The Fling

58

I knew the rest of my afternoon would be terrible if I didn't talk to someone, so I texted the girls to see if they could come by for an hour before I had to pick all of our kids up. Ten minutes later my friends and I were on my patio sipping iced green teas while I told them everything that had happened earlier.

Mia spoke up when I finished. "I'm ashamed to admit this, but after Bert left you, I'd sit around fantasizing about bad things happening to him. I wanted him to pay for hurting you, and it looks like my wish came true. What sucks is that you're being punished along with him, so I feel shitty about this."

"Come on," Eloise replied with an eye roll. "You didn't manifest this! Bert brought everything on himself, and quite honestly, I'm with Shawn. You don't owe that asshole anything and should tell him to pound sand."

"That's not an option because of the kids," I said firmly. "I'm going to help him since it's the right thing to do and because I still care about him."

"You're a better person than I am," El quipped. "How long will you let him live in your house? It probably doesn't sound that awful now, but give it a couple days and you'll be pulling your hair out."

"Ideally he'll find someplace in the next few weeks, but I'm not super optimistic. If the rental market is anything like it was after I graduated college, the options are livable and outrageously expensive or affordable and disgusting."

Mia nodded. "I'm sure it's worse now. California is ridiculous."

I drank some of my tea. "I might reach out to Bertram and Gina. They may not be talking to their son, but surely they'll speak to me. Maybe I can arrange a meeting where I act as a mediator."

"Do you blame them for not wanting anything to do with that crook?" Eloise asked. "He lost their money! If they are like my folks, they are dependent on their savings to survive. I'm sure they own their home at this point, but life is expensive and they still have at least twenty years left."

"To be fair, he didn't close out the investment when his dad asked because he was positive it would go up more. His intentions were good."

"Good intentions won't pay the bills!" El asserted.

"It's too bad Bert won't let Shawn help," Mia said. "It would solve everyone's problems."

"Bert would rather sell a kidney. He's already insecure about Shawn, and being beholden to him would never fly."

Eloise chewed her bottom lip before speaking. "Where does your relationship with Shawn fit in with Bert staying at your house? Based on him storming off today, he is obviously unhappy about it, but logistically, how do you balance having both men in your daily life?"

"I don't know," I admitted. Looking down, I saw that I was twisting my non-existent wedding band, something I had not done in almost a year. I pulled my hands apart and shuddered.

Before my friends went home, they both offered to do carpool, but I really wanted to see Hannah and Bertie as soon as possible since I was worried about how they were handling everything that went down with their dad.

Lizzie called me as I was getting ready to leave. "Hi, Abi. My honor society meeting was canceled. Do you want me to pick up Hannah and Bertie?" She attended the same private school, but the high school section ran on a different schedule and was located across the street.

"As lovely as that would be, I have to drive Nathan and the twins, so it won't work. Are you okay? I'm sure yesterday was crazy."

"Did Dad tell you the truth or did he lie to you like he did to us?" she asked with obvious frustration.