Page 165 of Divorced from Number Thirty-Eight
“I heard you two talking about it!” Courtney snaps. “It wasn’t a lie to say you inspired her.”
I lift my brows.
She scowls. “Okay, fine,” she snaps. “I may have…spent some time in your back yard and…” Her eyes drift away and she coughs. “…taken pictures of a chapter or two?—”
Faye gasps.
“You left your laptop on the table,” Courtney says in a rush. “And I needed something to read.”
My fucking ex.
I resist the urge to throttle her and turn to Faye, the only one who matters in this conversation. “What do you want to do, Red?”
Her temper is flashing in those gorgeous brown eyes.
But she only shakes her head, says, “I just want to be done with this.”
“Your lucky day,” I tell Courtney. “No social media about us, no interviews, no pointed comments or anonymous sources.”
She nods.
“You follow through on that, and I’ll ask Dubois and Henderson to steer clear. “But,” I add as she starts to turn away, “if you renege, know they’ll be eager to hop back in and make an example of you.” A beat. “And Winston.”
Courtney glares as our eyes hold, each of us staring the other down.
But I don’t cave.
Because I didn’t make her into this nightmare.
And see how healthy I’m getting?
Gold star for my therapy.
“Fine,” she growls and whirls around.
“Hey, Court?” I call as she storms down the steps.
She turns back, snaps. “What?”
“You forgot this.” I snag the box I ordered a while back from the table just inside the door, having bought it for exactly this moment.
“What is it?” she asks when I hold it up.
“Consider it a going away present.” I toss it her way, half-expecting her to let it fall to the ground. Instead, she catches it, glares at me, then continues flouncing away.
Shaking my head—greedy greedy—I move back into the house, start to close the door.
Faye frowns. “What was?—?”
Pop!
Courtney shrieks.
Faye’s eyes go wide.
I allow myself one peek (and maybe also a pic) of Courtney covered in glitter then slam and lock the door, grinning at the shocked expression on Faye’s face.
Sometimes happy endings arrive softly, slowly lifted from the ashes to reveal the beauty beneath, and others…burst into life with an explosion of glitter.
