Chapter 8

"How do you think it happened?" I was pulling onto the highway ahead of the cavalcade that had left my house a few minutes ago.

"How what happened, Sheils?" Sheila rode with me while the kids rode in their own vehicles because everyone had their own thing going on after brunch. My in-laws were, of course, in their own car, and the piece of shit was pulling up the rear on his lonesome since no one invited him.

"How those two even met."

"Got a lot of free time on your hands, do ya."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, you're thinking about that dumb shit. Does it matter how they met or how it happened?"

"No, hear me out. I've been thinking about it since Preston made that statement about bringing up his crush on you to Marly. You don't think she talked her daughter into going after your husband, do you?"

"Whether she did or the kid took it upon herself to go after him doesn't matter. Those people don't owe me anything. Kevin is the one at fault here because he's the one who was married to me. Besides, we're past that now; why even bother thinking about that stupid shit?"

"Are you really not upset? Not upset, but you know what I mean."

"I told you, I'm fine. I didn't do anything wrong, so why should I be upset? Why should the victim pay the price for someone else's mistakes? I love my life. I think when people hear that, they think it's all about your job or career, your family life, and all the other add-ons. But my life is simply that, life, mine. I was given one life to live, and I'm not about to let anyone take even a second of it from me."

"The way I see it, for whatever time I have left here, I owe it to myself to enjoy as much of the life I was given as I possibly can. I refuse to let another human being like me have that kind of power over me. I thought you knew me better than that."

"Yeah, but don't you feel anything? You were in love with him; I know you were. And you were happy with your married life."

"What's me crying and making myself suffer? Is it going to change? I should sulk and moan while those two go on with their happy lives? Would my being sullen change anything? Can he un-fuck her? No, it's a done deal. Therefore, it's time to move on to the next stage of my life."

"I'm not gonna lie; if it was me, I would've crawled under my bed with a case of gin and not come out until I was someone else. I'm just making sure that you're not hurt and hiding it." I came to the light and turned to look at her full-on so she could see the seriousness of what I was about to say and know that it was the whole truth.

"I used to think that way, and when I first found out, I thought my whole life would buckle, and I wouldn't be able to get back on my own two feet. But then I got to thinking, and I realized that a lot of men and women who go through something like this spend too much time worrying about society and everything else instead of listening to themselves."

"Something inside of me died that day, but once the dust cleared, I just asked myself what I wanted, not what anyone else would. I knew from the get-go that I could never stay with a man who disrespected me like that, no matter his reasons, and that was all I focused on. If I worried about what it would do to the kids and the family and the this and the that, I'd have made myself crazy."

"I focused solely on myself because I'm responsible for whatever kind of life I live; no one else's, not even my kids. I raised them the best I could, and now they're young adults with lives of their own. I wouldn't ask one of them to put up with this shit, and I'd be damned if they're going to ask it of me."

"You really aren't upset. You know, this whole time, I kept telling myself that you're putting on a brave front so that the rest of us didn't worry. I was so scared."

"Scared about what?"

"I don't know; that you were bottling it all up and that someday it was going to hit you hard, and you were going to do something stupid."

I pulled into the already-filling parking lot of the best breakfast place in the county and looked around for a spot. "Well, rest assured, as soon as that idiot judge comes to his senses and frees me from the albatross in my house, I'll show you just how unbothered I am. If that makes me seem callous, I don't give a good damn."

"I did my part; I held up my end of the bargain, but that part of my life is over and done; time for a new chapter."

"And you're not going to miss him?"

"Miss what? It's like this. When I went to get my driver's license the first time, I failed. I didn't sit around on my ass whining about it; I practiced harder and tried again. That time, I passed. I fell in love, got married, had children, but it didn't work out. It took twenty-five years of whatever time I have here, but in the end, it failed. And just like I did when I didn't pass my driver's test, I'm going to try again until I get it right. I didn't have the same driving instructor the second time around because I knew I was doing the best I could, so the problem had to be coming from elsewhere. If I'd been slacking off and the issue was with me, I wouldn't have changed instructors."

"I still don't trust it. There's no way your heart's not broken."

"The heart is a deceitful bitch. It's also a piece of flesh. Letting it dictate my life is no different from the men and women who let their sexual organs control their decisions. I"d rather rely on this." I pointed to my head.

"If my heart messes with me on this, I'd drag it out of my chest before I let it talk me into losing my happiness over someone who didn't care enough not to hurt it."

"Okay, okay, I had to. Jonathan made me promise to keep a close eye on you."

"He worries too much." When I have friends like this, people who validate that I'm not a complete monster as a human being, why would I let one shit stain take my peace away from me?

The others pulled in and found parking before we all met up at the entrance of the quaint little mom-and-pop diner that hadn't changed a lick since I was a little girl. The smells of bacon and eggs and country-fried potatoes hit me in the face as soon as the door opened, and the sound of the voices of the families already seated inside reminded me of better times.

People called out to us as the hostess led us to our table, which they had hurriedly pushed together to seat all of us. My father-in-law made a big deal about sitting next to me, and Sheila sat on my other side with Savana next to her. I think the lot of them were making sure Kevin didn't find a place too close.

