Page 26 of Beautiful Broken Love

“I do,” she replied curtly.

I stepped back to let her into the house, and she closed the door behind her. I retrieved the baby-blue photo album from the cabinet of the TV stand and carried it to her.

“None of the pictures have been removed, have they?”

“No, Gloria. I can assure you all the pictures are there.”

She narrowed her eyes at me, then pointed her attention over my shoulder. Octavia was walking inside, her lips pressed and her arms crossed as she looked my mother-in-law from head to toe.

“Is that all?” I asked, and Gloria put her focus on me.

“Yes, that’s all.”

“Good, because we were in the middle of enjoying wine and cupcakes to celebrate Lew’s birthday.”

Gloria’s eyes watered as she averted her attention to the box of cupcakes on the counter. Her throat bobbed, and she hugged the photo album to her chest. I felt sorry for her, and that was a rare thing to feel for a woman like her.

“Would you like to join us?”

She swallowed and swiftly shook her head. “No. I have a busy night. Goodbye, Davina.”

I watched her walk out the door and shook my head. Why couldn’t she be a normal person? Always with her dramatic entrances and judgment.

I hate saying it, but Gloria Roberts was a stuck-up bitch, and though I hated the stigma of daughters disliking their mothers-in-law, I truly didnotlike mine. She’d made it that way, though, and it’d onlygotten worse after Lewis died. She kept telling me I should’ve tried harder for him—that I should’ve been awake when he died, as if I wasn’t carrying enough guilt about it.

When it came to Lew’s wake, Gloria had been theworst. It was common knowledge that she liked to be the center of attention, but that day she madeeverythingabout her.

She didn’t like the food, so she ordered a meal from DoorDash she could eat. She didn’t want to see images of me and Lew together inside my house, so she stayed outside the majority of the time, smoking her cigarettes and shit-talking.

She didn’t even say goodbye when she left, but she kept popping by for little things afterward, like Lew’s football jersey from college, or the fedora his dad had passed down to him. It was vintage, and she felt it was important to hold on to.

I had never minded giving her those things. The only thing that bugged me was that she never provided a heads-up. She just showed up at my doorstep like I wasmeantto be at her service. She’d blamed me for everything that went wrong in Lew’s life, even his cancer.

“You’re the one who’s killing him. You’re the reason he’s so sick!”I could still remember her shouting that in my face when Lew told her about the diagnosis.

“Why is that heffa always popping up?” Octavia grumbled when we were back in our seats on the deck.

“I don’t know, but I swear I might end up going off on her one day. She’s really been testing my patience.”

Octavia laughed as my phone vibrated. It was a notification for a new email, but I had to read who it was from twice, because I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.

Davina,

I hope you don’t mind me reaching out to you like this. I told Arnold to give me your email address.Just checking in with you. Hope you’re good. I know you’ve probably heard this a million times and are sick of it, but I’m truly sorry for your loss. If I’d known, I never would’ve brought your husband up at Silver Wolf.

Keep your head up.

Deke

I tugged on the string of my hoodie while reading the email again. First the flowers to my house and now this?

I probably shouldn’t have emailed him back so quickly—hewasmy colleague, after all—but he’d sent the tulips, which were pretty and thoughtful, and the man had carved time out of his schedule to type up a personal condolence letter.

I pressed Reply.

Hey Deke,

Thank you for reaching out and for checking on me. You didn’t have to do that. Seriously. But thank you. The flowers are gorgeous. I’m surprised you remembered tulips are my favorite. I am curious how you got my home address, though. Don’t tell me you’re stalking me now.

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