Page 10 of From Rivals to I Do

drag myself out of my depression. . . and now this sad sack wants to make amends after a year? After he signed the divorce papers

because he thought that hot little twenty-whatever was his new love? Outrageous.

“I don’t think so,” I reply dryly, and Joseph’s face twists into one of shock.

“You can’t be serious,” Joseph replies.

“Dead serious,” I reply. “The time for talking about us went out the window the moment I found you in our bed with—what was her

name? Lilith?” I say, arching my eyebrow. “She is quite the she-devil, huh?”

“Ha ha, very funny,” Joseph replies. “I don’t care about her, sugar. I never loved her like I do you.”

“Ah, yes, because you definitely cheat on the person you love,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Get real, Joe.”

“I’m serious. What you and I had was special—”

“Special enough to throw it all away to chase tail?” I ask. “You have a lot of nerve showing up here trying to mess with my emotions

like this.”

“I promise it’s not like that,” Joseph insists. “I get that I messed up, babe. . . but life is so short, Darla. There’s always room for second

chances.”

“Not with us there isn’t,” I reply. “You may have stolen nearly thirty years of my life from me, but I will be keeping my dignity intact,

thanks.”

Joseph’s face turns from friendly to frustrated, the muscles of his jaw clenching a bit as he struggled not to show that he was getting

angry. But once you’ve been with someone for so long, it’s easy to pick up on stuff like that.

“You won’t even hear me out?” Joseph asks.

“How did you even find me?” I ask, totally ignoring his question. We’d lived out in the countryside in Amarillo, and our closest

neighbor had been miles away. So, it couldn’t have been them. The only other people it could have been was my coworkers at the

hospital, but there was no way any of the girls on the labor and delivery ward would have talked. They all hated him. Plain and simple.

And honestly? I feel much the same way.

“Wasn’t too hard. I stopped by the post office and said that I was trying to get ahold of you, and Brett gave me your forwarding

address,” Joseph said with a shrug.

“Well, you can tell Brett that he can kiss his job goodbye because I have half a mind to call his supervisor!”

“Mama, is everything okay out here?” Sparrow asks as she steps outside. Her eyes lock on Joseph and her demeanor immediately

sours. “What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you too, Sparrow,” Joseph says. “I’m here to talk to your mother.”

“Well then, you’ll be talking to my taillights because I’m going to the store,” I say as I stomp off toward my car.

“Come on, don’t be like that,” Joseph begs. “Just come inside, we can talk about it all.”

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