Page 76 of Beautiful Broken Love

Tish stood behind Gloria, her eyes wide with shock. “I tried to stop her, Vina! She went right through me.”

“No, it’s okay. Tish. Don’t worry about it.” I kept my eyes locked on Gloria as I took my feet off the massager and stood up. “Gloria, it’s one thing to show up at my house, but to barge in to my office like this? Are you serious right now? What are you doing here?”

“Oh, you want to act like you don’t know?” she spit, her face reddening even more.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I snapped.

“This!” She stormed across the room in her flats and shoved her phone in my face.

I snatched it away from her, and when I caught an image of me and Deke leaving Manhattan Rose, my heart plummeted.

“What?” I breathed. “What is ...”

“You just couldn’t wait to spread your legs for another man when Lew died, could you?”

I snapped my head up, pinning her with my eyes. “Tish,” I said as calmly as I could. “Close the door.”

Tish closed it without hesitation, and I tossed Gloria’s phone onto a pile of papers on the desk before folding my arms. “First of all, what I do with my life is no business of yours,” I retorted as she snatched up her phone. The calm was wearing off me now. My heart was pounding, fury simmering in my veins. “Secondly, how dare you come tomyoffice shouting at me aboutmylife!”

I mean, who the fuck did she think she was, coming in like this? She could show up at my house all she wanted, but coming to my job was crossing the line.

“Are you sleeping with the guy in these pictures?” she asked in a hiss. “You’re so pathetic, Davina. You were a terrible match for Lew. God, I don’t even know why he chose you!”

“Oh,fuck you, Gloria!” I shouted, and damn, did it feel good. Out of respect for Lew, I always kept my mouth shut. I always kept it respectful, and if I couldn’t contain it, I’d walk away so I wouldn’t go off on her.

Not this time, though. This time she’d pushed every single one of my buttons, and there was no patience left within me for her.

I marched around my desk, and she took a step back as I neared her. “Do you really have the nerve to show up here and reprimand me when you couldn’t even be there for your own son? Lew called you every day, but did you answer? No. You only did whenyoufelt like it.”

“I was traveling!”

“Oh, right.Gloria Travels,” I said in a jeer, referring to her stupid blog, where she traveled and wrote about it. And no, she wasn’t paid to do this. She did this willingly with the life insurance payout she’d acquired from her husband’s—Lewis’s dad—death. “Traveling meant more to you than coming to see Lew? Those last few weeks, heaskedfor you, Gloria. He was waiting for you to walk through that door, but you never showed up. Typical Gloria, always making an excuse to not take care of her own child.”

“I birthed and raised him!” she countered, getting in my face again. “He wouldn’t have been the man he was without me!”

“Wrong. He wouldn’t have been the man he was without his father, who also died when you weren’t there. Don’t act like you were the good parent to him.”

Gloria sucked in a sharp breath, and her eyes glistened.

I’d had enough of backing down from her—from handling things so kindly. Why the hell was she even here? I hadn’t heard from her since she showed up about the photo album. Now all of a sudden she was charging into my office and shouting at me? What was wrong with this woman? I get she was lonely and miserable, but I’d never seen someone try so hard to drag another person into their misery.

I took a moment to collect myself, realizing her barging in like this wasn’t about me. All of this was from a problem she had brewing within herself, and she was looking for someone else to blame.

“Look, I get that everyone grieves in their own way, but this is not it, Gloria. Taking your anger out on me because you didn’t do your part as a mother is wrong, so don’t youevercome into my space pointing fingers at me when I dideverythingfor Lewis. He was the love of my life, and I would’ve done anything for him, but he was dying. Do you think I asked for that? Do you think I walked into our marriage wishing he’d die when he was in his thirties?I loved him, Gloria! I never wanted him to leave me!”

She blinked as she backed away, but I couldn’t see her clearly anymore, because my vision had blurred. I blinked and waited to hear what else she could spew at me as she shifted on her feet.

She looked awful, like she hadn’t slept properly in months, and she reeked of stale cigarettes. She normally wore a lot of makeup but not that day. It was like she rolled out of bed, saw the news leak on BOBBLE, and drove straight to my office.

When she didn’t speak, I pointed at the door. “If that’s all, you can leave now. I have work to do.”

“I can’t believe you.” Gloria pointed an angry finger at me. “I hope this new guy you’re with forgets about you like you’ve forgotten about Lew.”

She turned on her heel, snatched the door open, and stormed out. I stared after her until my vision grew blurry again, then rushed to slam the door.

My knees felt like they were going to give out on me as I walked back to my chair to sink into it. I glanced at my phone and was shocked when I realized Deke was still on the line.

I picked the phone up and brought it to my ear with a shaky hand. “Oh my goodness.Deke?”

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