Page 4 of Staying for You

“No. That was all you the day you started putting your dick into other women. Don’t fuck with me, Scott. You don’t have a leg to stand on here and you know it.”

He stares me down for sixty-two seconds. I count each one. He always does this, thinking it’s a power play. But I know him well. He’s trying to think of how to sway me, butter me up. Use his charm for his advantage.

I hold his stare and bite back a grin when he’s the first to break. “So, this is how it’s going to be, huh? Eight years together and you’re tossing me out on the streets? What about all those moments where you needed me to hold you and tell you what a great author you are. When I would have to make sure you had the special kind of creamer for your coffee and that certain brand of handbag and underwear. You had these crazy expectations that no person could live up to and you know it.”

I throw my head back and laugh. He’s said this for years. That I was high maintenance and hard to please. Those crazy expectations he claims I have? Those brands I like so much? You can pick them up at Target. Not necessarily expensive or hard to find. Unless you consider my size seven panties hard to find. He’s such a jerk. “You’re the one who did this, Scott. Go stay with your parents. Your sister. One of your girlfriends. Or, gee, I don’t know, get your own place like most grown men do. Wherever you go, I don’t care.”

“And you wonder why I cheated.”

Hysterical laughter pours out of me. He’s such a moron I can’t stop myself. For months he’s denied that he had affairs throughout our marriage. Even when my lawyer had proof – statements from women he’d slept with – even though we didn’t need them. It was just our way of reminding Scott that he was the one who destroyed our marriage.

“What’s so funny?”

I wipe a tear from under my eye. “You and your lack of being able to own up to your mistakes. I’ve been pretty damn generous with you, Scott. There is nothing in our divorce decree that says I have to let you live here. This is out of the kindness of my heart so that you could have had time to find a place of your own. But since you’re not even trying, it’s clear that isn’t going to happen. Think of me kicking you out as a good thing, Scott. I’m giving you the push you need to actually be an adult for the first time in your life.”

“I know how to be an adult, Cami,” he snaps.

I raise my eyebrows. “Do you really? Because until right this minute, you’ve allowed everyone in your life to take care of everything for you. Now that I think about it, I’m probably the stupid one here for marrying you in the first place because I didn’t pay attention to the glaring signs.”

“And what signs would those be?”

“Even after you graduated from college your parents paid your bills and brought groceries to your apartment when your mom would come to clean.”

He has nothing to respond to that so he keeps his mouth shut. Then, his stupidity rears its ugly head again and he sneers, “I should have never married you. There was a reason I screwed one of your bridesmaids in the bathroom during our wedding reception.”

And that’s the final blow — the last thread of my patience snaps. I stand from my stool and nod once. “Tomorrow I’m changing the locks. You have twenty-four hours to get your stuff out of the guest bedroom or I’ll get the police involved.”

He shouts obscenities at me but his words fall on deaf ears.

He no longer has the power over me.

Locking myself in my bedroom, I open my laptop. My fingers hover over my keyboard while I think about what type of place I’m looking for to escape.

Eventually, that’s what I type in.Escape.

And three links down, I have my answer and I’m dialing the number I see on the screen.

Chapter One

Owen

“You two munchkins ready?”

Not surprisingly, I get no response. But Cami, the guest who called two days ago about reserving a cabin for several weeks, just called to let me know that she was, by her GPS, two hours out. My hope is that I can take the kids to the park, push them in some swings and get some fresh air even in the cold for a little bit. We’ll follow it up with a Happy Meal for Brody while I feed Issy her bottle before I need to meet Cami so she can follow me back to The Escape. I’m hoping the kids will nap while I show her around.

Never in a million years did I think I’d be planning my day around parks and bottles and naps but I can’t deny that I love it, at least in small quantities. My nephew and niece, even if she’s not my niece by blood, I’d go to battle with anyone who argues I’m not her uncle, have been the best two things to happen to me in a long time.

The reason I offered to take care of the kids while their parents have some time alone was because the timing worked out perfectly. From mid-April until early October, I’m booked full during the summer months so when my long-time friend Rex and his wife Chloe asked me to watch their daughter for a long weekend in the middle of February, I didn’t hesitate to help, even when Olivia and Ethan joined in and asked if I’d watch Brody as well.

The day the woman I thought was the love of my life said I do to another man a few years ago, with my sister standing by her side during the wedding, I resigned myself to a life of solitude. Kids and marriage aren’t in my future because the one I want already got away.

After buckling a snowsuit-clad Issy and Brody into their car seats that we put in the back seat of my large pickup, I double check the diaper bags to make sure I didn’t forget anything. Climbing into the front seat, I look in my rearview mirror at the backs of their car seats, and head into the small town near The Escape.

I tap my thumb against the steering wheel to the smooth sounds of Van Morrison. Another reason I’m the best uncle in the world, I introduce them to classic rock. I hear Issy squeal and her tiny arm flies up and down, something I can see through the mirror I have on the seat facing her. “You like your song, huh, sweetness?” I ask, turning it up just a tiny smidge.

Soon we’ve arrived at the park; I get out of my pickup and get Issy out of her seat, placing her in a carrier on my chest then going around to help Brody get unbuckled. I might have been cocky about being able to handle it all, but I have to admit, when their parents get back, I’ll probably want to sleep for a solid day.

I settle Brody into a toddler swing and push him a few times to get him going then sit in the adult swing next to him and push off the snowy ground with my brown work boots. It’s incredibly awkward trying to sit with Issy hooked to my chest but we make it work. Brody giggles when he sees Issy and I swinging next to him and it causes his swing to go a little sideways when he wiggles.

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