Page 69 of Wife Unwanted
Darcy went silent for a moment, something she never does on the phone unless it's disengaged.
"Darcy, are you still there?"
"What if he's in love with you?"
I chuckled.
"I think he's in love with you," she said more firmly.
"The only things he loves are sailing and himself. There's no room for a third thing."
"I am sure I saw…"
"I have thought about it and I want a divorce. He wants to delay it now the motherfucker. I don't know why he wants to fight me. It must be the lawyer with him."
"Fight you or do something elsetoyou."
I rolled my eyes. "You're on his defense team now? I thought you were my friend?"
"I am. And I think you're should hear him out. That man has eyes for no one else but you. In all the time I've known him, I've never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you."
"That's lust, not love."
"Just hear him out Thalia."
The conversation jumped to other topics after that, but I still couldn't stop thinking about what she said. Either Carey had smooth-talked Darcy into believing him, or she had seen something different about him. Knowing Darcy, there's no way she would buy bullshit.
I spent the rest of the day organising my apartment and making sure it was livable and by the time I was done, I needed some air and an escape from the small walled in box. It was just before rush hour and the streets were gearing to get busy. My thoughts occupied me as I wandered aimlessly around the city until I stopped at an alluring coffee shop. It was a cute French style bakery with smells so inviting; they compelled you to enter. It was relatively busy, but a few tables were empty. The confectionary on display looked so good that my stomach rumbled, reminding me I hadn't eaten the whole day.
"Can I have—" When I looked up from the display, I encountered a smiling Ivy on the opposite side of the counter. Fuck. Of course, this is Ivy Hawthorne's bakery. I knew Carey's sister had a bakery in this neighborhood, but I had forgotten about it. The urge to run out here came over me, as well as the urge to act casual, resulting in staring at her blankly.
"Fancy seeing you here," she said. "Can I get you something?"
"I—uh." I glanced down at the selection of food and felt like I was put under the spotlight. "What's your bestselling item?"
She pointed to a pastry that looked like a cross between a croissant and an eclair with custard filling. "Our croiclairs are a hit."
"I'll have one."
Using tongs, she grabbed the largest and best looking one, put it in a bag, and handed it to me. "Do you want coffee with that? We have some really nice coffees." She shook her head when I offered my card to pay. "It's on the house. As well as the coffee, if you want it."
"Sure." I might as well sit down and eat, I thought. Running away would only make me feel shitty. She directed me to the barista, who quickly whipped up a latte for me. I went to sit down on one of the empty tables and took a bite of the pastry.The croiclair, or whatever she called it, was delicious. No wonder it was their bestseller.
I had halved down the pastry and the coffee when Ivy came back in my vision. Her warm welcoming smile made me offer her the empty seat.
"I hope I am not interrupting your work," I said as she sat down. "I had forgotten your bakery was here."
She waved away my concern. "You're family. If I don't have time for you, then who can I make time for?"
I looked down in embarrassment. It was nice that she saw me as such, but my connection to the Hawthornes was ending. Say what you will about the awful patriarch. The children weren't so bad and Ivy was the best of them.
"Oh." She put a hand to her mouth. "I had forgotten you two are…" She didn't need to say the word for me to know that's what she was referring to the D word.
"It's fine. It still feels kinda odd to be alone again after spending so much time with him."
"I've always thought you two were in for the long haul, you know. Guess I was wrong about that."
I wondered if she knew about the deal I made with her father. Probably not since she had been cast out of the family until recently. Nolan Hawthorne Sr had not liked that his daughter had a child with a man he thought was beneath her, so he cut her off from the family and it was only recently that she got back into the fold. But that was after she worked with her baby daddy, to takeover Hawthorne Inc, the family company.