My mother-in-law, as usual, looked as if she was sucking on dehydrated lemon skin, but since I was no longer beholden to her bitchy ass, I ignored her. She was either mad that her husband was sitting close to me or that no one was kissing her ass the way she liked. Neither of which was of any concern to me.

The server came over and dropped off menus before taking our drink orders, and everyone was in the mood for either mimosas or Bloody Marys. I felt the snake's eyes on me and pretended he didn't exist as I perused the menu I knew by heart.

As soon as everyone got settled and the waitress returned with our drinks, my father-in-law turned to me with a serious expression on his face. "Here you go, love." Dalton passed me an envelope, which made his wife bristle either at the endearment or the fact that she didn't know what was in that envelope.

I have to admit that before all this, my in-laws had a whole different dynamic. It always seemed to me that Dalton deferred to his wife either to keep the peace or because he'd been with the hag long enough to learn how to choose his battles.

"What's that?" She eyed the envelope as I picked it up.

"What's this?" I turned the envelope over in my hand.

"Open it." I did as he asked, and a key fell into my hand.

"Is this?" My heart started to thump in my chest.

"The key to the summer house, it's yours." Both my ex and his mother huffed and protested while I sat there with a lump in my throat.

"I know how much you love that place. It's been in my family for generations, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"She's not family." The harpy screeched.

"Shut up." He turned to his wife, who looked like someone had doused her in cold water.

"She's been my daughter for the better part of twenty-five years, and she's not about to stop now. She gave me four of the best things in my life and was one of the only people in my life who genuinely gave a damn about me."

He looked at her pointedly, and she looked away sheepishly. "Like I was saying, as long as I live, Jo is part of my family; I'm not going to lose her because the son I raised turned out to be just as coldhearted as his mother. I blame myself, Jo. I thought I could leave the raising of my son to his mother, but I knew that she was cold and disinterested in anything other than my money. I thought at least she'd raise the boy to be human, but some tigers eat their young."

Kevin started to interject and was cut off with a harsh look and an even sharper tongue. "I'm disappointed in you. And if you think I'm going to leave my family's hard-earned wealth to an ass who didn't have the good sense to keep it in his pants because he has no morals or sense of control, you can think again. I already talked to the attorneys and made sure that my daughter and grandkids would be taken care of when I'm gone. I no longer trust your judgment."

This was all coming hard and fast. Now, don't get me wrong. I have always known that Dalton had a soft spot for me, but this was totally unexpected. The summer home was nothing short of a mansion on the coast that was about two hundred years old. It's like one of those old beauties that people pay money to tour in their flip-flops when the weather's set on hell.

I took my kids there every summer when they were younger and had some of my best days there, fixing up the garden and making sure the place didn't run to ruin, but never in a million years would I have thought it would come to me.

"Jo, you're the only one of us who really cared about that place in the last decade or so. She never liked it, always complained it was too hot before dragging me off to Europe so she could show off to her friends."

"I don't think I appreciate you talking about me like this in front of the children."

"And I don't like what's happening in this family. You're a woman; your son did one of the most awful things he could to his wife, and all you can think about is how she was never good enough. She's ten times better than the son you raised." Oh, so that's what's going on. She must've said or done something to piss him off, and this was his way of getting back.

No one else said a word as Dalton held the floor. "I apologize to you kids for not raising your dad better and bringing this into your life. But I want all of you to know that nothing is going to change between me and you or me and your mother. You understand? And you," He glared at Kevin, "I only have one daughter. From the day you brought her home to us, and I saw her mettle, I accepted her. If you bring that thing, you're messing around with in front of me, neither of you will like the outcome."

"Here-here." Savanah raised her glass and took a swallow. I felt like I had fallen down the rabbit hole. "Dad, this isn't the time or the place."

"So now you're telling me when I can speak my peace? You dare? You should hang your head in shame; I don't know how you have the gumption to sit here among the people you hurt like nothing happened. Where'd you learn this behavior from?"

"Dad, I already told you we'll talk later." Kevin squirmed in his seat like the worm he was while I played with my key.

"I have nothing to say to you. Jo, when you have time, come by the house, you and Savanah. We'll go through my mother's jewelry, and you two can choose the pieces you want. I was going to leave it in my will with the expectation that my son would do the right thing, but I no longer trust that."

"You can't do that; I'm still alive." Mother-in-law huffed.

"What does that have to do with anything? You never had any interest in any of it; you always claimed it was old-fashioned. You didn't like my mother anyway, why would you want her shit?"

If I didn't know better, I'd swear Dalton was having some kind of episode, but since I've always known him to be sharp and one of the smartest people I know, but this, this was another side to him that I had never seen.

"Like I was saying, I'll let you two take what you like; no point in it sitting in the vault collecting dust. Jo, you can decide what pieces you want to give the boys in the future to give to their future wives; I'll leave that up to you. Ah, here comes my breakfast."

I could tell my mother-in-law was tempted to get up and leave, but even she was too shocked to know what to do. Sheila was grinning like an ass, and my kids were beaming. The only ones looking like death was eminent were my soon-to-be ex and his mama. I, on the other hand, was trying to make sense of everything that had happened in the last ten minutes. Just what the hell had my mother-in-law said in the car on the way here to bring this all about? Then again, he would've had to bring the key with him before that, so what exactly was going on?