Page 202 of The Moment We Know

“Yes.”

With difficulty, David managed to keep the smile out of his voice. “Oh. Well, maybe he shouldn’t have been drinking and driving—”

“He wasn’t drinking and driving.”

“No? Then why did he get a DUI?”

“It’s not like he was drunk. He only had a couple of beers—”

“Which obviously put him over the legal limit,” David pointed out, before adding, “And here I thought he was a loser because he was abusive to defenseless children …” he trailed off as something occurred to him for the first time. “Wait a minute. Did that motherfucker ever drive with Jacob in the car after ‘a couple of beers’?” he asked, his voice now deadly.

Ashley didn’t say anything, and that told David all he needed to know.

Anger swept through him; if his phone hadn’t cost a ridiculous amount of money, he would’ve thrown it against a wall. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Jesus, relax. We were in my car, and it was fine. Jacob was in his car seat—”

“Holy fuck, you’re stupid,” he told her, conscious of Kim being nearby and trying to keep his volume down. “I can’t believe you let him do that. And I’m glad he got a DUI. That asshole deserves it—”

“Did you have anything to do with it?” she repeated a third time.

“How could I possibly have anything to do with it? I’m not the police officer that pulled him over.”

“I know you had something to do with it.”

“Considering I barely know anything about the guy—other than he likes to abuse defenseless children—how am I supposed to be involved with him drinking too much, then getting pulled over and being given a DUI?”

“You could’ve been watching him and called the police. Someone reported him, and I think it was you.”

“Watching him where, Ashley? I don’t know where he lives, or where he works. For fuck’s sake, I don’t even know his last name, or even what he really looks like, outside of a picture Jacob drew,” he said, the lies rolling off his tongue with impressive ease. “Which would’ve made it difficult to ‘watch’ him, even if I’d wanted to. Or had the time to surveil him in all my single fatherhood spare time. I know being a parent didn’t take up much of your time, but it takes up a lot of mine.”

He could practically hear her stewing on the other end, and David had to focus on not enjoying it; he’d do that later.

“So, are we done?” he asked sarcastically. “Yeah, I think we’re done. Quit trying to blame me for your boyfriend’s bad choices. Oh, and Ashley? Don’t ever fucking call me again.”

Then, with a satisfied expression, David disconnected the call and blocked her number, so that even if she did call him again, she wouldn’t get through.

Chapter 80

“This is so good,” David told Paige as they ate, with Jacob nodding his agreement as he wrestled with chopsticks. “Thank you for getting all this.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied, biting into a crispy egg roll, fried to perfection.

David had initially invited her over for dinner, intending to cook for her, but by noon, she’d decided to change the plan a little and get takeout from The Great Wall instead. Now, the kitchen table was sort of a free-for-all, with half a dozen containers full of various dishes—fried rice, Kung Pao chicken, sweet and sour pork, dumplings, chow mein, and egg rolls.

It was enough for six people and they’d just about obliterated most of the food when Valerie called.

Hearing his mom’s ringtone (“Thank you, Mom” by Good Charlotte), David quickly retrieved his phone from the kitchen island and answered it. “Hey, Mom,” he greeted her, only to frown a moment later. “What’s wrong?”

Paige glanced up at that and mouthed, Is she okay?

David gave a quick shake of his head before turning his attention back to Valerie, whose side of the conversation Paige couldn’t hear. And while it didn’t seem to be an emergency, it didn’t appear to be good, either. Worried, she got up to join David at the island and began absently petting Trick-or-Treat, who was stretched out full length on the granite countertop.

“All right,” he finally said. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. I need to stop at Home Depot and buy a shop-vac … no, I don’t have one. Because I don’t. Neither do you, so I’m going to go buy one … yeah, go ahead and start mopping up some of the water, if you want, but leave the washing machine alone. Okay … yes, I’ll see you soon.”

“What happened?” Paige asked after he’d hung up.

“Her washing machine leaked, and there’s water all over laundry room floor, and also in part of the kitchen.”

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