Page 132 of Now to Forever

“Festive.”

“Tell me what happened with Cal already?” Her voice is high-pitched and giddy. “How’d you know it was him?”

“I’m not talkingabout this.”

“Oh phooey.” She sticks her tongue out at me. “Bet Ford thought it was hot as hell his woman was out there goin’ all Xena, Warrior Princess.”

I move the mouse of the computer and start clicking through my emails, not looking at her. “Ford and I are over.”

She gasps and takes the empty seat across from my desk. Uninvited. “Because of Cal?”

I fold my hands on my desk and look at her. “Because of me. Anything else?”

“You’re grumpy.”

“Anything else?”

A door opens and closes down the hall and footsteps follow.

“The Dondinator has arrived,” Dondi says with a gappy grin as he steps into my office. “And he is here to serve the woman who took down his beloved’s previous captor.” He takes a deep bow, one hand holding a piece of paper over his chest, the other sweeping dramatically into the air above him.

Fuck me.

“Dondi,” I mutter, starting to thumb through a stack of papers.

“Don’t mind her, honey buns. She’s grumpy,” Wanda says.

I roll my eyes.

“Anything on the schedule I should know about?”

Dondi shakes his head, dropping the paper he’s holding on my desk before crossing his arms over his chest and leaning in the doorway.

“Sellecks are champing at the bit to buy this place again, but otherwise, it’s all copacetic and a piece of respectfully handled corpse cake.”

The Sellecks’ timing might finally be right so I can start weighing my options and figure out what to do next.

I unfold the paper from Dondi. “What’s this?”

He shrugs. “It was taped to the door.”

Some of the world’s best people

Overdo it on the swear words but

Really know how to make a convict’s kid

Really know she’s loved

Yet sometimes kids are idiots. I’m sorry.

I read it. Twice.Wren. I chew my lip and fold the paper back up. The words linger and bounce into each other, rattling my brain. She wrote a poem. Apologizing. After I acted like a Tasmanian devil.

Sometime last night as I stared at the point of the roof from bed, I decided to sell the house. Archie wanted me to have it to make my life better; selling it would do that. I told myself it wouldn’t change the fact he’s my grandfather. If anything, the money from the sale would make me feel more connected to him. More grateful for the fresh start. For the space to breathe—away from Ford and Wren—and figure out what comes next. If I didn’t move to the desert, I thought about going back to the crematorium apartment.Then I remembered Wanda and Dondi were bumping uglies in my bed every night, and I hated that visual almost as much as I hated the thought of kicking Wanda out.

It was nearly two a.m. when I decided I’d figure it out later. All I knew, I was listing it, then I was going to call Lydia and tell her.

But now, Wren’s note is an annoying relief that makes me doubt every late-night declaration I made to myself just hours ago.

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