Chapter 5
FIVE
The next day is perfect beach weather. I almost hoped it would be rainy so I could just quickly drive down to pick up the mail and come back. But Coolum is lovely on a sunny day, so I at least have to go for a walk.
After driving to my old street, I pull up out the front of what is now just Jarvis’s house.
We’d bought the place together after we got married, but I only lived there for eighteen months before we split up.
He had enough money to pay out my share, but I didn’t have enough to pay out his, so he kept the house.
I didn’t mind since I wanted to return to Shell Beach anyway.
I haven’t actually been back to the house since I moved out, so it feels a little weird now. I see the front door we painted red because we found that in feng shui, a south-facing door should be red, and that it symbolises good fortune and positive energy. I snort. So much for the positive energy.
Jarvis built the letterbox himself too—out of several wooden planks with the box affixed to the front. I remember how proud he was when he cemented it into the ground at the end of the driveway.
Ugh. I do not want to reminisce today. I did enough of that yesterday with my time-travelling—even if Jarvis wasn’t part of the scenario.
I approach the aforementioned letterbox and open its lid. The non-marketing envelope is sitting in the bottom, so I pick it up and turn it over. There’s an address for a legal firm in Shell Beach printed on it.
Why didn’t Jarvis mention this when he contacted me?
I suddenly feel like I’m being watched, and when I glance at the front window, I see the blinds twitch. Is he spying on me?
I’m surprised he didn’t steam the letter open to see what was inside.
Then again, maybe he did.
I peel open the flap and pull out the contents.
It takes a moment to process what I’m looking at.
I have apparently come into an inheritance. It doesn’t say what it actually is or anything about the person who bequeathed it to me. I’ll have to call the legal firm to make an appointment to find out more details.
I look at the window again. Are the blinds still moving?
This is stupid. As much as I dislike my ex-husband, I’m not going to run away like a scared rabbit just because he’s a few metres away.
“You can come out,” I yell.
I’m not sure if he hears me at first, but a minute later the front door opens, and he’s standing there.
My stomach involuntarily does that swoopy thing like when you’re on a rollercoaster, but I put it down to the feeling of dread I regularly experienced toward the end of our marriage.
As he walks down the driveway, my heart rate increases. I don’t know if he did it on purpose, but he’s wearing an outfit I used to like on him—a pair of khaki pants with a denim shirt.
His hair is slightly longer than he used to cut it, and it annoyingly suits him. I used to beg him to grow his hair out from the boring short, back, and sides he wore consistently for years—but he told me the TV studio wouldn’t let him. Apparently his character needed to always look the same.
He gives me a slight nod of acknowledgement.
Which is typical of Jarvis. Considering he makes his living by talking, he doesn’t speak unnecessarily outside of work.
Or maybe that was just with me. He used to say he needed to save his voice because it was the thing that paid him.
I tried to point out he wasn’t an opera singer or anything, but then he got mad because he didn’t think I took his career seriously.
Ugh. Even this thought process is stressing me out.
“You got the letter?” he asks.
“As you saw when you were watching me through the window.”
“And what do you think?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Did you already read what was inside?”
He frowns. “No. Can’t you see it was still sealed?”
“But you asked me what I thought. Which implies you know what it said.”
“Because I got a similar one.”
“What?”
“Apparently we’re both the recipients of some unknown person’s inheritance.”
“Do you know anyone who died recently?”
“Nope. You?”
I shake my head. “But it must be someone who knows both of us.”
“Stating the obvious.”
I huff. “Jeez. Do you always have to be such a dick? I haven’t seen you in person since we divorced. The least you can do when you orchestrate a situation like this is try and be civil.”
“I didn’t orchestrate anything!”
“You knew I’d be coming to get the letter, and you hid inside to wait for me. How is that not orchestrating?”
He looks like he’s going to argue again but then sighs. “Fine. Sorry. It’s been a rough few weeks. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”
Jarvis was always very moody, but he never admitted to any reason why. I’m surprised to hear even a hint of him opening up.
“Oh?”
“Don’t go acting like a shark who smells blood in the water. I know you were always looking for the tiniest thing to laud over me.”
My eyes widen. “Excuse me?”
“You couldn’t wait to see me fail.”
“Is that what you thought?”
“It wasn’t just what I thought. It was reality.”
“Um, no. I always wanted you to succeed, and you’re crazy if you didn’t see that. For the record, you’re the one who caused most of the problems in our relationship, and it was your mind games that caused me to leave.”
“If that’s what you want to believe, then go ahead and make me the bad guy. Like always.”
“Oh my God.” I turn away and stride back to my car. “I’m not doing this.”
I yank open the driver’s door and throw myself in. I rev the engine loudly and tear off up the road.
I freaking hate that guy.
And I shouldn’t have stayed married to him for as long as I did.