Page 15 of Mr. Infuriating

In addition to Laura’s daily texts were Rick’s from Mitchell Cabinets and Woodworking. Last week’s had started polite enough, along with his voicemail and email. By this week though when I still hadn’t replied, the tone had gotten a lot more curt.

Oh well. Tell your owner not to be an asshole.

I still needed to talk to my brother about what my options were to cancel.

A problem for next week’s Gretchen to deal with.

My classroom phone rang, and I hesitated. Hopefully it wasn’t a parent who wanted to chat for forty minutes about allthe reasons his or her child should be allowed to do extra credit or turn in assignments from last quarter.

“This is Ms. Wainwright.”

“Hey, Gretch. It’s Lisa in the front office.”

“Hi, Lisa. What’s going on?”

“Hey, a letter just came for you by courier. It looks important.”

Courier? Was that even a thing anymore?

“Does it say who it’s from?”

“No, it’s just one of those white, nondescript cardboard envelopes, but he made me sign that I received it on your behalf. I know you’re going through a divorce. Maybe it has to do with that?”

“Maybe,” I replied. Although it didn’t seem likely. That had been wrapped up earlier this month. Troy better not be trying to pull some bullshit after the fact. Just the thought made my spine stiffen. “I’ll be right there,” I said, then hung up the phone and grabbed my keys from my desk drawer.

As I walked to the office, I wracked my brain trying to figure out what this could be about but kept coming up short.

I certainly wasn’t prepared for what I found when I pulled the tab to open the envelope.

Chapter Six

Gretchen

“They sent what?”Laura exclaimed when I sat down on the barstool next to her at Flannigan’s.

“A notice of intent to sue.”

She slid one of the two Cosmopolitans in front of her to me, then took a sip of hers.

“That’s kind of bullshit, don’t you think? I mean, they just notified you what, like, two weeks ago your cabinets were done? I’d think that, legally, they’d have to give you a little more notice than fourteen days.”

“From what the foreman’s texts (okay, texts, voicemails,andemails) said, they’re taking up too much space in their shop, so they’re going to have to put the cabinets in storage. Which means they’re going to try and charge me for that, too, so they’re giving me one more chance to take possession before going that route.”

“What did Andrew say?”

I shook my head as tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t repeat his advice out loud. Hearing it in my own voice would make it too real. I’d poured my heart and soul into that house while imagining my son growing up in it. The idea of losing it was more than I could bear right now.

Laura wrapped an arm around my shoulders and touched her forehead to my temple.

“Come on. What did he say?”

Taking a deep breath through my nose, I squared my shoulders and sat up taller.

“A couple of things, some good, mostly bad. He’ll do what he can, but thinks if it goes to court, I’ll lose.But, just because we’re divorced doesn’t mean Troy is off the hook, since he signed the contract, too, and it was never spelled out in the divorce decree that he’s not responsible.”

“Well, that’s good news, right?”

“Not really. I called Troy, and he said, ‘Let them take me to court,’ so he’s not going to be any help. But Andrew suggested I have the cabinets installed and have them put a contractor’s lien on the house.”

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