Page 58 of Wife Number One

How the hell had that happened?

I needed a drink to come to terms with that, and I had an hour to kill. I left my car parked outside the vet and wandered around the streets of Providence in search of somewhere I could get a beer with my lunch. I passed a couple of men’s clothing stores that sold shirts and pants a damn sight nicer than the ones in the big, budget-friendly department store in Saint View where most people I knew bought their clothes. I caught a glimpse of a price tag on a suit hanging by the door and did a double take.

While residents over in Saint View seemed to be cutting back on the basics like eating out at cheap hole-in-the wall diners, Providence was over here spending a thousand bucks on a single outfit?

Insane.

Then again, I’d just agreed to spend that on my trio of kittens, so maybe I was crazy too.

The cafés were all busy, no available seats to be seen at any of the ones I checked. Each was full of ladies dining with friends, couples sitting opposite each other, or families with well-behaved children quietly drawing on paper or watching iPads while their parents ordered for them.

I stopped in at one that had a menu that made my taste buds tingle and saliva fill my mouth, but was quickly told that without a reservation, I wouldn’t be getting seated today. Or even this month. They were that booked up.

I wanted to scream with frustration.

That new restaurant Luca was opening just down the road was going to make an absolute killing.

My feet took me there without conscious thought from my brain.

If I’d truly been thinking clearly, I would have walked the other way. Or even better, run screaming.

But I stood outside the restaurant that should have been mine and wished with everything inside me that things had worked out differently.

I stood there, losing myself in the daydream.

I didn’t notice the silver car pull up behind me, or the man who got out of it until he was standing right beside me, his arms crossed over his chest, matching my position. I didn’t acknowledge him. Both of us stared at the building that held so much damn potential I wanted to weep.

“You ready to look at that contract yet?” Luca asked.

And fuck me, I hated myself. But with no job, no prospects, and no hope of changing my life, I nodded.

17

KARA

Amber scuttled from Hawk’s bedroom without a scrap of clothing on, his bedroom door slamming closed behind her so hard we all looked in that direction.

Bliss got to her feet very quickly for a woman as pregnant as she was, calling for all the kids to run outside for a game of tag. Rebel followed her best friend, helping to herd the combo of hers and Bliss’s kids out the door and away from the very adult content that had just fled down the hallway to her own room.

“You coming?” Rebel asked me.

I didn’t even know what to say. “Is she okay?”

Rebel’s eyebrows furrowed together. “Who? Amber? She’s fine. This is a regular thing with her and Hawk. He’s an asshole, but she’s a big girl, tough enough to take his bullshit and give back her own. Honestly, they fight like an old married couple, but they’ll be fucking again within the hour. This is nothing to be worried about.”

“Oh.” I dropped my gaze to my fingers. “I understand.”

Rebel cocked her head to one side. “So, you coming out?”

I eyed Hawk’s bedroom door. “Actually, could you watch Hayley Jade for me for a few minutes? There’s something I want to do.”

Rebel shrugged. “Sure. But what are you doing?”

“I want to apologize to Hawk.”

Rebel’s mouth dropped open. “What on earth for? He just cussed you out in front of everyone. Not to mention he just sent Amber running from his room without even giving her a second to get her clothes on. The fucking pig.”

I winced at my sister’s sharp words. There was clearly no love lost between the two of them. They hadn’t exactly been besties back when I’d been brought here, but things obviously hadn’t gotten any better in the years since I’d been gone either.

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