Page 37 of A Chance Love

How could they not do anything more for her? This was all their fault. Or maybe that was her anger taking over.

April couldn’t speak. The confusion, disbelief, it was too strong. Would her husband really have the audacity to take money from her right under her nose? He had to know that she would find out someday.

“Thank you. I’ll discuss this with him. Have a good day,” she eventually replied.

As soon as she hung up the phone, Georgia entered the dining room. “Hey, is there anything else you need me to cut up?”

Oh, yeah, the breakfast she was supposed to be making. “No, honey. Thank you.” April stepped slowly into the kitchen. She knew she would be unable to concentrate on anything until she made one more phone call. But breakfast had to be made. She stepped into the kitchen and started the stovetop, slipping in all the ingredients into a layer of eggs.

“Everything okay?”

She nodded, even though it wasn’t true. “Yep. Just need to talk to Dad about some stuff. We’ll need more money since there’s some damage we’ll need to repair.”

“Do you think the storm is going to make it worse? The news guy said there’s supposed to be rain today.”

April shrugged. She wanted to say no, because she hoped that the damage was purely due to the age of the house and the wear and tear through years of renovations. But she couldn’t be sure. “I don’t know. We’ll have to ask the professional when he gets here. Hopefully they’re free today.”

As soon as the eggs began to firm up, she handed the spatula to Georgia. “Keep stirring, don’t let the bottom burn. And you can take it off after two-ish minutes on each side. Okay? I’m just going to step out and make a call.”

Taking the spatula, she nodded and watched the omelet cook. April headed outside in the cool air to call her soon-to-be ex-husband. She paced the yard, back and forth, until she felt enough courage to push the call button.

And it rang, and rang, and rang. “You’ve got Carl. I’m unable to answer-”

“Idiot,” she muttered under her breath. “Answer the phone.”

Again, she heard her husband’s voice in that annoyed brighter tone he recorded for his voicemail. She couldn’t let him get off that easily; she had to talk to him.

Three more times she called and three more times he ignored her.

On the last call, she let the voicemail message play out. After the beep she began to talk in code, so as not to surprise him with the fact that she knew everything. “Hey, Carl. It’s just me. We need to talk ASAP. It’s really important. So, please, whenever you can, call me back.”

Hopefully, he was at one of his shows he was dying to go see. The time difference meant that, depending on where he was, he could be eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner, at a show, or sleeping at some hotel.

As April was slipping her phone into her pocket, a faint rumbling began. She wasn’t sure which direction it was coming from, until the sound of the engine grew louder. A car pulled into the driveway.

But they weren’t expecting any visitors. Who could be here this early in the morning?

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

April squinted, trying to see beyond the windshield against the bright sun in her eyes. It only took a short piece of hair for her to identify who sat in the car.

A tall man dressed in professional clothes stepped out and into the light. April’s stomach twisted in knots. “ April, thank God. We need to talk,” Maxwell said as he stepped closer.

She could sense the desperation in his voice. It was the last thing she wanted to do, but he’d driven all this way. What else could she do? If she denied him now, it would just be cruel. And she could stomach one conversation with the man, who probably just wanted to ask again if she would return to work.

Newly found strength was on her side. She could bear to tell him no, again and again if she needed to.

April opened her mouth, but was interrupted by Georgia walking outside. “What did you want in your ome- Mom, who is this?”

“This is my old boss from the law firm. We have something to discuss. You go ahead and eat your breakfast and I’ll be in to make my own in a few minutes, okay?”

Georgia nodded, but looked skeptically at Maxwell. “Just a few minutes.” She smiled, proud of her daughter’s intuition. Maxwell wasn’t typically to be trusted. Certainly not now after April had quit and he traveled so far just to talk. There had to be something else going on; April could feel it.

After Georgia returned inside, shutting the front door behind her, Max stood and stared at April. She lifted her brows and crossed her arms in front of her. “What can I do for you? Why did you drive all the way out here to find me?”

As if he was snapping out of a trance, he shook his head and came to. Max walked back to the car and opened the back seat to reveal a briefcase and file folder.

“I need help with this case you were on? The Jolly Good one? They needed some evidence that you found. I guess they couldn’t find it in the files.” He smiled like it was just some fluke he came to her cubicle to discuss and hadn’t flown thousands of miles for.

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