Ladies' Night, Andrews, Kay [best time to read books .txt] 📗

Wyatt laughed and blushed.

“When is she leaving?” Joyce asked.

“Who?”

“Callie. You know I don’t normally poke my nose into your business, but I have to be honest with you, Wyatt. If she’s here for good, I’m leaving.”

Wyatt’s jaw tightened. “She leaves today. In fact, I told her this morning she had to be gone by lunchtime.”

“She’s still here. She took Bo over to Scout’s house and she was gone for a couple hours, but now she’s back again, and your dad is furious. He won’t stay in your place while she’s there, so he’s been out cleaning the bird cages for hours now, and I don’t think it’s good for him to be out in the heat this time of day.”

“Thanks, Joyce. I’ll deal with it. Would you please lock up here, then go fetch Nelson and tell him the coast is about to be clear?”

Joyce smiled. “I’ll be happy to.”

*   *   *

He found Callie in the trailer’s kitchen. She was barefoot, humming happily, and stirring something on top of the stove.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.

“What’s it look like I’m doing?” She didn’t look up. “I’m fixing my spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight. It’s Bo’s favorite.”

“Leave it,” Wyatt said.

Now, she turned from the stove, still holding the spoon she’d been using on the sauce. “Oh, for Pete’s sake, Wyatt. You know I don’t have any place to stay. Why are you being such a complete dick about this?”

He pried the wooden spoon from her hand and dropped it in the sink. “We’re getting divorced, Callie. That’s what you wanted, and that’s what you’re getting. Despite your best efforts, I’ve managed to rebuild my life. Without you. I’ve tried to be nice, but nice doesn’t work with you. So now, I need you to get your stuff and put it in your vehicle and leave.”

“And go where?” she said, already pouting.

“I don’t care where you go from here,” he said, amazed at the fact that he really didn’t. “Go back to your sister’s, to a motel, whatever. But you’re not staying here.”

Wyatt reached into his pocket and peeled off four hundred-dollar bills. “This is all the cash I’ve got. And it’s all you’re getting until next month, so don’t think you can come back here again for more.”

She just stared at him. “You’re really serious.”

He took her hand, pressed the bills into her palm, and closed her fingers over them. “Serious as a heart attack.”

“If Bo comes home from Scout’s and I’m not here, he’ll be heartbroken. I promised him spaghetti and garlic bread tonight…”

“Bo’s used to you breaking your promises,” Wyatt pointed out. “He’ll get over it. You can call him after you find a place to stay.”

Callie held up the crumpled bills. “And what am I supposed to do when this is gone? Sleep on a park bench? Eat at a shelter?”

Wyatt shrugged. “You might think about a job. But again, not my problem.”

It took her two trips to pack her stuff into the Jeep. She banged the screen door as hard as she could both times. Finally, he heard the car’s engine sputter and stall, and roar to life again. He heard the spin of her tires on the crushed-shell driveway as she sped down the road and out of his life. For now.

*   *   *

Monday was delivery day at the Sandbox. Grace found Rochelle standing in the dining room, clipboard in hand, as the Budweiser driver unloaded cases of beer and trundled them into the kitchen.

“I was wondering where you’d been,” she said as Grace came around the bar to fix herself a cold drink.

“I’ve been everywhere … and nowhere,” Grace replied. “I spent the weekend at Mitzi’s condo.” She gave her mother an apologetic smile. “Guess I should have called, huh?”

“Would have been nice,” Rochelle said. “But you’re an adult. I get that you need your privacy.” She looked up from her invoices. “If you want to talk about what’s going on with you, I’m happy to just listen.”

“I’ll give you the condensed version. Saturday, I went over to the house and found proof that J’Aimee really did vandalize and set fire to Arthur’s house. Then I blackmailed Ben into agreeing to a financial settlement. I broke up with Wyatt. Did you see the news last night? Stackpole’s wife caught him with another other woman at a restaurant in Sarasota, and it made the news last night. And then this morning, I dropped in on Paula and tried to convince her she should help us get Stackpole thrown off the bench. It’s been a busy time, Mom.”

“That’s quite a list of accomplishments. Did I hear you say you broke up with Wyatt?”

“Yes,” Grace said.

Rochelle sighed and patted her daughter’s hand. “Oh, Gracie. Why?”

“His wife wants him back,” Grace said. “Bo wants his parents back together.” She shrugged. “It was probably inevitable.”

“Doesn’t Wyatt get a say in any of this?”

“He says he and Callie are never getting back together and that he wants to make a life with me, but…”

“But you’re ready to give him up anyway?” Rochelle shook her head. “God, Grace. I could have sworn you were born with a backbone.”

“This is not about standing up for myself! It’s about reality, Mom. Callie will do whatever it takes to get her claws into Wyatt. She spent the night over there Friday, after she’d broken up with her boyfriend, and Wyatt wasn’t even going to tell me. In fact, she told me—after I showed up at his place to pick up Sweetie. She met me at the door dressed in his bathrobe. And she made sure I noticed she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.”

“Do you actually think Wyatt slept with her? Or that he even wanted to?”

Grace took her time answering, slowly peeling the paper wrapper from a drinking straw. “No,” she said finally. “But the point is…”

Rochelle waved her off. “The point is you don’t trust the man. You don’t trust his feelings for you. You don’t trust his ability to see through his ex. And you don’t trust