Page 53 of The Monster I Loved
I paced the office on tenterhooks until she finally arrived—late, I might add. We fell straight into the same routine. Bickering like children. I wasn’t proud of it, but, damn it, the woman could rile me up. Summer was clearly ill. She’d run to the bathroom more times than I could count. Either that or her newest plan to get back at me was stealing company time and hiding in the restroom to avoid doing the work or being around me.
After lunch I’d ask her about those frequent trips to the bathroom. There were more pleasant things to think about now.
I had a lunch date to get to first. Henry was waiting for me at the farm, where you could have food freshly slaughtered and proudly tossed on your plate. Something about picking out the pig or cow made even a murderer like me uneasy. Twenty minutes after leaving the office, I pulled in beside his car in the gravel parking lot, surrounded by golden-brown fields. Henry was yelling into his phone, and even before he’d rolled his window down, I knew it was Ashley on the other end of that phone.
“I don’t want Felix around my son!”
Not him again. I swear that man never knew what line not to cross. Henry noticed me and jumped out of the car, continuing to yell into the phone. “I don’t care about your life, but Wylie is my child...Oh, really?”
He and Ashley sounded like Summer and I. We may never have actually made it down the aisle like they had, but we definitely sounded like a bitter old married couple.
“Fuck it, then. Two can play this game; Cora will move down here soon, and I can’t wait to see how you react to her mothering Wylie when he’s with me. Then I want you to tell me this bullshitabout doing whatever you want when he’s with you. I’ll have him fucking calling hermommyreally quick. Fuck with me!”
Oh shit! This divorce was going to be one for the books. There was no way these two could have an amicable one at this point.
“I fucking thought so. Again, keep Felix away from my son. What you do is your business, but that man shouldn’t be around my child.”
With that, he ended the call, gestured toward the entrance to the rustic farm restaurant, and looked at me. “Let’s eat.”
I managed a weak grin. “I’m surprised you have an appetite after that.”
He shrugged. “I’m the bad guy, we all know that, but Felix isn’t going to slither his way near my son. Ashley he can fucking have...”
“Well, it’s not like you wanted her.”
Henry nodded, blew out a heavy breath, and pushed open the creaky door. After choosing a shaky table by the window, we ordered our meals, and within twenty minutes we were devouring some of the most delicious food I’d had in a while. Though most things tasted good these days after those years of eating prison food. We were well into the main course when he dropped the question in my lap: “So, how is day one of torturing Summer going?”
The cognac I was sipping went down wrong. I coughed to avoid choking on the liquid.
“Torturing? Who said I’d make her suffer?”
My childhood friend raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that why you agreed? Won’t you admit it? You dropped the charges so you could punish her yourself and make Summer’s life a living hell.”
Well, maybe that was part of the reason.
“I need the public to see us putting the past behind us and working side by side.” I shrugged, knowing he’d probably see through my nonchalance.
Henry looked around at the nearby diners before speaking. “Thad. How long have I known you?”
“You know the answer. Years.” Henry’s mom taught at the prestigious Hackley School, and so he got to attend the school amongst the rich snobs. I’d liked him instantly, and we’d stuck together like glue.
“Thad, be honest. Do you feel nothing at all for Summer these days? Having her around doesn’t bring up any old feelings?”
I sighed and looked down at my plate. “I came to eat. You want to talk about a sore spot? Why don’t we talk about yours?”
Henry cut into his pork chops.
“This Cora lady. She was the reason you were being what I thought was a loyal friend visiting all those years, right?”
He scowled. “Cut it out. I only met Cora three years ago. I was visiting for ten.”
Heat rushed to my face. Shit. Now I felt like an ass thinking it. “My bad.”
My best friend chuckled. “Being a jerk is in your nature; forget it.”
I knew Henry was joking, but I felt like crap. “About the divorce...between my father’s connections and...shit, I could probably get Brit to help too, you don’t need to stress about losing Wylie.”
He pursed his lips. “I’m willing to share custody, but if Ashley actually goes for full custody, I’ll be taking you up on those connections,” Henry said, then looked uncertain. “What about Melissa? Won’t she be mad you’re helping me? She and Ashley are best friends.”
