Page 46 of Denim & Diamonds

Rather than retreat to his bed, Brock grabbed a giant plaid blanket and draped it over us.

Oak never moved that night.

And neither did we.

CHAPTER 9

February

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” The following afternoon, I stared down at the invitation I’d just opened. “What balls.”

The date printed was almost exactly a month from now. Which also happened to be the date of a board meeting.Great. Just great.Nothing like being beat uptwicein one day.

“February?” I looked up to find Morgan standing at my door. “I thought you said you had therapy at one today?”

“I do.”

She pointed to the clock on my wall. “It’s five after.”

“Shoot.” I shuffled the mail strewn all over my bed into a pile. “I guess I lost track of time.”

“Is that all fan mail? God, you get almost as much as I do.”

“Not quite. These are allbillsand other work stuff. I had my assistant send me my mail so I could keep up with things.”

Her nose wrinkled. “Yuck.”

“Tell me about it.” I opened the nightstand and tucked the stack of envelopes inside. The wedding invitation was still on top of the pile as I slid the drawer closed. At the last second, I plucked it out.This should give me something to talk about today.

Morgan was still parked at my door. I wagged a finger at her as I passed. “No snooping. It’s just invoices and contracts.”

She held her hands up. “No worries. I don’t have any interest in bills.”

Trinity, my counselor, was already seated in her chair when I arrived at her office. I knocked lightly, though the door was open. “Sorry I’m late.”

She closed the notebook on her lap and smiled. “No worries. I was running a few minutes behind anyway, so it worked out well. Come on in, February.”

I took the seat on the couch across from her with the envelope in my hand.

“How are you today?” she asked.

I sighed. “I’ve been better.”

“What’s going on?”

I held out the offending mail. “I got this today. You’ve mentioned more than once that I don’t talk enough during our one-on-one sessions. Well, I have a lot to say about this.”

She opened the oversized envelope and slipped out the gaudy invitation. “Johnathan Augustus and Ilona Jones request the honor of your presence on May 14to celebrate their joyful wedding vows.” Trinity looked up. “I take it this isn’t something you’re feeling joyful about?”

I shook my head. “Johnathan is my ex-husband.”

“I didn’t realize you’d been married. When we talked about relationships, you mentioned you’d had one serious one, but it didn’t work out.”

I nodded. “Johnathan was my one serious relationship.”

Trinity opened her handy-dandy notebook and jotted something down before looking up again. “How long were you married?”

“Three years.”

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