Page 35 of Hurry Up And Wait

“What happened?”

She rolled on her side, her hand propping up her head. “Nu-uh. We’re not going there.”

“Going where?”

“Personal territory.”

“I thought you moved here for me.”

She sank her teeth into her plump lower lip, nearly sending me over the edge. “I moved here to be close to you. I had no idea this would happen.”

“But you wanted it,” I chuckled.

“How could I possibly know I wanted it? It’s been years.”

“Then why did you move here? Seriously, Isla, we haven’t known each other since we were kids.”

She shrugged, her eyes drifting away from mine. “I guess I wanted normal.”

I didn’t know why she thought she would get that from me, but again, I got the feeling something had happened that she didn’t want to tell me. But that wasn’t how this was going to work.

“Why did you really bring that box to OPS?”

Her gaze flicked to mine, widening slightly.

“You thought he would do something stupid. Why?”

She opened her mouth, but I was already ahead of her.

“No arguing with me. Don’t fucking lie to me. I’ve seen it all before.”

She flushed red, but didn’t bother denying it. “He really was a good guy when we met.”

“Everyone says that.”

I felt the anger whip off her at my insult. It wasn’t intended that way, but that was most definitely how she took it.

“I’m not in denial or making excuses. He really was different back then. You should know me well enough to realize I would never allow a man to treat me like shit. That came when he made detective.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “Not sure. I think it had something to do with the men he was working with. His partner came by one day after work and I was catching up after being sick for two weeks straight. The house was a mess. It literally looked like a bomb had gone off. Anyway, he didn’t tell me he was bringing anyone over for dinner or I would have made sure the house was picked up and put a bra on. His partner made some comment about keeping me on a tighter leash, and from there, everyone at work felt they needed to tease him. That was about the time everything went to shit.”

“And you stayed.”

“Well, we were married. I thought I owed it to our marriage to try and fix things. I hoped we could turn things around, but his hours only got longer and his attitude worse. For the last three years of our marriage, I was miserable. I just wanted out. And then one day, I had enough.”

I swallowed hard, unsure I was ready to hear what happened. “Tell me.”

“There’s not much to tell. We were leaving a movie and he was grouchy as usual. I said it was over, he shoved me against a wall, and then someone intervened, probably saving my life.”

My hand fisted in front of me, but I made sure she couldn’t see it.

“Anyway, I told him it was over. I threatened to make him the laughingstock of the department if he even tried to stop me. His ego couldn’t take the beating,” she grinned.

“And then you moved here.”

“And then I moved here. It doesn’t surprise me that he shredded the divorce papers.”