Page 27 of Second Chance Husband

As we drove up the highway, I frowned over at her after going over her words. “You’re selling something?”

She nodded tightly. “The matchmaking company. We’re almost done with all of the paperwork, but the original owners wanted to try something new, and while they weren’t the overall shareholders, I wasn’t about to hurt the company by being set in my ways. It’s a good move, and it’ll make everyone a lot of money. So what could be wrong about it?”

“Probably because selling a matchmaking company while your divorce is in the news isn’t the thing you really want to deal with.”

She scowled over me. “I love that everybody seems to be in PR these days.”

“What? I read things.” Though I’d done my best to ignore any mention of my ex-wife in the news recently.

She snorted. “You do. And the process of selling the company had been going on longer than my divorce. Although it felt like forever for my divorce.” She rolled her eyes at that, and I changed lanes, getting out of the way of an eighteen-wheeler that was already having issues with the mountains.

“So, other than Jacob being an asshole, what happened?”

“What happened with Dakota?” she shot right back. “I was surprised not to find her here.”

I scowled. “Dakota and I just didn’t work out,” I said vaguely.

There was no need for her to realize that Dakota had dumped me because she thought I still had feelings for Paisley. Because that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Fine, don’t tell me. However, I’m not going to be able to hide why I got a divorce soon. Because Jacob will be marrying the lovely Lydia Samson soon.”

My foot revved the engine a bit, and I held onto the steering wheel, making sure I didn’t lose control. “He fucking cheated on you?”

The laugh that escaped her throat was anything but humorous. “Yep. Nearly the whole time. And her family makes a lot more sense than my family as far as who he should be married to. So I don’t know why he didn’t just marry her to begin with. But no, he wanted to fuck her when he was fucking me over. So yes, soon people will realize that the timeline of his upcoming nuptials are going to be a little too tight for everybody to be happy about it. So now I will not only be the woman who got left behind, I’ll be the scorned woman, the other woman.”

“I’m pretty sure Lydia would be the other woman.”

“Maybe. Or maybe I was just the other woman that he happened to marry for a little while. He thought he could use my money, my business ties, and mold me into the woman he wanted, and it didn’t work out. It’s fine, Lydia fits him like a glove, a snakeskin one. And they can be happy and take over the world together, and I will just take over the business world, and crush him with my stiletto whenever I can.”

Emotions warred within me, at the pride of knowing that she could break him, but anger at the fact that that man had dared to hurt her.

Because in the nonchalance, and her anger woven through it, she was hurt.

And damn it, I didn’t want to feel anything.

“I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “Don’t be. You didn’t do anything.”

Yes, I did; I was the one that had started this all, but I wasn’t about to make this all about me. Not when this was our family trip, and I needed to get over myself.

“If you want, I could beat him up. But I feel like you should be the one to do that.”

Her lips twitched. “That is very true. I’ve always wanted to kick his ass, but I’m not a violent person.”

“You’re not. And frankly, I’m not either. I joke about it, but I’ve never beaten the shit out of someone.”

“It sounds like it’d be a lot of work. And then we’d have to deal with icing your hands, because no matter what, you’d still hurt yourself. There are other ways to break a man down though.” She winced. “When I’m talking about this, I’m not talking about you. I’d like to think that you and I have found a reasonable middle ground here where we don’t hate each other.”

“I don’t hate you, Paisley,” I whispered.

I heard her swallow, before she let out a breath. “I don’t hate you either. Sometimes I used to think it would be easier to, but for some reason I’m going on your family vacation, because I love those two women that happened to marry into your family, and Greer is becoming a good friend as well. So, I am fine. Everything is fine.”

“Your voice got a little high when you said that.”

“It did, didn’t it?” she said with a laugh. “I have a couple more emails to deal with, and then I’m going to relax on vacation. With your family.”

“The girls are your family too.”

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