Chapter 25
ROSIE
My mouth went dry at the ominous click of the door closing behind me, and my stare lifted to study my ex-husband’s weirdly relaxed expression.
I expected his next words to be cutting, even combative, but to my total bewilderment, he very softly asked, “How the fuck did we get to this, Rosie?”
I stared up at him, no doubt with an amazed look plastered across my face.
“We used to be as close as this.” He lifted his hand and crossed two fingers together. “Do you remember how good it was between us at the beginning? Do you remember how happy we were?”
My eyebrows pulled together because whenever I thought back to the early days, all I remembered was Evan being a surly, lazy shithead who went out and fucked other women while I did all the chores and looked after DJ.
“I know we were young, Rosie. That’s why I made an error in judgment, but I never meant to hurt you, sweetheart.”
My face scrunched up in confusion because what he called an error in judgment, I called a complete betrayal, but still, we weren’t here to discuss the past; we were here to talk about our kids, and that was why I got straight to the point.
“What’s your proposal, Evan?”
He stared down at me. “Every time I see you, I feel like a weight hits my chest because I can’t believe what we’ve become.”
My eyes rounded to saucers.
What the hell was he talking about?
“We’re divorced,” I pointed out. “So things aren’t going to be all kumbaya, but up until recently, I thought we were doing okay. DJ and Gabby are happy and stable. They do well in school and even better socially. They’re great kids. We’ve got a lot to be proud of.”
“You’ve done great,” he agreed. “But me... Jesus, Rosie. I feel like I’m wandering aimlessly without the kids... and you.”
My eyebrows shot up.
Is he crazy?
I desperately tried to think of something to say, but all I could come up with was, “Umm—”
Evan rounded his shoulders determinedly and announced, “I think we should reconcile.”
I think my brain glitched because it went completely blank, and I just stood there frozen, with my mouth hanging open.
My stunned silence must have given Evan a ray of hope because he took a step toward me, rested his hands on my shoulders, and said, “Look, I know it’s wild and probably crazy, but I never stopped loving you.
I know it’s come out of left field, but I’ve been thinking about it for a while.
I was gonna suggest getting together and talking things through, but you started seeing that pretty boy asshole, and it kinda put me on the back foot. ”
My head reared back.
Left field?
Err, understatement of the goddamned century.
Back foot?
What the actual fuck?
“Let me get this straight,” I began, trying to stop myself from exploding. “I started seeing Donovan, and it put you on the back foot?”
He had the good grace to look chastised. “Well. Yeah.”
“So the fact I got a boyfriend put you on the back foot”—my hands jerked to my hips and I leaned forward—“but it was nothing to do with the fact that you’ve got a fucking girlfriend?
”—my voice rose to a screech—“and nothing to do with the fact you’ve had a new girlfriend every few months since we got divorced.
” I held a hand up to stop him talking and hissed, “Oh, wait, I stand corrected, silly little me. You didn’t wait for the fucking divorce to finalize, did you, Evan?
In fact, you didn’t even wait until after the fucking honeymoon! ”
“Rosie,” he cut in. “I was young—”
“You were a cheating asshole,” I raged. “And you still are. My boyfriend and your girlfriend are standing feet away with just a door separating us, and you’re trying to fuck them over by asking to rake over old ground and play happy families with me! Are you crazy?”
“I thought you’d at least think about it for the sake of the kids,” he snapped.
My lip curled into a snarl. “And what about the sake of me?”
Evan took another step closer. “Rosie, baby. We used to be good together.”
I retreated a step away from him. “No, Evan. We were terrible together on account that you couldn’t keep your dick in your pants.”
He held his hands out almost pleadingly. “Like I said. I was young.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “You were a cheat. Your son’s younger than you were when we got married, and he’d never treat a girl like that.”
“DJ’s still a kid,” he clipped.
“In numbers, yes,” I snapped. “In maturity, he’s miles ahead of you.”
Evan took another step forward, almost crowding me, and I automatically backed away again. “Step back,” I demanded.
“Rosie—”
“You’re unbelievable,” I grated out. “Step back!”
He leaned forward.
“Step back!” I yelled in his face.
A pounding sounded from the door, and Evan leaped a foot in the air before lurching away from me.
Donovan’s voice called, “Ro. You okay?”
“I’m fine,” I yelled, glaring at Evan, and suddenly wishing I had laser beam vision that could incinerate his cheating, lying ass. “I’ll be out soon.”
