Page 63 of Recipe for Rivals

“Hi, June,” I said. “We’re looking for a book today. Do you carryMatilda?”

“Of course I do!” She hopped down from her stool and came around the counter, leading us to a corner strung with twinkle lights over a beanbag chair and an array of children’s book characters in stuffed animal form. “It’s a classic.”

“Ben’s class just finished reading it, so they watched the movie today. We’re doing things a little backwards.”

“That’s how it goes sometimes.” She pulled the book from the shelf and presented it to me. I was taking it when the bell jangled above the door again, and Brody walked in.

“Coach said you have books for the fundraiser,” he said.

“Can you give me a minute?” June asked me. “Don’t go anywhere.”

I nodded, and she hurried toward the front door. “Come with me, Brody. I have a few bundles for you.”

“Mom,” Alice whispered, dragging me closer to the bookshelf. “Can we look at the other books?”

“There’s a deal,” Ben added, pointing at a sign taped to the shelf. “Twenty percent discount if you buy three books! That’s perfect.Matildaand one more for each of us.”

“I don’t know, bud.” Mental math wasn’t my forte, but I tried to do some to see how much money I’d have to part with.

“There’s a deal,” he reiterated, pointing to the sign like I hadn’t seen it.

“Right, but you still have to buy three books.”

Both of them looked up at me with round pleading eyes, and I was having a hard time reasoning my way out of this one. I mean, we were talking aboutbooks.

“Okay, fine. But they have to be under ten dollars each.”

They cheered. Ben dropped his backpack at my feet and started browsing small chapter books, and Alice went straight for the pink section.

I took both backpacks to the wall and set them out of the way, then sat on a small armchair near the beanbag,Matildaon my knees. I didn’t want to browse the books or I’d end upspending even more money, so I pulled out my phone instead. Trish had sent me a text, so I opened it.

Trish

Heard the news. Sending my love.

If she wanted me to ask her what the news was, she was going to be disappointed. Probably. I opened Instagram instead and went straight to Carter’s page, but his photos were all pretty typical. Black and white, him at events, leaning on bars, holding drinks, looking for all the world like he wasn’t a dad or a husband.

Well, he wasn’t a husband anymore, but he was still a dad.

The ring around his profile photo was colored in, indicating he’d posted a story—a photo that would disappear in twenty-four hours. I was tempted to look at it, but he would be able to see that I’d seen it. Oh, gosh. This was childish. Who cared if he knew that I watched his story? I’d muted his account when he left because I found myself watching it for updates to an unhealthy degree. Now I didn’t see his posts unless I sought them out, and he was none the wiser.

Trish’s text left me uneasy, though, so I pressed the button. The first photo was almost expired, Carter holding a drink beside another lawyer from his firm. Total East Coast bros. Then the second one popped up and my stomach fell clear to the floor. It was a selfie of Carter with a red-headed woman. No, girl? Could she be considered a woman when she hardly looked old enough to be in college? She was sitting on his lap and the dancing words in the corner of the screen saidmoving day.

Oh, no. I was gonna hurl.

I dropped my phone like it was made of lava and sat back, my breaths coming rapidly.

Carter was living with someone else already. Another woman—yes, I believed she was at least eighteen—was going to live in my home, cook with my things, sit on my reupholsteredarmchair. I could see the rust-colored brocade of the chair they were sitting in, and that seemed like the worst thing of all.

Maybe my brain was snagging on that detail because I needed something to focus my confusing whirl of feelings on, but it felt really important to me. I didn’t even know this person, and now she was living with my things.

No, notmythings, not anymore. The settlement stating all those things were now his had happened so fast. We’d managed it out of court with a mediator and our own lawyers. My brother’s friend had stepped up for me and I’d thought he got me a good chunk of money. Now I wondered if going through the courts would have gotten me more. Now I didn’t care as much about being amicable and wished I would’ve fought a little more.

Now I wanted to throw this book at Carter’s face.

“Coach!” Ben said, jumping up and running across the room.

I looked for Dusty, but it was just Brody looking ready to leave with a bag of books in his hand. His posture was a little bent and a yellowing bruise was spreading across his cheekbone. “Hey, little man.” Brody put out a fist for a bump. “You been working on catching?”

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