Page 118 of The Foul Out

Annoyance flashed through me, but it was quickly followed by shame. She’d told me the same thing dozens of times, but today, the message hit me differently.

Was that what I was doing with Kyle? Was I missing out on the good moments because I was scared? Scared of trusting, scared of getting hurt.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Henry grumped, “but I’d appreciate it if you two left. We were in the middle of something.”

I cringed. I did not want to think about that.

“Oh, I think we’re finished,” Eleanor groused.

“Like hell we are,” Henry said. “I took two of those blue pills. We have a good few hours left.”

Tempted to cover my ears, I pushed the man in front of me out into the hall and let the door slam shut behind us.

“Pretty sure I’ll be traumatized for life after that…”

I stared at him. No shit. But I reined in my composure. “Our residents deserve privacy and respect, so let’s just forget it happened.”

His face screwed up as he regarded me, as if I’d grown horns right in front of him.

Yeah, kid, I know. There’s no way I’ll forget it either.

“Maybe just go home tonight and get drunk. Come on.” I headed back for the elevator.

My coms beeped in my ear. “Do we need a bus?” Carolyn asked.

“No. False alarm. I’m coming down.” I hit the button to call the elevator.

“Good,” she said. “By the way, you have company waiting in your office.”

Company? Zara was the only one who visited me, but we hadn’t made plans to have lunch today. Though I supposed it wasn’t totally out of character for her to show up like this. Especially this last week and a half.

I cringed twice on the way down when flashes of the scene upstairs hit me and got sympathetic smiles from the nurse with me.

“Zara’s here?” I asked as I approached Carolyn’s desk.

“No,” she said. “It’s your ex-husband.”

Jace?

I stopped just inside the door and found him sitting in the chair in front of my desk.

“Hi, Harp.”

“Hi.” Without moving closer, I put my hands into my pockets and waited.

“Can we talk?” He waved at my desk chair.

Sighing, I pushed the door shut. A conversation with my ex was nowhere remotely close to enjoyable, but maybe it would cleanse my mind of the vision of my resident’s ass. Jace was good at pissing me off, and that would likely keep me thinking about whatever the hell he was going to say.

I moved around my desk and sank down into my chair. “What do you want to talk about?”

He set a check on the surface between us and pushed it my way. A check made out to me. For $10,710.

“That’s the last seven months of alimony.” He sighed. “I’ve got a job, and I’m doing well now. I was saving it to take the kids on a trip. Disney or something.” He lifted one shoulder, sheepish.

I bit back a frown. Piper would absolutely hate Disney at this point in her life.

“I’m working on being a better dad.” He ducked his head and cleared his throat. “And a big part of that is understanding my daughter. I realize now that though maybe a lot of girls her age would love to meet princesses, she probably wouldn’t do well with that kind of stimulation.”

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