Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 161899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 809(@200wpm)___ 648(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 161899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 809(@200wpm)___ 648(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
“All right,” Auggie said when I took a breath.
“He kept being ugly, so I got a lawyer,” I continued. “I was making a lot back then, and I had my days free to do research. I did that and found a shark. She was awesome. She made things unpleasant for Corbin. Unpleasant enough he stopped being ugly and started to negotiate. In the end, it wasn’t that bad. He gave me everything I wanted. Joint custody. Healthy child support. He put her on his insurance. Flipflop shared holidays and equal distribution of her school breaks.”
“What are flipflop shared holidays?” Auggie asked.
“Since she was so young, neither of us wanted to miss anything,” I told him. “So, say, one year, I have Thanksgiving Day until three, and he gets the rest of the day and the night, even if she’s supposed to be at my house. That way I could do an early dinner, and have her, and he could do a later one, and have her. She doesn’t miss either of us, we don’t miss her. Then he gets Christmas morning, and I get the afternoon. And we flipflop the times the next year.”
“Thanksgiving this year?”
“I have her that week, but Corbin will pick her up in the morning, and I get her at three.”
“He caved to be the good guy,” Auggie abruptly changed the subject.
“Sorry?”
“He caved, not because you got a shark attorney, but so he wouldn’t do anything he couldn’t go back on. Or, more to the point, anything else,” he explained.
I still didn’t get it.
So I told him that.
Aug elucidated.
“He didn’t stop being ugly because you had someone in your corner. He stopped because he wasn’t going to be able to win you back that way.”
I shook my head. “He had a glitch, honey. He felt threatened. He’s competitive. But, Auggie, I promise, it’s been three years and a lot of women in between. He’s not pining for me.”
“He’s pining for you.”
I felt my heart pinch.
“He’s not,” I asserted.
“This is what I know from what I’ve seen from my parents and from being a guy,” Auggie began forebodingly. “If I’ve moved on from a woman, I move on. You have a kid, but you can move on and still share a kid. You do not find ways to stay in that person’s life and in their face. You do not give them a hard time. You don’t because you don’t give a shit. If things are cool with how the both of you are dealing with your kid, you never have to give a shit. When it’s over, Pepper, it’s just over.”
Oh man.
That made sense.
Aug kept speaking.
“From what you describe, he’s never really been gone. He’s been fucking with you, he’s been in your face about things, and he’s done that to stay relevant to you for when you were ripe for him to make his move. Now, I’m in the picture, and he’s on his back foot. He didn’t expect you to find someone else. He expected things would work out. He’s playing the long game not realizing you weren’t playing along. Now he’s realizing you aren’t. And when he understands that what he wants is permanently out of his grasp, he’s going to strike back.”
I had nothing to say to this because it was flipping me out.
“So, how do you have an attorney, and not have one?” Auggie asked.
“I had her, but I haven’t needed her in at least two years.”
“She’s still your attorney, Pepper.”
“Oh,” I mumbled.
“You should call her to warn her, share this shit with her, so in case he turns, she’s prepared.”
This was not good since I didn’t want to have to deal with Corbin being more of a jerk.
It was also not good because I didn’t have the money to pay her.
She was excellent at her job and her hourly rate reflected that.
Since I had needed her, thanks to Smithie’s pay, excellent benefits package and my tips, Juno and I had gone from a house that I’d kicked Corbin out of but he owned (and he didn’t make waves about that, but it wasn’t mine and it felt unsafe, because he could make those waves whenever he felt like it), to a three-bedroom house that was mine.
I filled it with furniture.
I made it pretty.
Now, my nest egg didn’t cover Corbin being an asshole and me needing to go back to my attorney to ask her to get his shit in line.
Maybe I shouldn’t have bought that pink couch.
“You okay?” Auggie asked.
I was not.
I didn’t share how I wasn’t, though.
We’d see if Auggie’s prediction panned out.
In the meantime, I needed to come up with some killer routines, try to up my tips, maybe see if Dorian could fit me in for another dance a night, and tighten spending.
Just in case.
* * *
There was no football that Sunday.