Page 5 of Recipes for Life

"I would never do that."

"Is there any chance of reconciliation?" he questioned.

"No." My voice was firm, which once again caused Wynn to look at me with surprise, but I could tell she was proud of me.

"I just...I can't see him again, not for a while. Is there a way to make that happen?" I wondered to myself, but I must have spoken it out loud.

"Once again, I'm not a family lawyer, but if he has access to his daughter, I don't see why you would have to. I would get in touch with your mother-in-law, see if she can handle the go-between with you guys regarding Lux until you can get in front of a judge. Give me a few hours, and I'll get you representation.” He hung up without another word.

The second the line was free again, Wynn’s phone went off like a bomb, buzzing and vibrating with the acronym "BIL" flashing across the screen.

"He knows I'm here; I'd have nowhere else to go." I shrugged.

She snatched the phone from the middle of the table. "Murphy," she said with such malice when she answered, even I flinched at her tone.

"Wynn..." I heard him speak, and I felt the bile rise again. I couldn't make out what else he said after that, only her response.

"What kind of man are you that you don't know where your daughter oryourwifeis at three in the morning on a Friday night? Be lucky it wasn't me who caught you, because you and your girlfriend's bodies would be six feet under by now. My lawyer will be in touch first thing," she hissed and hung up the phone. She looked me over again.

"I have a plan," I said.

Chapter 4

Odette

My plan was ultimately reliant on what the lawyer would say, though I knew I was at a disadvantage because Murphy was a lawyer himself. Although he didn't dabble in family law, there were others at his firm who did. I didn't sleep a wink that night as Wynn and I planned a very new future for Lux and me.

It was around five-thirty in the morning when Wynn’s phone rang with an unknown number. Knowing it was whoever Dan was able to contact, I answered the phone for her on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Is this Mrs. Lake?" a female voice inquired.

"It is, but I'd prefer you called me by my maiden name from here on out, which is James. Odette James."

"Very well, Mrs. James." I thought about correcting her that I was no longer a missus anything, but at this moment, by the eyes of the law, I was still indeed a missus.

"My name is Bethany O'Rourke; I work with O'Rourke And Company. My lovely colleague Dan woke me up at an ungodly hour, explained the situation to me, and now I would like to hear it from you. From the beginning."

For what felt like the hundredth time in the last twelve hours, I relayed what had happened, what I walked into—only this timethere wasn't a tear in sight. My heart felt desolate, incomplete, destroyed, unfeeling.

"That rat bastard. I'll take him for everything he's worth, I promise," Bethany said with such vengeance that I believed her.

"Actually, we've spent the majority of the night planning, and that's not what Odette wants," Wynn said from beside me.

"Who's that?" Bethany demanded. I must have neglected to tell her that she was on speaker, and Wynn was privileged to the conversation we were having.

"Sorry, that's Wynn, my sister." I smacked her arm for possibly getting me in trouble with what seemed to be my only lifeline. She just shrugged and kept talking.

"Listen, I'm going to give Odette and Lux my cottage, and I've currently transferred a good portion of money into an account I had opened for her years ago, so she doesn't need anything from him."

I looked at her with wide eyes. "What are you talking about?" I asked, completely forgetting we had a third party on the phone.

"I make a lot of money, Odette; I wanted to make sure you and Lux would always be taken care of."

I spluttered, "No, absolutely not, Wynn. That isn't part of the plan."

My plan had been to stay here for a few weeks while I started a new job, save up a few paychecks, get an apartment somewhere for Lux and me, and ask Murphy for as little as humanly possible. The only large hitch to my plan was that I didn't want to see him.

Icouldn'tsee him.

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