That Divorce: (Danny's Duet Book 1) (That Boy 4)

by Jillian Dodd

  The designer looks from me to Danny and says, “We’ll? Are you two, like, together?”

  “What?” I scoff, recovering more quickly than Danny. “I think he’s referring to him and Jadyn.”

  “Oh,” the girl says, turning a shade of red. “Of course. I just … I’ll stop talking now. We have all the measurements, so we’ll get it ordered. Jadyn wanted it rushed, so I’ll do that straightaway.”

  “Awesome. Thank you,” Danny says, signing the work order that she holds out to him before she slinks away.

  “Let’s go,” I tell him, leading him out the door.

  “Is it bad that I did mean we, as in you and me?” he says once we’re in his car.

  I melt. “Not at all.”

  “It just seems so strange. You’ve been here for less than a week, and I’m picturing you in my life, living in my house. I feel like that’s how my life should have been. But it’s not,” he says.

  He looks sad, so I decide to change the subject.

  “So, it’s Halloween. I know the kids have parties at school today, but what will go on tonight?”

  Danny starts the car and turns to me with a sparkle in his eyes.

  “Remember I told you, Halloween was always my favorite holiday as a kid? Dressing up wasn’t the only reason.” He’s got a naughty grin on his face.

  “Sounds like trouble,” I say with a laugh. “Did you smash pumpkins and stuff?”

  “Oh no, that would be disrespectful. But we might have TPed a few homes. Possibly forked their yards and might have Fruity Pebbled a few sidewalks.”

  “TPed? You mean, like toilet-papered houses? I’ve never done that before.”

  “Never?” he asks, shocked.

  “Nope.”

  “Oh, boy. You’re going to have fun tonight.” He glances at the clock. “Hmm. It’s getting late. I was thinking it would be fun to make homemade pizzas with the kids before they go trick-or-treating. When I was young, we used to make them in pumpkin shapes and decorate them to look like jack-o’-lanterns. But I need to go to the store to get supplies for tonight.”

  “Why don’t I start the pizzas with the kids, and you go to the store? By the time you get back, we can eat.”

  He reaches over, takes my hand in his, and gives it a little squeeze. “That sounds like an awesome idea.”

  We get back to Danny’s house as the kids are getting home from school.

  “How was school?” Danny asks them as we all meet up in the kitchen.

  “A couple of my teachers brought treats in for Halloween, but it sucks, not having parties like we did in grade school.” Damon pouts.

  “I’m over all that,” Dani says with a roll of her eyes.

  “Well, how would you feel about us making homemade pizzas tonight?” I ask them.

  “I’m all for pizza, all the time,” Damon says, his pout quickly replaced with a grin much like his father’s.

  Danny pulls his phone out and shows us all a photo. “I had your grandma send me this today,” he says. “When I was a kid, we used to make pizzas for Halloween and decorate them like jack-o’-lanterns.”

  “That’s kinda lame,” Dani says, but she’s smiling, too.

  “But tasty,” Danny counters. “Jennifer is going to help you make the dough. I have to run an errand but will be back shortly. I say we have a contest for the best-looking pizza.”

  “And who’s going to judge that?” Damon asks.

  “Grandma,” Devaney answers. “She loves me.”

  “I will agree to sending Grandma pictures and letting her judge, but we are not allowed to tell her whose is whose. Deal?”

  “What do we win?” Damon wonders.

  “If I win, I’m not grounded, and I get to go trick-or-treating with Chase. He’s taking Madden and Ryder.”

  “Devaney, you can go with Chase to do that regardless of if you win,” Danny says sweetly. “Wanting to help the little kids is nice of you.”

  “Does that mean, after we’ve worn them out, I can go over to—”

  “Don’t push it,” Danny says firmly.

  She rolls her eyes again but doesn’t argue further.

  I shoo Danny out of the kitchen. Once he leaves for the store, the kids and I mix up the dough. While it’s rising in the warming drawer, I chop up veggies and show Devaney how to sauté them. Damon is in charge of cooking the ground sausage.

  “We need some music,” Devaney says. She eyes me seriously. “Do you listen to Dad’s kind of music?”

  “What does your dad listen to?” I ask, realizing I don’t know.

  “Rock mostly,” she says.

  “Do you not like that kind of music?” I ask.

  “Well, I might if the music he listened to in college wasn’t, like, a million years ago.”

  “I like a lot of music,” I tell her as I sprinkle flour all over one side of the island and set up all the toppings on the other side. “Pick whatever you like.” What she likes is dance music, which is awesome because it’s my favorite, too.

