Chapter 5

Well, that damn Preston went and turned himself into a thirty-five-year-old hot dad. I'm not kidding. He looked a good ten years younger than the forty-six that he is, a whole year older than yours truly. I had to keep myself from staring because the last time I saw him was a little after his divorce a few years ago, and he was looking a bit rough then.

That damn Sheila kept side-eyeing me as if she was afraid I would hop on the poor man's dick right there at the bar. I think she'd lost her G-D mind, or she must think I'd lost mine because she knows me better than that. Not while I'm still married to that snake, but once the ink dries on the divorce… well, I just might buy a ticket to the Ho train. I'd have to ask his ex-wife and daughter where the depot is.

Now, the reason Preston was invited tonight was so that I could break the news to him gently before the grapevine got ahold of the story because, unbeknownst to Ratface and the asshole judge, I wasn't about to waste a whole six months of my life on this stupid reconciliation that I am positive ain't about to happen.

I have my own plans, thank you very much, and the last week and a half were about all I was planning on giving my ex, so this thing was about to blow up all over the place because I was about to light the fuse.

His smile when he first saw me turned into the same boyish, charming grin I remembered, and it was good to see that he was no longer so broken up after the divorce.

As I said, his son is my eldest son's best friend, and he and I practically grew up together, so I know more than a little bit about their family dynamic, not to mention that although we hadn't spent much time together once marriage and children came into the picture, we were still considered friends, so I thought I should let him know what was going on with his skank of a daughter.

Last I heard, she hadn't taken the divorce well and had gone no contact with him because he refused to go to counseling and reconcile with her bed-hopping slag of a mother. I guess she had daddy issues, and that's why she'd gone after my spineless weasel of an almost ex.

We got settled at our table and exchanged pleasantries between the three of us, asking after each other's families and such. The poor man was finally picking himself up off the ground and was looking forward to a fresh start, and I almost had second thoughts about telling him what his child was up to.

He"s no slouch, though, and it wasn't long before he got around to asking me why he'd received the sudden invite. I looked at Sheila for encouragement, suddenly lost for words and regretting that call more than ever now that he was here.

"There's no easy way to say this, but, um, my husband and your…."

"Wait, wait, don't tell me. My ex screwed around with Kevin."

"I wish it was that simple; I'd have knocked her on her bony ass already. No, it's Anne; your daughter is the one who is having an affair with my soon-to-be ex-husband."

I watched the light die in his eyes, something I wish I didn't have to be the cause of. See, this is the kinda shit that pisses me off about cheaters. They never think beyond their own selfish lust to the many lives their actions would impact. "What the fuck is wrong with your husband? She's more than half his age."

"Don't put that shit on me; he ain't no husband of mine. He stopped being that the minute it entered his pea brain to sleep with that little tart; forgive me. I'm still a little salty. I shouldn't be talking about your slut of a daughter like that." I really need to stop. It's not poor Pressy's fault that the women in his family are all bottom-feeding slut bags. Bless their hearts.

"I'll kill him."

"Be my guest, but it would be a damn shame for you to end up as Bubba's bitch in prison."

"Wait a minute, since when do you talk like that? What happened to the sweet, mild-mannered woman I know?"

"You can thank Peri for that; that bitch hijacked the old me and took up residence. I hear the bitch is going to be around for at least ten years, and she just might get worst."

"Who the hell is this Peri person? I don't recall knowing anyone by that name. She sounds like a raging bitch if she could turn someone as sweet as you into a foul-mouth sailor."

Poor Sheila snorted her drink through her nose because she knew who Peri was, but I'd be damned if I was going to discuss perimenopause with Preston Thorpe. "Never mind all that; I just wanted to let you know what was going on before the whole world found out."

"Her mother hasn't mentioned anything to me about this."

"I'm not sure she knows. The idiot judge is making me spend the next six months with that asshole, so I haven't blown the whistle yet. She lost her job at his company, but I don't know what excuse she came up with for that happening."

The next half an hour was the most uncomfortable I've ever been. I had to sit there and answer his questions about what I knew about the affair, which wasn't much, and I must have regretted being the one to tell him a hundred times. I guess I let my anger get the better of me, but on the other hand, this man was a friend since elementary school, so I would've felt worse if I hadn't at least warned him before the whole thing broke.

As for his ex, I didn't care one way or the other what she felt because I'm sure she wouldn't see anything wrong with what her daughter had done since they're both cut from the same bolt of cloth. With the way that woman hopped in and out of other people's beds, it's a wonder there wasn't an outbreak of bedbugs on our street.

"She knows. Anne doesn't do anything without Marly knowing, and that's a fact. I just hope…." He started to look a little hot around the collar.

"You hope what?"

"Well, you see, the last time I spoke to Marly, I got a little pissed and might've said some things that went too far."

"What does that have to do with your daughter hopping on my husband's dick?"

"I might've told her to her face that I wish I'd have married you back then instead." I didn't know what to say because I had never dated Preston Thorpe a day in my life.

"Preston, you idiot. Why would you say that to your wife?"

"She wasn't my wife at the time, and besides, she pissed me off. I'm sorry. This might be my fault."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure the two brain cells your daughter has in her head could've told her that what she was doing was wrong. So unless you walked her onto my husband's joystick, you have nothing to be sorry for."

That whole damn family is a bunch of menaces. Let me find out that hag sent her daughter to destroy my life because her ex-husband can't get over a childhood crush.

He didn't stay much longer after that, and I didn't want him to. Unlike my husband, until the ink is dry on my divorce papers, I won't even let myself entertain the thought of looking at another man. I don't want lightning to strike me down dead. But as soon as….

"You're gonna fuck him, aren't you?"

"You doggone right I am. But that's a conversation for another time. First, I gotta get rid of that dead weight in my house."