Page 42 of Designs on You

She laughed. “I’m gonna go see Mommy. Bye, Eugene.”

“Bye, Cammie.”

Sean said, “I’ll be right there, honey.”

“Okay, Daddy.”

He went over and held out his hand. “Hi. I’m Eugene Kennedy, a friend of Natalie’s. We met a couple of weeks ago at Christopher’s birthday party.”

Sean gave him the once-over. “Right. So you’re dating my wife?”

So that’s how this was going to go. “You know, I don’t think that’s any of your business. Anyway, nice to see you again, Sean.”

He walked away, not wanting to get into an altercation with Natalie’s ex-husband. Eugene pulled out of the driveway, lingering as he watched Sean go to the door, deciding to wait it out in case something went sideways. Natalie and Sean talked for a few minutes, and it was clear Sean wasn’t happy, but Natalie stood her ground. Finally, Sean went back toward his car and got in, started it up, and backed down the driveway, so Eugene drove off.

Well, that was awkward, but probably couldn’t be helped.

He just hoped Natalie was okay with it. The last thing he wanted to do was add more stress to her life, especially now, when things between them were just starting to get good.

He’d call her tomorrow to check on Christopher and see how she felt about everything.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“He said what?”

Natalie sipped her iced coffee. She’d been pissed off since her conversation with Sean the other night. She’d tried to let it go, but it stuck with her, and the more she thought about it, the angrier she got. So she’d asked Hazel to meet for lunch. Hazel couldn’t do that, said she had a few errands to run, but she said she’d bring coffee over to Natalie’s office, which Natalie happily agreed to.

“He said that I had no right to bring a man to, and I quote, ‘our home,’ while the kids were there.”

Hazel reared back in shock. “I assume you told him to shove his opinions up his ass.”

Natalie snorted a laugh. “In similar words, yes. I told him the house was mine based upon our divorce agreement, so he had no right to tell me who I could have there. I reminded him we are divorced now, so my personal life is none of his business. Then he tried to tell me that I couldn’t parade a bunch of men around our children, to which I told him that Eugene was one guy, and I wasn’t parading anyone around.”

“Oh, that’s rich, coming from him.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“It means that Linc and I ran into him and some extremely clingy woman when we went out to eat pizza last week. And your kids were with them. I mean, it was obvious she was his date. Or his girlfriend or something. They were—how do I put this—very close. The kids didn’t seem to care, but still, hello, pot, meet kettle.”

“So.” She picked up her coffee and took a long sip, pondering the info she’d just gotten from Hazel. “In other words, he can bring our kids around his dates, but I’m not allowed. That is some serious bullshit.”

“Indeed.”

Now she was even angrier. So angry, she wanted to drive to the hospital where he worked and scream at him. But that would be a bad look, and Natalie would never do that, anyway. Still, she and Sean needed to have a conversation, and sooner rather than later.

Right now, though, she needed to push it to the back of her mind, or it was going to eat her up. She changed the subject so they could talk about anything other than her ex.

“How’s Christopher doing?” Hazel asked.

“He’s good. The stitches don’t bother him, though he’s upset that he can’t go swimming.”

“That’ll be over soon enough, though.”

“Yeah, the stitches come out Monday, so I’m sure the first thing he’ll want to do when we get home is jump into the pool.”

“Can’t blame him. Having a pool in Orlando is a necessity.”

“No lie. Hey, I’ve got some preliminary plans drawn up for your backyard space. I can run those over tonight if you’re not busy.”

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