  I get the dough out of the warming drawer, roll it into individual balls, and set them in the flour. The kids are rolling it out when the front door bursts open.

  I look up, expecting Danny, but see his wife instead. She doesn’t appear to notice us, just marches up the stairs, seemingly on a mission.

  The kids’ eyes are as big as saucers, but neither one of them seems surprised when a loud scream breaks the silence that fell over the kitchen when she walked in.

  “Oh, boy,” Devaney says. “Mom doesn’t sound happy.”

  And she’s right.

  Lori flies down the stairs and finally notices the three of us in the kitchen. Her face is red when she marches to the island and glares at me. “What are you doing here? Where is my husband?” she demands.

  “He is running a quick errand—”

  “Well, aren’t you all cozy? Here in my house, with my children. Making a mess of my kitchen.”

  “Um, we’re just making pizzas. Would you like to join us?”

  She gets an amused look on her face. “Join you? In my house? Yes, I think I would. This is actually a little surreal, I will admit. Another woman cooking in my kitchen.”

  “Did you cook a lot?” I ask, knowing full well that she didn’t, based on the stove.

  “What? No. A chef prepared our meals for us. It’s all too messy.”

  I purposely splash a little sauce on the counter. “Yeah, it is. Kinda like life.”

  “Mom,” Damon says, “we’re having a contest to make the best jack-o’-lantern pizza. Grandma Diamond is going to judge which one wins. Daddy used to do it when he and Uncle Phillip and Auntie Jay were young. How come we never did this before?”

  Lori does a long blink, seemingly trying to keep her anger in check. “I don’t know, honey. We’ll have to ask your father that.” She turns to her daughter. “I’m also here to talk to your father about what went on Friday night at the party. I’ve heard more of the story since I arrived home from Bermuda. Why didn’t you tell me what happened? That you were at a party where police were present?”

  “I had already left,” Devaney says.

  “Oh, yes. I heard how your stupid friendship with Chase caused the quarterback on the team you are supposed to be supporting to break his hand.”

  “It wasn’t Chase’s fault,” she starts to say, but her mother doesn’t let her finish.

  “You are not allowed to see him anymore.”

  “What?” Devaney says, the hurt in her eyes apparent.

  “I’m thinking maybe you didn’t hear the whole story,” I say, standing up for Chase. “He went there—”

  Lori aims her finger and venom at me. “Don’t you even think about telling me anything about my daughter. As a matter of fact, why don’t you get your husband-stealing whore ass out of my house?”

  “Lori!” Danny says, his voice booming through the commotion.

  I didn’t even hear him come in.

  She marches straight up to him. �
��Don’t even start with me, Danny Diamond,” she says, her voice dripping with disgust. “You left our children with a complete stranger.”

  “She’s not a stranger.”

  “And what did you do to my house? I came over to pick up some clothes. Where is my stuff?”

  “I moved the bedrooms around,” Danny says calmly in what seems to be a well-practiced tone. “The personal items you left here were boxed up and put into a storage unit.”

  “You put all my clothing into a storage unit? If they get ruined, you’re replacing them!”

  “The storage unit is high-end and very suitable for your needs. Your items are also insured, should there be any damage.” He opens a drawer in the kitchen and pulls out an envelope. “The address and key to the unit are in here.”

  “Why are you still here?” she asks me.

  “I’m still here because Danny invited me, and I’m not leaving his house until he asks me to.”

  Danny

  Lori turns to me. “You don’t think it’s a coincidence that I go out of town, you bring this whore into my house, and our daughter goes to a party and is drinking? It’s your fault. Were you even caring for our children while I was gone? Or were you too busy whoring around?”

  What she says hits home, and I immediately feel guilty. I was making out with Jennifer and almost ignored Phillip’s call.

  “Are you saying that you wouldn’t have let Devaney go to the cheer sleepover?” I ask Lori.

  “That has nothing to do with it,” she says.

  “Yeah, it does. Maybe you didn’t get the whole story. Maybe, instead of listening to cheer-mom gossip from women whose girls weren’t even at the party, you should have asked me or your daughter about it. It’s not as simple as you make it sound.”

  She crosses her arms in front of her chest. “Enlighten me.”

  Devaney, who surprisingly hasn’t left the room and is standing close to Jennifer, like she’s her backup, tells her side of things. She leaves out quite a bit, but I get it.

  Once she finishes, I tell Lori the rest.

  “You’re telling me that, rather than call her own father, she called Chase? And Phillip didn’t call you to go get our daughter because he knew you were with your whore.”

  “I’m not a whore,” Jennifer says adamantly. “Stop saying that.”

