Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 136743 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136743 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
“We’ll get to talk to him on the phone, right?” Lottie asks. “He said we could sometimes.”
“Of course, honey.” Noting their long faces, I force a smile. “Hey, what do you say we do a vision board party tonight? That’ll be fun, right? Set some goals and dream about what you want for the New Year?”
“That could be fun,” Lupe says, her lips twitching.
“And we could have a dance party.” I do my best running man right in the middle of the parking lot. They act mortified but crack up like I knew they would.
“No Backstreet Boys,” Inez grumbles, her lips fighting a grin.
“You’re killing me, Smalls.” I shake my head in mock injury.
“Smalls?” Inez frowns. “Huh? Whadda ya mean smalls?”
“It’s from her generation,” Lupe explains sagely.
“Can we make a s’mores charcuterie?” Lottie asks, her face brightening.
“Yeah.” I nod and stretch my smile a little broader. “Now you’re talking. And we can order something good for dinner.”
I open the driver’s-side door but am distracted by a flash of blond across the parking lot. It takes a few seconds for my brain to catch up to what I’m seeing. It’s like some freakish déjà vu. The last time I visited Edward, I spotted Amber leaving, and now as I’m going she arrives.
“Um, girls,” I say, not taking my eyes off the door Amber just walked through. “Go ahead and get in the car. I think I left something.”
“Left what?” Lupe asks with a frown.
“I’ll be right back,” I say. “Get in the car, please.”
I speed walk to catch up to the woman’s confident strides before she gets any farther.
“Amber!” I call, not pausing to see if she’ll answer. I know it’s her.
She pauses but doesn’t turn around. I walk ahead to step in front of her, blocking her path. The words I’ve been holding for months die and my mouth falls open when I see what she’s holding.
Or whom she’s holding.
It’s a baby boy, bundled in a white blanket. Golden-blond hair peekaboos from beneath the green wool hat on his little head. The shade perfectly matches his eyes, a unique leaf green. I gasp, recoiling from the evidence, the confession of those eyes. Eyes I’ve seen nearly every day for half my life.
They’re Lupe’s eyes.
They’re Edward’s eyes.
“Jesus.” I stumble back a step. “What the…”
“Soledad,” Amber says, shifting the baby’s weight against her chest. “I didn’t… I thought you’d be—”
“Gone? No wonder Edward was rushing us out. He didn’t want us to run into family number two.”
“I know this is a lot.” Amber dares to meet my stare head-on for a second before looking away quickly. “We never meant to hurt you.”
“Liar,” I rasp, poison dripping from the word. “Bitch. Home-wrecker.”
Her eyes snap to mine, and her pale throat bobs with a deep gulp. Her arms tighten protectively around the baby.
“I did not wreck your home,” she answers. “My life is wrecked. I’m on probation. I have a record. I lost my career. I’m barely making ends meet.”
I take in her professional blowout, the perfectly manicured nails patting the baby’s back, the laminated brows, the dress and shoes and bag my expert eye clocks at more than two thousand. I think of the Porsche she was driving when I last saw her. Barely making ends meet, my ass.
“So how’d this work?” I gesture to the baby. “This threesome, you and Edward and Gerald? How do you even know whose baby this is?”
The green eyes have already told me the truth, but I’m curious how she’ll respond.
“The thing with Gerald…” Amber’s gaze shifts away and she licks her lips nervously. “It shouldn’t have happened, mixing business with pleasure.”
“Um, isn’t that exactly what you did with Edward?” I choke out a laugh and nod to the corridor leading deeper into the prison. “That turned out great for everyone.”
“That was different. We’re different, Edward and me. Gerald knows it’s over between us.” She kisses the baby’s cheek and meets my eyes defiantly. “Edward will finish his time, and we’ll be a family.”
“Great way to start a family, with cheating and lying and scheming. I wouldn’t put it past the three of you to have a little nest egg the FBI never found.”
It’s a shot in the dark, but as soon as the words leave my mouth, I know it’s true. Her panicked gaze flies to me and her red-glossed lips O with shock. She clamps her mouth closed and smooths her face into a neutral mask. Too late. I peeped her, but I find I have no desire to use this information against her, against them. Edward can do whatever the hell he wants as long as he leaves my girls and me out of it. He has no power over me anymore. And for this woman? I have only pity. Yes, I’m shaken by this new development, but she won’t know it. I won’t show it.