Page 30 of Talk Birdie to Me

“That’s not the point, Geena.”

“What is the point, Ricky?”

She’d already had more than enough of his self-entitlement in their conversation. The sooner she could end this call, the better.

“The point is that you do not want this going to court. I’m allowed to spend my money like I want. And I get to spend some of that money on the woman I love without you deciding it’s owed to you.”

That was bait.

And while it was supposed to sting, it didn’t. Not one bit.

Well, not the other woman part.

The only thing that bothered her at all was his jab about spending his money the way he wanted. She’d always been the frugal one, making sure they had savings and taking care of maintenance things, while he had spent his spare money on dinners with friends and, as it seemed now, on other women.

She didn’t regret saving money. She only hated the unfairness of the arrangement.

And she didn’t care about any of that if it got him out of her life quicker.

“Who said anything about going to court? I asked a friend to be a second pair of eyes on my documents. You know I like to be thorough.”

“Yes, well, there’s a difference between being thorough and being difficult.”

“I’m not the one who’s been difficult through all of this.” Her pitch rose the more he got under her skin. She hated that he was getting to her.

Gary squawked in the background then shouted, “Bitches get stitches!”

“Was that a squawk?” Ricky asked. “Did you get a bird?”

“That’s not the point, Ricky.” She took two deep breaths and centered herself before continuing. “If you want to keep this in mediation—and trust me, it looks like that’s in your best interest—you’ll think twice before you try to threaten me again.”

She ended the call before he could respond.

That part felt good. Really good.

She smiled at the phone, glad that she’d gotten the upper hand for once. Then she took one more deep breath, exhaled slowly, and returned to the living room to learn how to care for a mouthy parrot.

9

Cody played a head-bobbing mimic game with Gary, which served two purposes. One, it gave Cody something to do while he waited for Geena to finish her call. Idle time was his nemesis. Normally, he’d end up doing some light snooping, but he was pretty sure Geena would take offense at that. So games with Gary it was.

This little game also served to keep Gary distracted and quiet.

Geena had seemed pretty upset about the message she’d gotten. Sounded like she was implying it was from her ex. The way it upset her made a protective urge swell inside Cody.

He rarely felt this way about people. Animals, yes. But people? Almost never.

He shook off the protective urge and the rabbit hole of thinking that could drag him to nowhere good. So he returned his attention to Gary and their game.

Cody found he actually missed his feathered friend. Gary was the most interactive grey he’d run across, and it was challenging but fun teaching him new words and phrases to replace the saltier ones he’d shown up with. That last part hadn’t exactly gone according to plan, but Cody had enjoyed the training time, even if it wasn’t a complete success.

Geena’s voice rose from the other end of the house. Cody couldn’t make out words, but she was definitely agitated about something.

“Bitches get stitches!”

It only took a moment of Cody’s attention being elsewhere for that bird to take advantage of the silence and fill it.

Cody put a finger to his lips. “Shh.”

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