Page 59 of Cups of You

Evangeline tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder. “Did you know Olivia has a girlfriend?”

That was not what he was expecting but he saw no reason to lie. “Yes.”

She nodded her head frown etched on her face. “And you didn’t think that was information I should know?”

“It wasn’t my information to tell,” he countered. “I’m assuming she told you now, so what’s the problem?”

“The problem is you using our daughter to get back at me.”

“What?” He dropped his arms as he tried to understand her jump in logic. “Why would I use—”

“I know you’re angry with how things ended, but it has been years since our divorce. I thought you would take the mature route and keep it to yourself,” she continued. “Olivia was an absolute terror all weekend and wouldn’t listen to me at all when I spoke to her about it.”

“I’m still not sure how this—”

“This girlfriend stunt is probably another jab to get back at me.”

“Why would Olivia get a girlfriend to get back at you?” Benjamin asked with a tilt of his head. Nothing she was saying made the slightest bit of sense and now he was regretting not telling her to just call or text him to save him from dealing with this craziness in person.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me she had one? The moment she told you, you should have let me know.”

He shook his head. “No way. That was Olivia’s business, not mine.”

“So, what next? She starts using drugs and you don’t say anything because you’re still hurt that I left you? Is that why you told Olivia about my infidelity?”

Benjamin heard a tire screech in his brain.Wait, what?“What are you—how did she find out about that?”

Evangeline huffed and put her hands on her hips. “Like you don’t know.”

“I don’t,” Benjamin bit out. He ground his teeth together as he tried to keep calm. He had known that one day Olivia would probably put the timeline together and figure out about her mom’s cheating, but he had always hoped that day would have been far in the future when she was well into adulthood. “I didn’t tell her, and I never planned to.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you believe, Evangeline.” Her eyes widened but he didn’t care to give her time to speak. “I didn’t tell her that you destroyed our marriage and broke up our family because I wanted her to still have a good relationship with you. I didn’t tell you about her girlfriend, because that is her business and the fact that this is how you reacted clearly shows why she was probably so hesitant to tell you in the first place.”

“I can’t believe you—”

“I don’t know what you hoped to gain from coming in here,” he said barreling over her words. “But I don’t appreciate it and I know our daughter wouldn’t either. If you have issues with the fact that Olivia is dating a girl, then you better get over that shit fast before you give her another reason to not want to listen to you.”

“We’re supposed to be co-parenting Ben.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Co-parenting? Co-parenting isn’t you barging into my business making accusations at me. If you have concerns, then text me or call me like an adult. I have zero desire to play into your drama Evangeline, so I think you should leave.”

Her arms dropped and she looked at him with her mouth open as if she wasn’t sure what to say. Benjamin had never felt this angry at her, not when her infidelity had been uncovered, not even when she had chosen her affair partner over their family. Then he had felt mostly sadness and embarrassment at having been caught so unaware.

Now he felt enraged that Olivia had been dragged into this.

“Ben—”

“Do not call me Ben,” he bit out before opening the door. “Leave.”

She looked at him the silence stretching out between them. He flattened his lips giving her nothing to work with. Benjamin had nothing else to say to her that hadn’t already been said and now he needed time to figure out how to handle the fallout that had clearly been a long time coming.

Evangeline opened and closed her mouth before turning and leaving without another word. He let the door close behind her as he took a moment to catch his breath. He wasn’t sure when he started breathing hard, but now in the silence of the back room, he could hear each huff of breath as it whistled between his clenched teeth.

The day had started out so promising, but now all Benjamin wanted was for it to end.

TWENTY-TWO

---