Page 32 of I Shouldn't Feel This Way

“Hello?”

There was silence at first. Noah didn’t say anything. Instead, he quickly glanced at the number on the screen and realized that he had dialed Emily’s landline by mistake. He cursed under his breath and turned toward the windows.

That same voice shouted into the phone, sounding more agitated than before. “Hello?”

He knew exactly to whom he was speaking on the other end. He just didn’t want Aria to be present when he had this conversation withhim.

“Is this Robert?”

“Yeah, who the hell are you?”

“Put Emily on the phone,” Noah demanded, failing to keep his voice down.

“I said, who the fuck are you?”

Noah closed his eyes and began to pace around the living room, silently counting to ten and praying he wouldn’t lose his temper. It was tempting to give the guy an earful, including a mouthful of broken teeth (once he got the satisfaction of actually punching him in the face).

“Listen, you ignorant fuck,” he threatened. “Let me talk to Emily right now, and I’ll reconsider putting you in the hospital when I see your pathetic face.”

“Who the fuck do you think you are? You piece of shit!”

Noah thrust his fingers through his hair in frustration. He could hear Emily in the background struggling to take the phone out of her husband’s hand. He knew he could hang up and call her cellphone, but he was too prideful to back down from that coward.

“Noah?” came Emily’s voice.

“Well, finally—took you long enough.” He was dying to smoke a cigarette, even though he had promised Vanessa he would quit.

“When are you bringing Aria home? You said after dinner. Do know what time it is now? It’s late!”

“Calm down, Em. She’s with me, not some hormonal teenaged boy who’s going to get her drunk and date rape her.”

“Sounds like a similar experience I had encountered atsixteen.”

“What the hell are you implying? I didn’t date rape you. You were a horny little nympho!”

“How dare you talk to me that way!” Emily cried out.

Rob started shouting a string of profanities at him.

“Get your rabid dog on a leash—and don’t forget the muzzle.” Noah rested his palm against the wall and looked out the window. He couldn’t ignore that nagging urge to smoke. It was how he normally dealt with stress.

“Bring her home, Noah.Now.”

“She fell asleep. We’re at my hotel, and I don’t want to wake her.”

“Aria has school tomorrow—all her things are at home.”

“She brought her book bag with her before we left her high school, and I took her shopping, so she can get dressed from here. I’ll drive her in the morning.”

“Why are you being so difficult?” Emily yelled. “You’ve won already! Let me spend as much time with my daughter as I can before you take her from me by force!”

“No,youare the one who’s being difficult. And for the past seventeen years you’ve been unfair to me and to Aria!” His hand was trembling from the rage that was metamorphosing inside of him.

“Stop blaming me for your failures, Noah! You’re not the victim in all this—our daughter is!”

He took a moment to cool his temper before he smashed something. The last thing he wanted was to pointlessly injure his fist and terrorize Aria. Noah loved his daughter, but by God, he sure as hell hated her mother. They hadn’t exactly broken up in the most amicable way.

“She’s staying over tonight,” he declared. “End of discussion, Em. You can have her tomorrow. I swear on her life, if I see so much as a scratch on her, I will put your husband in a coma, and chances are he won’t ever wake up.”

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