Page 99 of Just My Ex

“She?” Henry and I ask in unison.

“Nancy Delfini. She’s being detained at the county police station.”

“Aunt Nancy? What in the world?” I rub my collarbone. “She hosts social dance nights and holiday sing-alongs for her neighborhood. She’s crocheted me like five Afghans.”

“She admitted to coming here from California to try to terrorize you into giving up your inheritance. She graffitied my resort!” Sebastian’s got a vein in his forehead that’s throbbing. “The security team caught her trying to spray paint another big sign on the front wall a couple of hours ago.”

“So, when Raymond was put in jail, she decided to continue his quest to shake me down?”

“She was yelling at the security team while they were detaining her. Something about your grandfather being angry they’d spent all the money he’d given her and Raymond.”

I slap my forehead, possibilities forming in my mind. “That would explain why my grandfather didn’t want to give them his money in the end. Maybe they’d already received and spent their inheritance.”

“She yelled something about how Raymond spent it all on his stupid gags and that she hated him for it.”

“I cannot believe my family.” I rest my head in my hands.

“I can’t believe our family, either,” Gabriel offers numbly.

“Mind blown.” Oliver says.

I look up, and all I see is Henry. “Let’s go get Navie.”

Henry nods. “I miss her.” He slides his arms around me and whispers in my ear. “Let’s go get our girl.”

When we go to pick up Navie, she throws a tantrum because she doesn’t want to leave.

A royal, incredible tantrum. Whoever called it the “terrible twos” never saw a three-year-old completely lose it.

I’m carrying her, my head tucked trying to protect myself from her wild arms and legs. “It’s good for you to see this side of her, Henry. She’s gone way too long being on her best behavior around you,” I tell him loudly so he can hear me over Navie’s din.

His eyes are wide, but he smiles. “An initiation. Feels good.”

She slams her head on my shoulder as we walk to the car from Stella’s, Flubbers tucked under one arm.

“Welcome to your new life.” I smile, and he reaches for Navie. He pulls her into his arms.

“Come here, my love,” he says to her, tugging her close. “Sh sh sh. We’ll see Stella again soon.”

Seeing this does something to me. For the first time in a very long time, I feel hope.

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Henry-Four Months Later

“You’re not allowed to quit, Henry,” my boss, Carla, says to me over speaker phone from her office in D.C. She already knows I’m quitting; she’s just giving me a hard time.

We’re in the kitchen, back home in Irvine, and the place is stacked with wall-to-wall boxes. Packing up a house with a three-year-old “helper” is no joke. We’ve had to be very strategic about which items of Navie’s we pack up and which ones we save for right before we move.

Quinn’s spaghetti sauce is just starting to simmer on the stove. Navie’s playing nearby with an unpredictable assortment of toys, everything from puzzle pieces to plastic tubs full of Legos. And of course, her litter of stuffed animal puppies. And I’m at the table, the big, old, round, farmhouse table Quinn and I picked out when we were newlyweds.

It smells like home, feels like home.

And I’m hoping our new place in Longdale quickly feels the same. When we get all of our stuff settled in, it will.

Except, Quinn looks confused as she steps to the table. She probably thinks Carla’s serious about me not being allowed to quit. I squeeze Quinn’s hand and give her a reassuring look.

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