9. AVERY
AVERY
“Someone is about to get a generous serving of fuck you!” Callie holds up the documents I’ve just signed.
Divorce wasn’t a priority high on my list, but Alison said that for the sole-custody filing to hold more weight that it would be good to have both proceedings going through. Besides, the court would struggle to give me sole custody when Carl and I are still married.
There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to come at me, and I keep telling myself that I’m ready.
I’ve got fight in me, and there is no way I’m letting him take Iris away from me.
Not when I’m not certain he loves her. It’s not as if he’s ever shown her affection; it’s always been tolerance.
And she deserves more than that, even if it’s just from me.
“Gretch said that it could take up to a month for the paperwork to be processed by the court, maybe even longer depending on how busy they are, but the good news is that you’re filing before Carl, so his little scare tactic of sending his bitch with a note from his lawyer worked in your favor.”
It might have been a scare tactic, but it got my attention, and I know that there’s plenty more in his artillery. I know he’s going to do everything he can to grind me down.
“This is going to get messy, isn’t it?” I take a sip of my coffee. “I keep looking over my shoulder, expecting Carl to show up and drag me back. It’s been two weeks since Kayla was here, and the silence is killing me.”
Looking around the small coffee shop, I try to settle back into my seat, but I just can’t relax. It’s the first time we’ve come into the Silverlark Harbor town center, and I’m aware of how exposed we are.
“I honestly think that he wouldn’t be stupid enough to come here and make demands in person. You’ve seen the media frenzy around him and the consultancy. If he knows what’s good for him…” She pauses, her face lighting up in the direction of the dinging coffee shop door.
“Don’t stop on my account.” I recognize the voice, and when I turn to look behind me, Jo smiles down at me.
She’s got her cane in one hand and the kind of smile that makes me think of my grandmother. Every time she’s been over to the house, she’s talked about her ranch. Iris keeps asking to go see the animals whenever Rowan says he’s going to see her.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Jo. We’re kicking ass,” Callie tells her, as I stand to pull a chair out for her with a lot more ease now that my body is healing. “You know, plotting jerk demise and all that…”
“Good, my favorite kind of conversation,” Jo says with a smile at me. “Looking good, sugar, much better.”
“Thank you.”
“Hey, Jo.” Scarlett comes over from the play area in the corner where she and Iris are having their milk and shortcake at one of the cute little tables.
Jo twists to let her sit on one of her legs. “Did your dad tell you that one of the chicks hatched early?”
“Nope, what color is it? Did you take pictures?”
“It’s jet-black and so fluffy. A thing of beauty. Look,” Jo tells her, taking out her phone to show her photos.
“It’s so cute. Can I keep that one?”
“No.” Callie doesn’t miss a beat.
Rolling her eyes in exactly the same expression as her mother, Scarlett takes Jo’s phone to show Iris the photo.
“Don’t you encourage her to chicknap either. Last time Rowan had a bitch fit thinking I let her get chickens.”
“Ugh, for God’s sake, it’s a chicken. You fatten it and you eat it.”
“Eww, you can’t eat Marvin. You’d have to kill him and cut his head off…that’s gross.” Scarlett sits in one of the chairs, sharing it with Iris as they continue flicking through the other photos of the baby chick.
“Don’t be such a chicken about it!”
“Ha-ha.” Scarlett glares at her. “I see what you did there.”
Jo sticks her tongue out at her before focusing on Iris. “What about you, pretty girl? Do you wanna come see the chicks and horses?”
Iris nods.
“Don’t be shy. You’re too precious to hide away.” Patting my hand, Jo adds, “Just like your mommy. Too pretty.”
Her openness reminds me of my mother. The way she could talk you into a smile.
There’s an upbeat, friendly tone to her voice to go with her appearance.
Jo is all milky skin and faint age freckles.
Her eyes are the brightest blue. She’s got that Martha Stewart look with some rustic chic thrown in.
Her jaw-length, dark ginger hair lightens from the middle of the strands to the pale golden roots.
“What’s your favorite animal?”
“I like starfish,” Iris tells her with a grin I haven’t seen a while. “They’re colorful and pretty. Mommy says they’re inva…inva…”
“Invertebrates,” I help her out before she gets crabby with herself.
“Yeah, in-ver-te-brates.” She sounds it out carefully, pride broadening her grin when she says it right. “They’re my mommy’s favorite too.”
“Invertebrates, huh?” Rhett chuckles behind us.
All the air leaves my lungs at the sound of his voice. I don’t know how to feel around him. The way he looks at me as though he knows me or can see some part of me that I don’t even know exists is confusing.
