Page 73 of Believe in Me

“Mm-hmm. Look, we’re going to do what I did right after my marriage went to hell and I still had to face the public every day.”

“What’s that?”

“Act like that shit never happened.” She reached for my hand. “Come on, Street. Let’s go get something to drink and rock this party.”

I grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

*****

“Zo, did you do something to my ex-husband?”

We made it home from the party around one in the morning and had both been so exhausted that we fell into bed without taking a shower. I was wide awake, but tried to act like I was asleep.

“I know you’re not sleep.”

Shit. “What, baby?”

“You heard me.”

“Yeah, but what do you mean? Why you think I did something to him?”

“Because I saw him the other day and he literally started running away from me as soon as he saw me.”

“For real? Where’d you see him?”

“At the Langley Shopping Center when I was out trying to find an outfit for your party. I saw him at Elmore’s Department Store. He almost knocked down a whole display of purses trying to get away from me.”

I had to fight hard not to laugh. “Damn, really? Maybe he was just in a hurry.”

“I don’t think so. He had this crazy, panicked look on his face when he saw me, too. The same look I saw on his face at the movie theater that time.”

“What time?”

“The time he ran into those people and knocked them down.”

“That was your ex?”

“You are such a bad actor.”

I chuckled. “Baby, I’m not acting. I didn’t know that was him.”

“And a bad liar.”

“I’m insulted. You think I’m lying?”

“I know you are. And the more I think about it, you probably paid the judge to sign off on my divorce so quickly. You did say you had a few on your payroll in Chicago. A man who can get a video to an inmate can surely pay off a judge here in Tennessee, too.”

Damn. She had really figured my ass out. I couldn’t think of anything to say.

“What’d you do to him, Zo?”

“Why are you asking about this now? Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“I can’t sleep. Still wired from the party, and it’s been on my mind for a few days now. Just decided I’d ask. What’d you do to him?”

“Does it matter? What difference does it make?”

“I wanna know.”

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