Chapter 38
I spend most of the night tossing and turning.
At one point, I wake up and walk to Teddy’s room, look at his rock collection displayed on his small desk, then pick up one of his stuffed animals and just cry for an undetermined amount of time. Then I fall asleep in his bed.
By the time I finally wake up, it’s nearly lunchtime. I don’t have much to eat in the house, and I consider a run to the grocery store, but then I remember my car is back at Jeremy’s house. I still have to pick it up.
While I’m searching my refrigerator for some food that I can cobble together into a meal, my phone buzzes with an alert.
It takes me a moment to find my phone, which is caught up in the blankets on my bed.
When I find it, I peer at the screen, remembering having put this reminder in my phone back before my whole life fell apart:
Jeremy trip to Boston.
Jeremy has a business trip to Boston this week.
He’s flying out this afternoon. Which makes me wonder who is watching Teddy while he’s gone.
If the events of yesterday hadn’t happened, would he have asked me to do it?
I assume not, because he would not have been able to ask on a day’s notice.
Maybe he canceled the trip. Or maybe Rosita is spending the night.
Or maybe he asked Veronica to watch Teddy.
The thought of that woman spending time with my son when I am not allowed to go near him…well, it’s almost more than I can bear. It makes me want to scream.
Veronica doesn’t love Teddy. At best, she’s tolerating him as a means to get to Jeremy. At worst, he could be in danger. Not that she did anything to harm the Simington children, but that housekeeper made it sound like she would have if the opportunity arose.
And isn’t this the perfect opportunity? If Jeremy is out of town and the two of them are alone together?
When I voiced my concerns to Ezra, he looked at me like he thought I had lost my mind. But he doesn’t know Veronica. He hasn’t seen the glint in her eyes when she looks at my husband. If he knew what I know, he’d take it a lot more seriously.
My phone starts ringing in my hand, startling me out of my growing panic.
“MOM” flashes on the screen, and even though I usually hate talking to my mother on the phone, I feel a sudden stab of longing.
My mother might be overly critical and cynical, but she is helpful.
If not for her, I wouldn’t be married to Jeremy in the first place.
So I pick up the phone.
“Naomi,” my mother’s raspy voice says on the other end of the line. “Have you been avoiding my calls?”
“No,” I lie.
“Yes, you have.” Although she doesn’t even sound that upset over it. More like she’s stating a fact. “So what’s going on? Is Jeremy still leaving you?”
A lump rises in my throat. “You were right about him. There is another woman. He’s leaving me for a girl in her twenties. And she’s gorgeous.”
“Oh, Naomi,” my mother sighs.
I thought that there were no more tears left in my body, but somehow I manage to start crying again.
I can’t even bear to tell her about my arrest and how I’m not allowed to see Teddy anymore.
It would hurt to say those words out loud.
But I do tell her everything I found out about Veronica during my visit to her former residence.
Unlike Ezra, she takes everything I say very seriously. I knew she’d be the one person who did.
“Listen to me, Naomi,” she says. “This woman is clearly trouble, and I hate to say I told you so, but…well, I told you so.”
She did tell me so. As much as I am loath to admit it, my mother is always right.
“But the good news is,” she says, “there’s a simple way to get your family back.”
“How?”
“All you have to do is get rid of this other woman before she gets rid of you.”
I feel a cold sensation slithering down my spine. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” she says, “if that other woman isn’t around, he won’t leave you.”
“So what am I supposed to do? Talk her into going away?”
She snorts. “I don’t think you’ll have much luck with that.”
She’s right. “So how exactly am I supposed to get rid of her?”
Instead of answering my question, she starts coughing.
It’s a wet cough that comes from deep in her chest. My mother smoked for far too long.
Who knows how long she’ll even be around?
In a year, she could be dead. And then who will help me?
Nobody is a better problem solver than my mother.
She can be aggravating at times, but I owe her everything.
“I can’t fix this for you,” she tells me after she gets her coughs under control. “Not anymore. It’s up to you now.”
I don’t know what she’s implying. She did help me out, a long time ago. But it wasn’t anything like this. I don’t know how she expects me to get rid of Veronica, who is far more devious than I am. I told Jeremy everything I knew about her, and he said I was delusional. I did my best.
But this isn’t just about me and Jeremy anymore. It’s about Teddy too. She can do what she wants to me, but there’s no way I’m going to let her hurt my little boy.