“I’ll wait here for you,” Donovan called back, then tagged on, “Where I can hear everything.”
I cocked my head and quirked an eyebrow in challenge.
“Well. Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?
I mean, while we’re here, we could talk about our issues like adults, maybe discuss not putting our kids through a fucking court case because your ego’s dented.
You know... just for shits and giggles.”
He looked me up and down like I’d left a bad taste in his mouth. “Why do you have to be such a bitch?”
My eyes turned to slits. “Maybe because you got me in this room under false pretenses and then went and lost your goddamned mind.”
“Aren’t our kids worth a conversation at least?” he muttered.
I looked at the ceiling and sighed out my frustration.
“You ask me that when you’re putting them through a custody case?
You’re such a hypocrite. Do you think for one minute I could ever be happy with you after the way our marriage ended?
You’d be back out within a week, hooking up with random women again, and we both know it. ”
Evan’s face hardened. “You’ve got a low opinion of me.”
“Yeah, I have,” I concurred. “Because you earned it.”
He looked down at his boots. “I guess there’s nothing left to talk about then.”
“We could talk about this bullshit custody case,” I said pointedly. “We could talk about doing the right thing for the kids’ sake.”
“Nah,” he drawled. “I’d rather talk about it with the judge.”
I took in the petulant expression on his face and the way he bristled with anger. He was such a fucking baby when he didn’t get his own way. He always had been, and it gave me the total ick.
Thank God he wasn’t my problem anymore.
“If you’re not gonna play the game, Ro, I’ll play it for the both of us,” he bit out.
I cocked my head, taking in his attitude, and it propelled me back in time to when we were together. I’d forgotten how spiteful he could be and how ruthless, and being reminded of it now made a thought occur to me.
“You’re jealous,” I blurted out.
He stared at me.
“That’s what all this is about.” I waved a hand between us.
“I don’t mean this interaction; I mean the custody case.
You don’t want the kids; you don’t give a shit.
This is all to teach me a lesson. I left you; I thrived without you.
I got stronger, and then I met someone else, someone decent and successful.
And you can’t stand it because you’re still exactly the same person you were fifteen years ago.
The interaction at the house got you pissed too, didn’t it?
Donovan’s everything you aren’t, and it made you feel inferior.
That’s what all the PI shit was about, right?
Trying to make me and Donovan look bad to make yourself bigger? ”
Evan’s body bristled again, and he retorted, “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Drop the case then,” I challenged, tilting my chin. “Prove to me you’re better than this.”
He snorted. “I don’t need to prove anything to you.”
“Right,” I said resignedly, realizing that Donovan had hit the nail on the head when he called Evan a narcissist.
That was exactly what I was dealing with.
The door pounded again, and that time, Kennedy’s voice called out, “Rosie. The judge is coming out.”
I looked up at my ex-husband and murmured, “Last chance. Prove the kids come first, Evan. Show them they’re your priority.”
A smirk flashed across his face, and he shrugged. “I miss my kids. I want them with me, and I’m afraid you’re a bad influence, Rosie. I need to think of their well-being.”
“Right,” I whispered.
Fuck Evan. He was about to go down, and everything that was about to unfold he’d brought on himself.
Game on.
—————
The courtroom setup was much like the one at Nebraska when Donovan fought for custody of Imogen. Evan and I were sitting at a long table before the judge, with our lawyers between us, and a court official standing to the side.
Freya had gone off to find Maureen with Gabby and DJ.
Donovan, Atlas, and Sophie had permission to stay in the room because they were carers for the kids and Sophie was their family doctor.
Colt had pulled some strings (or hacked some system somewhere—who knew?) and was there in an official capacity, and Evan’s parents sat behind their son with Rachel.
I don’t know what had happened, or why, but my nerves had faded. Maybe it was Evan getting me in that room on the pretense of finally doing the right thing for our kids, and then playing the fool, but suddenly, I was done with him and his bullshit.
I didn’t cower to anyone, and I may have been going through something with my mental health, but Evan had lit a fire in my belly that had made my perspective do a complete one-eighty.
Fuck my ex-husband.
Fuck him.
We all stood when the clerk announced the judge by name. The air filled with a sense of anticipation as a stocky, thick-set man swept in, dressed in a suit covered by an unbuttoned, long black robe.