Page 67 of Follow My Heart

“I wanted to let you know that I’m seeing someone in case Faith mentions it,” I said with my heart thudding in my ears.

Stacy rubbed her arms. “Our divorce isn’t even final.”

I barely restrained myself from rolling my eyes. “It’s a formality at this point. The hearings already scheduled in a couple of weeks. And you’ve been dating Phil since you asked for a separation.”

Her head tipped to the side. “Are you accusing me of something?”

“I don’t care if you were with Phil before. It makes no difference. You were right to end things. We hadn’t been happy for a long time.”

Stacy stilled. “What are you saying?”

She hadn’t expected me to say that. I was always the one encouraging her not to give up on us. “Just because we weren’t meant to be together doesn’t mean we don’t deserve to be happy with someone else.”

Her face was pinched, and her tone had a bite to it. “Who are you seeing?”

“Her name is Violet. She owns an ice-cream shop in town.” Nerves fluttered in my stomach.

“How interesting.” Her nose wrinkled, and I wondered if she’d ever respected my job.

I didn’t rise to the bait and defend Violet. It would be pointless. “I thought you should know.”

“Is she staying overnight at the house when Faith is there?” Stacy asked, her foot tapping.

“Is Phil?” I shot back.

Her nose pinched.

“If you don’t want to answer these questions, then you shouldn’t be asking them of me.” She wanted to control everyone around her. Yet she didn’t play by the same rules.

“Do we need to revisit our custody agreement?” Stacy asked.

“I see Faith every other weekend. What would you propose? I not see her at all?” Now I was irritated.

A snide smile curved over Stacy’s face, and I wondered how I was ever in love with her. “You live in another state. It’s obvious Faith isn’t your number-one priority.”

“I moved to be closer to my family. I want to spend more time with Faith. No judge will give me less time.” I was confident about that. My attorney mentioned that judges respected other clients in similar roles with the government because of our security clearance. Apparently, it made us inherently trustworthy.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” she said with less confidence this time.

“We should be working together to make Faith’s life the best it can be. Which includes seeing both of us.” I walked away because that’s all I had to say on the subject. I wanted to avoid custody battle, especially when our divorce was so close to being final.

I was calling her bluff. I hoped it worked because I didn’t want to complicate the divorce or get into a lengthy and expensive battle with my ex-wife.

I was hoping this stand was the only one I’d need to take.

CHAPTER 15

VIOLET

Ifloated through the next week, high on the weekend I’d spent with Ryder and his family. Even though he hadn’t taken me along to drop off Faith, I still felt like our relationship was moving in the right direction.

It was new, and I understood that he didn’t want to involve me in the visitation exchanges yet, and I didn’t want to make anything harder on him or Faith. I was sure he’d want to keep it drama-free.

I hoped I wasn’t ignoring a huge red flag. That he was going to keep his relationship with me separate from that part of his life.

On Friday morning, it was slow, so when an unknown number appeared on my screen, I answered it.

“Sweet Scoops.”

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