Page 54 of Hush Money
The same bastard who convinced her she wasn’t worthy. Who made her feel guilty for
not being able to get pregnant. Who put his fuckinghandson her.
The same bastard I warned to stay thefuckaway from her unless she reached out to him. And there’s no way she did.
Did she?
I stand up, and I see him look at me out of the corner of his eye. But he doesn’t turn in my direction. He keeps his eyes on her. Her eyes flit to me for a brief moment then back to him.
“Tanner,” she says. “What...what are you doing here?”
He glares at her, and as I get closer to her, I can see his eyes are glassy and bloodshot. His skin looks clammy, and it’s not till I get closer to him that I see what’s in his hand.
I can see the divorce papers shaking in his clutch.
“I came to see if you were done fucking around yet,” he says. “So you just have these delivered like I’m your fuckin’ pen pal, and then you dip out to play house with the rich kid?” he asks her. “It took you all of one night with him to let him convince you to do this?” His voice stays calm and even, and I see her swallow. I take a step toward her, but she holds her hand out, stopping me.
“Tanner,” she says again, her voice also staying cool and even, “this isn’t the place.”
“Yeah, well,” he says, “I can’t seem to get to you anywhere else. So here will have to do.”
She looks around.
There are only four other people in the diner besides Sean and the cook. But they are still witnesses. He doesn’t look particularly dangerous. He just looks drunk and a little sad. But I still want to punch his fucking face in.
She takes a breath, and I see something shift in her. She looks at me, and then it’s like I can see something click in her head. She pushes past him and out the door, back onto the sidewalk. He follows after her, and I am right on his tail. When she gets outside, she turns back to him. She flits her eyes back up to him and takes two steps in his direction. I instinctively move closer to her, but I try to be respectful of her wishes. I fight every single instinct in my body not to grab her and pull her behind me.
“Tanner, no one convinced me to do anything, except for you,” she says. His eyes grow wider, then he narrows them on her. “I shouldn’t have let you tear me down year after year like I did. But I did. I loved you once, Tanner. But we were different people then. I never thought you were someone who would try to make me feel smaller. But you did. And it’s time for me to be free of that. I won’t live my life in fear anymore. Not of you coming home shitfaced. Not of you hurting me. Not of you making me feel like I’m less than. You made me afraid to be the biggest, bestversion of myself. And that is over. I can’t stop you from going down, but I can save myself from being dragged down with you.”
He just stares back at her. One eye twitches slightly, like he’s trying to fight back tears.
“I’m not giving you a fucking penny,” is all he can muster up. She lets her lips turn up into a sweet smile.
“If you knew me at all, you’d know that that doesn’t mean a goddamn thing to me. Keep it all. Everything. I don’t want a single thing that reminds me of you, Tanner. I am freeing myself of you. It’s yours.”
He scoffs.
“Yeah, I fuckin’ bet. You got a new man to foot all the bills and then some for the rest of your fuckin’ life. Till he gets sick of your ass and puts you out like I should have,” he says, stumbling backward. She just smiles up at him, despite the fact that I am about to combust next to her.
“You motherfu—” I start, but she puts a hand against my chest, pushing me back.
“Whatever you have to tell yourself while you’re sleeping in our bed alone, Tanner,” she says to him. Then, she turns back to me and puts her hand on my cheek. “Take me home.”
I nod, wrapping an arm around her.
If I wasn’t boiling over with anger, I’d be beaming with pride right now. I’m so fucking proud of her.
We turn to walk toward the car when I freeze, not able to help myself. I turn back to him, and he is just staring at us.
“Tanner,” I call back to him, “just so we’re clear, if she ever leaves me, it’ll be on her own account. Whatever’s mine is hers for as long as she wants it. I’m not dumb enough to fumble her.”
I turn back to her, and she shoots me a “you shouldn’t have” look, but I can see that she’s fighting a smile. When we get in the car, she turns to me.
“You just couldn’t help yourself, huh?” she says. I smile and lean forward, stealing a kiss from her lips.
“Sorry,” I say. “I had to. But you were fucking phenomenal, baby. He’s going to be replaying that in his head for years.”
She laughs and lays her head on my shoulder. But after a moment, I become starkly aware that her entire demeanor has changed. I nudge her gently, and she tips her head up to me. I see tears in her eyes.
