Page 208 of The Bonus

“Yes, yes, no emergency or anything. I’m just letting you know that we have had a request from the children’s father, a Mr. Gabriel Ferrara, to be included in all school correspondence from now on.”

Thump, thump, thump goes my heartbeat in my ears.

“Did you, now?”

“That’s fine, isn’t it? It’s protocol to check with you that this is okay.”

I close my eyes and I really want to scream no, but I know I have to pick my battles; this isn’t one of them. “That’s fine, Shelby.”

“Okay, have a nice day.”

“You too.”

She hangs up, and I stare at the wall for a moment; in fact, I stare at the wall all day.

I have this deep sense of dread that everything’s changing and there’s not a thing I can do about it.

Why did I sleep with him, what the hell was I thinking?

I sit in my car as I dial the number. I had to wait for my lunch break to call Gabriel, and now, because I don’t want my nosy colleagues to hear what I have to say, I’m hiding in my car.

Ring ring…ring ring…

“Yes,” he answers.

Instantly, my hackles rise, why does he think it’s okay to answer the phone like that?

“I believe you are meant to answer the phone with hello.”

“What is it, Grace? I’m very busy.”

I feel my temperature rise. Honestly, I’ve never met someone so infuriating.

“I need to talk to you.”

“About?”

“Don’t act cute, Gabriel. You know damn well what I’m calling about.”

He exhales in an overdramatic fashion. “Oh, let’s see, Grace…it could be a plethora of reasons why you called me. What I served the children for dinner, the joke I told them over the table, the fact that I want them to have my name as well as yours, or perhaps it’s the school…or maybe you just want to use my dick again to get off.”

My blood boils.

“Don’t be vulgar,” I whisper angrily.

“If the shoe fits.”

“Can we just be civil?”

“That doesn’t work for me.”

Silence…

“I don’t have time to sit here and listen to you breathe down the phone, Grace. What. Do. You. Want.”

“The kids said you want them to change their name to Ferrara.”

“Nope.”

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