Page 6 of Suddenly Single

“If you and Carter ever decide to separate, your assets will be better protected. Of course, we’d never let him leave without a fair settlement, but you must think of the future, son.” Mom took her glasses off and shook her head.

“What future? He'll go nuclear if he finds out about this.” A sob vibrated through my chest.

Mom steepled her hands under her chin. “Not if we don’t tell him, dear.”

Chapter 3

Carter

“Damn it.” I muttered. Someone was in my clearly marked, personal parking space. Hopefully, they were a paying customer. I pulled into the spot next to it, nearly scraping my hairdresser Karina’s yellow Range Rover. She rented the back of the renovated church for her salon, while I used the rest of the building for Camden-Yates Interiors.

When I stepped out of my Mercedes, I noticed three of Karina’s hairdressing apprentices hanging out on the back stairs smoking cigarettes. They knew that was a no-no, and I made a mental note to talk to her about it.

“Hi, Mr. Yates!” One of the apprentices called out, and the three of them dropped their cigarettes and raced back inside. I always entered through the rear of the building, and when I was at the top of the stairs, I could still smell tobacco. Definitely had to speak to Karina, because I didn’t want my clients to smell smoke on me.

I pushed the back door open, and strolled into the showroom, where Mom was helping a customer pick out throw pillows. While I worked exclusively with interior design, my mother managed the showroom and acted as my assistant. She waved and grinned at me as I breezed past them into the office. After hanging up my coat, I checked my calendar, then heard the click clack of Mom’s stiletto heels approaching.

“Darling, I talked that woman I was helping into setting up a consultation with you. She wants to enlarge her dressing room. Should be a piece of cake.” Mom grinned, and as always, I couldn’t help but wish her surgeon had been more conservative with her most recent nose job. Every time she smiled, I could see up her nostrils.

“Thanks, Mom.” I leaned back in my chair and sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Mother sat across from me in a Chippendale chair I’d found at an estate sale. “You look like someone kicked your dog.”

“Mom, the last twenty-four hours have been hellish, to say the least.” I groaned. “Asher doesn’t want me anymore.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Mom smoothed out her skirt. “It’s the stress of living with his snobby family. If the two of you could live away from them, I’m sure things would settle down. Lord, his mother, Marjorie, always looks down her nose at me.”

She did, but I couldn’t let Mom know that. For whatever reason, my mother-in-law disliked Mom. But she was always polite to her. I suspected Marjorie loved being the headstrong matriarch, while Mom also preferred being in charge. There wasn’t room for two queens in our family, and Mom was acutely aware of it.

“I saw Marjorie last week at Karina’s getting a blowout. She had the nerve to ask me if I’d had a facelift.” Mom stood up and began pacing in front of my desk. “I told her that aside from a little tweak here and there, I’d never had any sort of major surgery.”

I rolled my eyes. When Mom crossed her legs her mouth automatically snapped open. “Mom, at breakfast this morning, I asked Asher if he had to do it all over again, would he still marry me.”

“And?” Mom raised a perfectly painted-on eyebrow.

“He said, no, he wouldn’t.”

“Oh my God.” Mom sank into the chair and fanned herself. The skin on her neck was bright red. I stood and got a bottle of cold water out of the mini-fridge behind the little bar in the corner. Mom insisted she wasn’t going through the change, but it was plain as the non-surgically altered nose on my face that she was. “Thanks, Carter.”

I sat down and cradled my face in my hands for a moment. “Mom, Asher doesn’t love me anymore. I can tell.”

“Oh baby, he probably woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” Mom said, then drained half the bottle of water at once.

“Make that the wrong side of the couch. I kicked him out of the bedroom last night.”

“Why?”

“Because, when I asked him if we could get remarried, so our families could actually watch us, he said no. I mean, why would I want to share the bed with someone who doesn’t want to be married to me?” I grimaced. “Then at breakfast this morning, and by the way, Marjorie was already tipsy when they left for the office, he said he wished we’d never been married.”

“That bitch needs AA.” Mom winked, and I wondered if I could see the inside of her brain through her prominent nostrils. Nothing made her happier than hearing the sordid details of Asher’s family. “And sweety, you’re already married. It’s not like he’s asked you for a divorce.”

“What if I want one?” I huffed. “I take that back. By the end of breakfast, he agreed to have a new ceremony performed. It thrilled his entire family, of course, and his grandmother is helping me plan it.”

Mom lowered her eyes and sniffed.

“Oh, and you’re helping too. The event planner at the country club thinks a ceremony there would be perfect.” I grinned, hoping to smooth things over. Mom thought the Yates hated her and deliberately left her out of certain family activities. They didn’t hate her, but they didn’t know exactly how to fit her into their family. Mom was a loud dresser and a talker. The Yates were old money, and Mom felt insecure when she was around them.

Mom sighed, then we heard the bell ring, which indicated someone had come inside the showroom. “Let me help the customer, sweetheart.”

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