Chapter 16
I managed to make an appointment with Ezra Fletcher for tomorrow morning.
My brief phone conversation with Fletcher did not fill me with confidence.
He sounded distracted and gave me some convoluted instructions for a garage I have to park in when I come to his office, because if I don’t, someone will “probably” break into my car.
Part of me wonders if Stefanie Gorman actually is working for Jeremy, and she sent me in this attorney’s direction as part of the sabotage.
But it’s not like I have a lot of options.
Jeremy asked me if I’d mind dropping Teddy back at our house tonight since he was going to be working late.
I jumped at the chance. When Jeremy picks Teddy up from the apartment, he doesn’t even get out of the car half the time.
He just parks in front of the house and texts me to send Teddy out.
When he does bother to come to the door, he’s always looking at his watch, ready to back out.
But tonight will be different. I’ll come to the door and insist that I come in and talk.
I’ll tell him what Veronica said to me at the grocery store—about how she basically threatened me.
He might not immediately kick her to the curb, but it will at least plant the seed in his head that she isn’t as great as he thinks she is.
I park in front of the house, Teddy in the back, feeling that ache I always get these days when I visit the place where I lived for the last four years of my life.
Jeremy said that it was his house, and while that might be legally true, this was the home where I ate dinner with my family for four years.
This is where I decorated Christmas trees and put out presents from Santa.
This is where Jeremy and I made love every night.
“Mommy, why are we just sitting here?” Teddy pipes up from the back seat.
His words snap me out of my thoughts. I plaster a smile on my face, shaking away any traces of sadness. “No reason.”
“Are you sleeping at home with us tonight?” Teddy asks in a voice that is so hopeful, it breaks my heart.
“Maybe.”
Teddy cheers as I pull down the sun visor and take a second to apply a fresh layer of lipstick in the vanity mirror. I try not to feel bitter at the memory of how great Veronica looked in the supermarket wearing zero makeup.
“Why are you putting on lipstick?” Teddy asks me.
“No reason.”
“Are you going out somewhere?”
“No.”
He opens his mouth as if to ask another question, but I shoot him a look that thankfully renders him silent. That works maybe once a year, so I’m grateful.
I get Teddy out of his car seat, and he grabs his backpack from the seat beside him.
His haul of rocks from the playground today was particularly large, although one of them was a rose quartz that was actually very pretty.
The weight of the bag causes him to walk tilted slightly backward as we stride together toward the front door.
Instinctively, I reach into my purse for my keys, but then I remember Jeremy changed the lock.
I bet Veronica told him to do it.
I press the doorbell instead, suppressing the urge to hop between my feet like Teddy is doing. I have a comely smile on my face when the door swings open, but it fades when I see Rosita standing there.
Rosita has a pleasantly round face with delicate lines around her eyes and black hair that she always keeps tied back in a neat bun.
In the nearly four years I have known her, I have not once seen her without her hair in a bun—not even a ponytail.
I probably wouldn’t recognize her if she took her hair down.
“Hello, Miss Naomi,” she says a bit stiffly. I used to keep telling her that just plain Naomi is fine, but I have given up on that.
I was the one who hired Rosita and interacted with her the most, so her awkwardness around me is yet another slap in the face. “Hi, Rosita,” I say in my warmest and friendliest voice.
Teddy races past Rosita into the house, and she looks like she’s about to close the door, but I put out my hand to stop her. She blinks at me in surprise.
“Wait,” I say. “Is…is Jeremy home?”
“He’s working late,” she says, although she avoids my eyes, which makes me think he is home.
“I just need to talk to him for a minute.” I try to keep the whining edge out of my voice, but it’s hard. “I’ll be quick.”
Rosita hesitates for a moment, then shakes her head. “I’m sorry.”
And then she closes the door in my face.
Well, that was a waste of lipstick. I trudge back to my car, a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Clearly, it’s going to be harder to get Jeremy alone than I thought it would be, but I’m not going to stop trying.