Page 82 of The Seven Rings
“Thank you. Thank you for coming even when I didn’t want you to, and for steering me through what I absolutely understand needs to be done.”
“He needs to pay a price.”
“He does, yes, he does. And you’ll make sure he will. Now I have to go through it one more time. I need to go up, FaceTime with my mother. No,” she corrected, “I’m going to bring my tablet down, do it right here, so she can see I have you and Cleo. It’ll knock down some of the worry.”
She came back with her tablet, and Cleo brought out wine and crudités.
“Here goes.”
Winter answered with: “What a treat! After a long, busy day, a call from my baby.”
Sonya’s first response came with surprise. “Your hair!”
“Oh, right.” Laughing a little, Winter lifted a hand to the shorter pixie style with its sweep of window bangs. “Saturday afternoon impulse for summer.”
“I love it!”
Cleo leaned into view. “Me, too! Sassy Winter.”
On another laugh, Winter shifted, looked sassily over one shoulder. “That’s me, and I get a bigger treat with my two girls. And don’t you both look wonderful?”
“Trey’s here, too. We’re sitting on the deck having wine. You should get a glass and join us.”
“I don’t mind if I do. Hi, Trey!”
“Hi. I like your hair, too.”
“I wanted a change. It looks like you’re having a beautiful day in Maine. It just stopped raining here. I don’t see Owen.”
“He’s bringing pizza,” Sonya told her.
“Sounds good. Too bad he doesn’t deliver to Boston.”
“Mom, I need to tell you Brandon came here this afternoon.”
Winter paused in the act of lifting her wineglass. “He— What?”
“I’m fine, and with a little help from Clover, Jack, my dog, and Cleo’s cat, kicked him out.”
Winter took a breath. “What do you mean kicked him out? He came into your house? The nerve of that son of a bitch. I know damn well you didn’t invite him in, so that’s trespassing. I’m going to talk to my boss about charges.”
“Already in motion,” Trey told her.
“All right, of course. I’m taking a breath.” After it, she drank some wine. “I want to know what happened.”
So Sonya went through it one more time, and found it easier, as with some questions, Trey or Cleo picked up the answer.
At the end, Winter nodded, even smiled. “Clover and Jack. I bet they scared the crap out of him. And you stood up for yourself, Sonya. What a, well, dick. He can’t stand your success, baby. The woman who kicked out his cheating ass a year ago is thriving, and he can’t stand it. But there have to be consequences for this.
“Trey, can you lay those out for me? I’m going to take notes, and if you don’t mind, I do want to speak to my boss about it.”
“Sure I can, and I don’t mind. Criminal trespass,” he began.
He was winding it up as Owen and Jones came out. Since Cleo had left him a note on the fridge, he’d skipped the beer. Now he poured wine.
“Hey, Winter.”
“Owen. Now the gang’s all there.”
