind.
“Not that I know of.” Dad’s answer came out more like a question.
“Did you find her manipulative at any point in your relationship?”
“This isn’t a deposition,” I said. I didn’t want to talk aboutheranymore.
“I’m trying to understand why we’re at the point we are now. We have no idea what she wants, what her motivation is.”
“Not that I recall.” The stress came through loud and clear over the line.
I gave Patrick a warning look to cool it. My mother had been the one no-go topic most of my life. Time hadn’t made it any easier for my father to discuss.
“What do you know about the man she left you for?”
I smacked Patrick in the leg and hit mute. “What’s the matter with you?”
“We’re going to have to talk about this if we’re going to beat her at whatever sick game she’s playing.” I unmuted the phone.
“That he’s better looking, more successful, and more of a man than I’ll ever be.” Dad sounded resigned that those things were the truth.
“Did she say that to you?” My father was the kindest man on the planet. I wanted to strangle her for what she’d done to him.
“Word for word.”
“Don’t you believe it. Any of it.”
