14. Chapter 14
Ifound Iris on the phone on her porch.
”No, darling, we”re off to Miami Beach tomorrow,” she was telling someone.
I hadn”t knocked on her door before coming in, I realized. Yeah, so this shit needed to change. I was going to start ringing the fucking doorbell and would ask her to do the same. This walking in and out of each other”s homes, having dinner several times a week as a family—all of this was not helping Sophia; it was fucking her up.
Iris waved at me, asking me to step out on the porch. I looked at the garden we shared and the pool in between and wondered how I”d now separate these two homes. Maybe the better option would be to buy a new place and sell this off. Iris could figure out what she wanted to do and where she wanted to live. I needed to stop taking care of her and her life. I didn”t mind. I had enough money, but I was probably even giving Iris mixed signals by allowing her to live off of me.
When we divorced, she took a lumpsum based on our prenuptial agreement—but I”d continued to pay for the car, the house, the cook, groceries…everything.
”Alright, I”ll see you next week.” She hung up, and I heard her come up behind me and wrap her arms around me. ”Hey, baby.”
Fuck me!Since Aurora and I broke up, she”d upped the touching and hugging, telling me that she wanted me.
I unwrapped her arms from around me and set her aside. ”We need to talk.”
She beamed. ”Okay.” She sat down on a sofa and settled herself like she was modeling for a magazine.
I sat down across from her, leaning forward, my elbows on my thighs.
”Sophia has been lying to me,” I began.
”Oh?” She sounded nonchalant, but I caught the slight anxiety in her eyes.
”She”s been working quite hard to break up my relationship with Aurora. She”s been mistreating Aurora whenever I wasn”t around, as have you. And she”s been lying to me about how Aurora talked to her as well.”
”Don”t blame Sophia for your affair with that slut.”
I felt my temper rise, but I needed to stay calm and not let the rage take over as it had with Aurora. That helped no one.
”According to Sophia, you”ve been pushing her to talk to me about you and me getting back together.”
”So?”
”So, Iris, Sophia shouldn”t carry that burden. She”s thirteen. She”s a fucking kid, and you”ve been asking her to fix our marriage.”
Iris waved a hand. ”I just told her that she should let you know how much she likes us to be a family. I see nothing wrong with that.”
”You also told her to make sure she”s not nice to Aurora.”
”I did not say that. Sophia just didn”t like your slut.”
She was baiting me by using the word slut.
”Aurora is a beautiful, intelligent and kind woman who I had the good fortune of being in a relationship with. The fact that it is over is my fault and my loss,” I hissed. ”Here is what we”re going to do. I”m going to sell these houses.”
”What?”
”I don”t want us to live so close together.”
”Gabe, please, don”t do that. I…I can”t not see Sophia for an entire week. This works for us.”
”No, Iris, it doesn”t. Sophia keeps thinking that there”s a chance you and I can get back together. And that”s never happening. Do you understand that? I”ll fucking die alone before being married to you again.” Full transparency, even if it meant hurting Iris and right now the way I was feeling, I wanted to hurt her.
”Gabe.” She rose and came up to me, crouched in front of me. ”We love each other. We have a daughter together.” She put her hands on my thighs.
”I don”t love you. We married because you were pregnant. I have never loved you. Do you know how I know this? Because I did fall in love, Iris, with Aurora and found out what it means to love and be loved.” I pushed her away gently. She tried to leap back onto me and lost her balance, fell on her ass. I didn”t help her up.
”My lawyer will be in touch with yours.”
”About what?” She stood up, now furious.
”About amending the custody agreement, making it a little clearer. When I have Sophia, you cannot come into my home and vice versa unless there”s an emergency. I”m removing your access to my house and mine to yours. You want to come in; you have to knock like everyone else. And I”m putting the houses on the market, so you better find a place to live.” I put my hands in my pockets.
She got up, and I waited for the show. Her blue eyes widened with anger. ”You”re paying for my new house then.”
”No. I gave you a lumpsum as you”d wanted when we divorced. I was generous to buy this house and let you stay here, but the house is in my name, not yours.”
She walked up to me and slapped me.
I took a step away from her. ”I will let my lawyer know about this.”
”What?”
”The physical violence, Iris. I will document this slap. I will document every fucking thing, so be very careful as to how you want to play this because I have more money, more influence, and better lawyers.”
”What are you threatening me with?” she flared.
”I will make sure you don”t ever see Sophia unsupervised if you don”t fucking straighten yourself up.”
”How dare you?” She flew at me, and this time, I held her hand, not to hurt but to restrain her.
”You don”t get to hit me.”
She struggled. ”Damn it, Gabe.”
”No. And the agreement will also insist that you attend one counseling session a week with Sophia and me.” I released, and she stepped away from me.
”And talk about our personal business with a stranger? Absolutely not.”
”Yes, you will. Trust me, Iris, you don”t want to cross me and find out what a contentious divorce means.” I kept my voice level.
”Oh, please, you can go—”
”Be very careful,” I continued. ”One word from Betsy Rhodes and your social life will end. And you know she”d enjoy that.”
In the Savannah society food chain, the Rhodes were much higher up than Iris”s family.
”Your mother doesn”t have that kind of power.”
I smiled. ”Test it out at your own peril. Oh, and you”re not welcome to any more Rhodes family events and parties.”
”What? Why?”
”Because you”ve been poisoning my child, Iris, confusing the fuck out of her. Driving her to be a jerk. This is damage control. You, I don”t give a shit about. It”s always been Sophia that I”ve cared for and done everything for.”
”I”m coming to Miami Beach tomorrow. Don”t you dare cancel that. Sophia is counting on it.”
”And that will be the last time.”
”You”re an asshole, Gabe.”
”Dixie will contact your lawyer and set up a time to meet.”
Dixie Chassay was one of the best divorce lawyers in all of Georgia and had made sure that my divorce agreement with Iris was air-fucking-tight just as she”d made sure my prenuptial agreement had been. She”d make sure the amendments would be the same.
”Fuck you, Gabe.”
”No, Iris, not in this lifetime.”
I was whistling a tune as I walked out of there, realizing that for the first time I truly felt like I was rid of her.