Page 56 of Scripted for Love and Poison
“We’re no longer co-living, in case you had forgotten,” David told her.
She breathed deeply to appease her nerves and exasperation. There was no way she was going to make him understand anything. She hadn’t achieved it during the ten years they’d been together. One conversation years after the worst divorce in the history of separations surely would not accomplish it.
“Actually, I don’t understand how you could have forgotten about us no longer co-living. Aren’t you screwing some British bimbo now?”
“Respectfully, none of your fucking business,” Sol said. A smile was still on her lips even if her eyes were now murderous.
“No, no, no, no, ma’am. You made it my business when you gave your fucktoy my phone number, which I thought you had lost because you never answer my calls or texts!”
“Luke is not my fucktoy, he’s my partner,” Sol said, seething. And, of course, David knew she hated being calledma’amand did it anyway. “He needed help while investigating a case, and I naïvely thought you could assist him. I know it was a mistake. Your buddy Detective Tom Owens has been giving him the cold shoulder. I hope you’re happy.”
“I couldn’t care less,” David told her, and she believed him. It would have been easier to understand him if he’d been just jealous, but then again, David had never aimed for ease.
“What do you want, David?” she said, no longer smiling and in a tone that had sounded a bit hostile. But the idea of meeting had been his, and she wanted to know his purpose.Also, she needed that rendezvous to be over. The sooner the better.
“The gloves are finally off. Happy to be with the real Sol. You know I never like it when you filter yourself.”
It had been amply discussed between Sol and her closest friends that one of the things that had precipitated her toward divorce had been discovering David’s tendency toward doing everything in his power to enrage her and then trying to spend as much time as possible with unfiltered, bitchy Sol. It was exhausting. So she breathed deeply again, reminded herself that he wanted to see her being mean, and made herself smile.
“The gloves are back on. I agreed to a fifteen-minute conversation, and the clock is ticking. Perhaps we could take a beautiful stroll along the park while we watch the views and you tell me what’s on your mind,” she said, and she didn’t even know where that pleasant, fake persona had come from. But the important part was that she knew it did nothing for David. He got off on pissy Sol, not pleasant Sol.
After a few minutes of silent walking where Sol could guess all of David’s frustration, he finally said, “You left me without giving me a second chance. I would have tried to make it up to you, but you decided it was over and left.”
For the first time since she could remember, her second ex-husband, whom she had learned to despise, seemed not only inclined to have a civilized conversation about the reasons for their divorce, he even had said something that wasn’t plain odious.
“I know I made a mistake,” David continued, referring to the fact that when they were still married, he’d made Sol believe he’d had an affair with a younger woman with the misguided intention of rekindling their romance. “I wasn’t cheating.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“I had stopped loving you,” Sol said.
“I hadn’t,” he told her.
She was tempted to tell him that one of the parties still being interested wasn’t reason enough to continue a marriage. She opted for something a bit more constructive in that situation: “Why don’t we put aside all the bad moments and the bitterness and focus on the good moments we had? Because there were some great moments, remember?”
“There were,” David admitted, and for an instant Sol thought that perhaps she’d been too harsh in judging her second ex-husband, and she felt guilty about it. Until he proved her right in her harshness and talked again. “So, is this how things work with ex-husband Number One? I know you’re still all lovey dovey with Miquel. I wonder how the fucktoy takes that.”
“David, you’re exasperating!”
“Thank you, darling. I’m happy to see I can still elicit something in you.”
“Can we at least try and be civil?” she asked, not ready to be riled so easily. “We spent a decade together, and I hate having to pretend it never happened just because I can’t cope with how things ended. I think that’s why you asked to see me today.”
David seemed ready to reply with one of his sharp retorts.
“Don’t,” she told him, before David could say anything. “Just think about it. Let me know when you decide. I promise to unblock your number and answer the phone. But David,” she warned, “unless you show some maturityand give me an acceptable answer, I’m blocking you right back. For good.”
And with that, she left him standing in the middle of the park and walked away.
When Luke had first met Sol, he’d been assigned to a case where she’d been one of the suspects. He’d surveilled her for weeks without her knowledge. He’d fallen for her then. But he’d also felt like a total creep, stalking a woman who had no idea she was being watched and following her every move.
He was at present reliving all the dread from those days. By the time he’d driven back from Divya’s hotel—while being interviewed by one of Claudia’s journalists—he hadn’t found Sol at Lola’s place. The house had been empty. He’d called his colleague, who, after a bit of haggling on his part and his insistence that Sol could still be in a somewhat dangerous position, had finally disclosed Sol’s whereabouts to him.
When he finally got to Santa Monica, he was ready to approach Sol on the streets of the busy coastal city and intone the wise words Divya had ordered him to say.
I’m an idiot. I’m sorry. I won’t pretend to tell you what you have to doever again,he kept repeating to himself in his mind like some sort of mantra.