I can’t control what comes out of my mouth around him, and it’s so damn infuriating because all I want is to suffocate all the crap.
Smother it all so it’s silent forever and no one will ever know the reality of my life.
But he has a way of drawing it all out of me like poison, and when he touches me, I feel it deep inside.
Like hope unfurling and blossoming in my core.
“It means they don’t have bones,” Iris tells him. “My mommy did a special exi…exi—” She stops to look at me for help again.
“Exhibition.”
“Yeah, an ex-hi-bi-tion, at home. She’s a marine bio-lo-gist, so she knows everything about fishes and the sea.”
“Not really.”
“Please,” Callie scoffs, “you’re the biggest nerd.”
“Wait.” Rhett stands between me and Jo. His closeness makes my heart beat faster as I wonder if he’s still thinking about the last time we saw each other. All the bruises and my god-awful tears. All the things I said.
He starts to laugh the longer he looks at Callie. “You’re friends with a marine biologist and you’re scared of the sea…that’s fantastic. Classic bad-A Callie.”
“Correction, A-hole, I don’t want to be eaten by sharks. Shark bait isn’t my calling unlike you and Rowan…on your cool dude boards, flapping around like defenseless prey.”
“You should teach her the reality of the water.” Rhett winks down at me.
For a moment he holds me with his assessing gaze before he fusses over Scarlett and manages to get Iris laughing along with them. It’s such a beautiful sound, lightening some of the heaviness that’s bearing down on me. I can’t help but watch them and smile.
“I think it’s time we did a cookout at the ranch, Callie girl.”
“I think you’re right, Josie.”
“Well, that settles it, then. The guys are cooking dinner tonight.”
My eyes widen at the sprawling estate. A federal-style farmhouse sits in the middle, surrounded by white outbuildings accented in torched timber.
Verdant trees line the long drive, the dirt road kicking up clouds of dust as we approach the beautifully manicured in-and-out drive at the front of the house.
Callie parks her SUV behind Rhett’s. His Jaguar is sleek, and something about him tells me that it’s pristine on the inside. He’s just so well put together in his shirt and slacks, but at the same time his hair is always mussed back from his face and his sleeves rolled up.
“Listen up, monster.” Callie adjusts her rearview mirror so she can look at Scarlett. “No hiding chicks in your pockets or in my purse. This is their home. Got it?”
“Sure.”
“Scarlett!”
“Yes, I got it. Jeez, Mom…” she huffs as she unbuckles her seatbelt and lets herself out of the car.
“Little…madam.” Callie jumps out after her. “I’ve told you not to mess with the child lock!”
“It wasn’t me,” Scarlett calls behind her, running past Jo and Rhett as he fusses over three large German shepherds. One chases after her, skidding to a stop when she turns and yells for Iris to follow her.
Even though my chest tightens at the thought of letting Iris out of my sight, I nod for her to follow Scarlett. The two of them are almost inseparable, with Iris obsessing over as much purple as she can.
“Word of warning,” Callie sighs when I meet her in front of her car. Iris is in her element befriending the dogs. She seems relaxed with Rhett after their chat in the coffee shop. It’s a pleasant development given she was so jumpy with him before. Even with Rowan, who she’s met before.
“Jo can be a little full-on. She’s a real character. No boundaries and a lot to say. However, she’s a good person…the best, actually.”
“She reminds me of my mom.”
“I can see that.”
“She reminds me of Nora too.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m a glutton for punishment.”
The minute Rhett stops fussing over them, the two dogs bound at me and Callie, wagging their tails and barking. It’s a welcoming whine more than a threatening warning.
Laughing, he manages to get them to sit down in front of us. “These guys get very excited over new people.”
“Only new people?”
“Anyone actually. So long as you’re friendly, they love you.” Callie pats them gently before following Jo into the house.
“This is Ship,” he tells me, crouching to fuss over the dog with the black bandana around his neck. “And this is Wave.” He touches the tip of his nose to the dog’s. I’m assuming it’s a female by the red bandana.
“Can I pet them?”
“Sure, they’re as friendly as they come. Ship likes it when you scratch behind his left ear, and Wave likes it when you rub her snout with your fingertips. Up and down…all day long.”
Crouching beside Rhett, I scratch behind Ship’s ear while he pets his back.
A long yowl sounds from him as he falls onto the floor contentedly.
I use the time to take in our surroundings better.
The house is large and spread out, white with a dark roof and shutters that contrast the bright casing of the panes.
Brick chimneys poke out of the roof, and a large stone flue sits on one side by the porch.