Page 25 of Return to Cheshire Bay
My best bet was to sell the house, and likeBeth said, tuck my tail between my legs and come home. Oh, howright she’d been. It had been a giant mistake coming back.
“I’m sorry, Eric. I’m sorry you knew me backthen, and I’m sorry you can’t see that I’ve changed.” I rummagedthrough my purse and pulled out some cash, dropping it on the tableas I rose.
“Lily, wait…”
Tears fell down my face. “I’m sorry.”
He turned his head away.
I hailed an uber, and on the way back to myplace, I texted Beth. “It’s on.”
Chapter Eleven
I was in a mood to fight. The ride home didnothing to settle me down. I didn’t want to cry anymore, I wantedto punch something, or better yet, yell and scream until I had noenergy remaining and felt all my anguish was gone. My key nearlybent from being stabbed into the lock repeatedly. After twisting itopen, I stepped inside and slammed the door shut.
The loud staccato beats of theImperialMarchsounded.
Duh duh duh, DUN DA DUN, DUN DA DUN
For once, Parker’s timing didn’t stink.Gloves on and blood already boiled, I was ready.
“What do you want?” I barked into thespeaker as I stormed up the stairs to the master bedroom.
“Finally, you answered.” There was a timewhen hearing his voice once soothed me, but now the very sound ofhis Newfie-ish accent grated my last remaining nerves.
“What do you want?”
“I want to see you again. Where are you? Youhaven’t been home in a month.”
My heart stopped beating despite the quickcardio workout. “What do you mean? I had the locks changed.”
Two days before I left for Cheshire Bay,three weeks after he walked away from us.
“Yeah, and thanks for the heads up on that.I had to ask the super.”
I braced myself against the wall and inhaledsharply. “And he gave you a set?”
I’d been pretty clear when I had the lockschanged the reasoning behind that. It seemed my next call to makewas to the superintendent of my building to give him a solid pieceof my mind.
“Of course. Johnny and I go way back.”
Fantastic. They were likely comic bookbuddies or something. The blood in my veins chilled faster than theair around me as I entered my master suite. I’d left all thewindows open, and in desperation to feel warm and secure, I slammedthem shut and quickly raced to the unlocked patio door.
“So where are you, Babe?”
“Not with you.”
“Right? Our bed is so cold without you.”
Ew. He’s still sleeping in my bed, in myapartment, even though I wasn’t there. The ethics and violationsbeing smashed left and right were upping the anxiety levels in me.Dizziness was settling in, and I needed to sit down. The firstavailable space was the deck chair on the balcony.
“I went to your office.”
My mouth dried in an instant and even aquick swallowing did nothing. My legs weakened. I wanted to throwup.
“Why didn’t you tell me you got fired?”
I was given a buyout, not fired. Although itdidn’t really matter. No doubt my perfume was still lingering inthe air when they removed my name from the door. I grasped the armrest of the chair and slid into it.