Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93270 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93270 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
The way he said “things” had Dev laughing.
“And I’m paying the price by my family packing their things and coming out here to stay.”
“Are you kidding me right now?”
Chad shook his head. “Have you ever known me to joke about my family?”
Devorah stared at him for a long time.
“Yes, actually, when you cheated on me with Ester. No, I take that back. My father said you shit on your family.”
“I made a mistake,” Chad said, pleadingly. He clasped his hands together, as if he was about to pray, when in reality he was begging. “I regret everything that’s happened, and I’m sorry. Can we please sit down and talk?”
She shook her head but sat in Crow’s recliner anyway. Chad sat across from her, perched on the edge of the couch as if he was going to make a run for it.
“Talk,” she said.
“When I got the papers . . .” He paused. “It was like an anvil had been set on my chest. We had the perfect life, and then—”
“You slept with my best friend, and then you told me you were moving in together.”
Chad hung his head. “Regardless, when I saw those papers, I realized this wasn’t what I wanted, and I knew I had to make a change.”
“And Crow’s death just happened to be your light bulb moment?”
“Is there a more perfect time to bring your family home?”
“Excuse me?”
“Come on, Devorah. You can’t honestly tell me you plan to stay here.”
She nodded, and he stood.
“And do what? Bartend at the Lazy Lamb?”
“It’s better than being the laughingstock of the PTA, Chad. How can you expect me to show my face there, huh? After what you did.”
“Because it’s better than living in this time-forgotten town.”
“No, it’s really not.”
“I didn’t want to do this, but you’re leaving me no choice. You and Maren are coming back to Chicago with me. We’ll be a family again, go to counseling. We’ll work on our marriage.”
“The hell we will,” she said. “To all of it. I’m not leaving Oyster Bay, and neither is Maren. We’re happy here. She’s thriving—”
“Is she?” he asked with a tilt of his head. “She tells me otherwise.”
Dev scoffed. “No, Chad. It’s because you tell her otherwise. You twist and turn words to suit your narrative. Not mine. Not hers. Maren is happy.” She stressed the word “happy,” hoping he would finally understand. “She loves it here and talks about the future. She’s an integral part of a baseball team, and her grades are stellar. Maren matters here.
“The only time she talks about going back to Chicago is when you call. That’s it. She never mentions it because it’s not what she wants. Sure, she’ll tell you this now because she’s nine and wants her parents to be together. It’s what every kid her age wants.
“But do you honestly think I’d take her back there so people can point fingers at her? Everyone knows what you did, Chad. It’s not a secret. It’s not something we can sweep under the rug. Do you really want her going to school with Rita? And having their classmates point fingers at them?”
Devorah got up and paced. She finally went into the kitchen, looked out the window, and saw her daughter on the tire swing Crow had put up for Maren just days ago.
Her father. His voice rang out in her head: Stand up for yourself, Devorah. She fought back a wave of tears. Crow hadn’t been gone long, and she missed him fiercely. There was no way she was going to let him down now. She took a centering breath and pushed away the tears. Chad would think they were for him. He hadn’t earned any more of her tears, and she’d be damned if she was going to let him see her cry.
After drinking a glass of water, she went back into the other room with her head held high.
“Sign the papers, Chad.”
“Devorah.”
She shook her head. “I’m not leaving here, and neither is Maren. I don’t care if I’ve been here three minutes, three months, or three years. This is our home, and this is where we’re staying.”
“So that’s it, huh? I just leave my family behind?”
Dev pinched the bridge of her nose momentarily and then looked at her ex. “You left us behind the minute you thought about sleeping with Ester. The second the thought entered your mind, you should’ve reminded yourself of your vows. But you didn’t. We didn’t matter then, and we don’t matter now.”
“That’s not true.”
Devorah had had enough. She went to her purse and pulled out her phone, ignoring the slew of text messages and missed calls. She opened the video app, went to Ester’s username, and pressed the first video there, posted two days ago. Dev pressed play, then turned the phone around to show Chad. Someone had sent it to her the other day. That someone, she was sure of, was Ester.