I Choose Us: Book 2 in the Crossing Midian Series - A Christian Romance

Chapter 13

— Lottie —

"Here you go, Lottie," said Ms. Claudine as she handed Lottie back her change.

It was only lunchtime, but already Lottie felt exhausted. She and Coop had spent the morning hanging Christmas lights outside the house, all the while Cassie begged to go to the mall to see Santa. Lottie had errands to run in town, so Coop volunteered to take Cassie to the mall and while they were gone, he wanted to take her car to get an oil change, leaving Lottie to drive his Jeep. It had been such a hectic morning that Lottie wanted to surprise Coop and Cassie with lunch from the diner when they got home.

"Thanks, Emmett is going to—"

The bell over the diner's door rang and a rush of cold air blew in as someone stepped inside.

"Evening, Darlene," Ms. Claudine said pleasantly. "Just have a seat anywhere."

"Oh, I can't stay, Ms. Claudine. I just thought I saw Coop's jeep out front and I—" Darlene cut herself off when Lottie turned around to face her. With a tight smile, she walked over to where Lottie still stood on the opposite side of the counter, waiting for her food. "Lottie, hey, honey. I was just looking for Coop."

Lottie raised her eyebrows at Darlene as she cocked her head to the side. "You know, Darlene, you sure spend a lot of time looking for my husband lately."

Darlene laughed, waving her hand dismissively. "Girl, you're so funny! You know it's nothing like that."

Across the counter, Ms. Claudine looked between the two women, though she said nothing as she busied herself with checking over an order ticket.

"Then what is it?" Lottie asked.

Darlene opened her purse and pulled out a couple of envelopes. "These are for Coop. The post office must've mixed up our addresses because they accidentally showed up at my house."

Lottie looked down at the envelopes, recognizing them at once, and then reached her hand out for them, but Darlene flipped them back up out of her reach. She smiled sweetly and said, "These have Coop's name on them, Lottie. Not yours. Maybe I should just give them to him myself."

Lottie bit the inside of her bottom lip as she sat her purse back down on the counter and turned fully to face the woman. They'd caught the attention of the entire lunch crowd by this point, but Lottie didn't care. She crossed her arms over her chest and stood up straight. "You know what, Darlene?" Lottie asked with a smile. "In case you missed it, my name is Charlotte Cooper, and as hard as it might be for you to accept, I am his wife. We had a wedding and everything," she added sarcastically. "Now, you're going to hand me my mail, which by the way I know you took out of my mailbox because I already saw it on my way here and I left it in there on purpose, or I'm going to call the police, and Wesley Anderson is going to walk in here within five minutes and I'll have you thrown in jail."

Darlene's eyes narrowed, and she crossed her own arms. "Honey," she said, raising her voice to a level everyone could hear and letting her accent thicken to an even faker level, "I understand how upset and hurt you must feel right now. Believe me, I've been through it myself. If anyone understands what it's like to have their marriage fall apart, it's me, but holding on to something that's just not working ain't healthy." She shook her head in faux sympathy, which only made Lottie angrier.

Lottie stepped closer to her and spoke quietly, "I don't know what you think you've heard, but with the way the gossip mill runs in this town, whatever it is won't surprise me in the least. But let me assure you; Emmett and I are just fine, so instead of worrying about my marriage, which is none of yours or anyone else's business, maybe you should take some time and worry about your own. Because make no mistake, I'm not some dainty little southern belle who clutches her pearls and lets things go in favor of saving face. If there's one thing I learned in Chicago, it's how to fight for what I want. And, honey, what I want is my husband. So if you think you're woman enough to take him, try me."