  “Why don’t you go home, Jennifer?” I suggest, wanting to protect her from the drama with Lori.

  The second I see Lori’s smirk, I realize I played right into her hand.

  “Yeah, why don’t you leave?” Lori repeats.

  Jennifer drops a towel on the counter and looks me dead in the eyes. “You know what? I’m sorry your wife barged in while you were gone, and I invited her to join us. Enjoy your pizzas.”

  My heart feels like it’s breaking all over again when she walks out. I want to run and stop her from leaving, hold her in my arms and apologize for the things my wife said, but Lori starts in on me again.

  “How could you leave our children alone with a stranger?” she asks.

  “Let’s go outside and talk,” I suggest. “The kids don’t need to hear all this.”

  “No! The kids are practically grown. They need to understand what’s going on here.”

  “What’s going on here is, I invited a friend to come over to my house. You aren’t living here anymore. That was your decision, not mine.” I take her arm and lead her to the front door. “It’s time for you to leave.”

  Surprisingly, she complies. When I get her outside, I see why. Richard is waiting for her. I didn’t even notice his car sitting in the street when I got home, my mind on all things Jennifer.

  He gets out of the car and waves her over.

  “I have to go now,” Lori says, “but we are not through with this conversation.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow at the attorney’s office. We can talk all you want there, but I refuse to do it in front of the children.”

  “Fine,” she says.

  The second she is gone, I rush over to Jennifer’s room. When I knock on the door, she doesn’t answer. I let myself into Jadyn’s office and then go knock on the bedroom door. Still, no answer. I turn the knob and peek in.

  She’s not there, so I go downstairs through the garage and into the Mackenzies’ house. I expect to find a house filled with chaos, but it’s quiet. I vaguely remember Jadyn telling me earlier that they were going out for dinner tonight before trick-or-treating.

  I go to the study, knowing it’s Jennifer’s favorite spot, and find her sitting, curled up.

  “Hey,” I say. “Sorry about all that.”

  When she turns to me, I can see that she’s been crying.

  “Do you think I’m a husband-stealing whore?”

  I move toward her. “What do you think?”

  “No. But it rattled me. And struck a chord. Do you know how badly I did want to steal you back then?”

  “How badly?” I ask as I wiggle my way into the chair with her.

  “With every inch of my being,” she says.

  “Would you come back and finish making pizzas with us?”

  “Only if she’s gone,” she replies.

  “She’s history,” I say, placing my lips on hers.

  We walk hand in hand back to my house, make pizzas with the kids, and have a great time. It doesn’t hurt that my mother chooses Jennifer’s pizza as the grand-prize winner. Once dinner is over, the kids are quick to head to the Mackenzies’ house.

  “We’d better get out there.” I hand Jennifer a bowl of candy and lead her to the front porch. I tell her to take a seat and then run into the garage to get the cooler.

  “What’s that for?” she asks when I return with it.

  “Candy for the kids. Beer for the parents.” I open the cooler, grab a bottle, wrap a koozie around it, and give it to her.

  We hand out candy and beers for quite a while.

  “It’s really amazing, all the children in your neighborhood,” she says as we get a break in the action. “And that they are all with their parents.”

  “It’s a great place for kids to grow up,” I agree.

  She lets out a little sigh.

  “What?”

  “I have been thinking about your tattoos,” she says.

  “Because you haven’t gotten to see them all yet?”

  “I thought I had seen them all,” she counters.

  I shake my head, pull up the hem of my jeans, and show her my ankle. “Phillip and I have this tattoo in the same spot. Jadyn has it on her hip. It’s the wing design that is on her parents’ gravestones.”

  “That must have been really hard for all of you,” she says.

  I lower my head. “It was, but it made us even closer.”

  She leans in and gives me a sweet kiss. The smile on her face as she pulls away takes me back to that night on the beach. But I need to forget about the past and live in the present. And the present includes my wife, who said something horrible about Jennifer today. Something completely uncalled for. It’s not like I’m sleeping with her.

  Yet.

  “Is their relationship as perfect as it seems?” Jennifer asks, interrupting my dirty thoughts.

  “They get in little tiffs like anyone, but even those you can see right through. For the most part, they make their marriage a priority. They’re best friends and such good partners.”

  “True love?” she asks.

  “Definitely.” I want to say something about us being true love because I believe that’s what she is. My true love. But it feels awkward. And part of me still can’t believe she’s here. “You said you were thinking about my tattoos.”

  “Oh, yeah. I think you should do it. Have more kids. Fill up the empty space.”

  And I’m thinking that would be the most wonderful thing ever—if she’d be the one to help me do so.

  The trick-or-treaters are long gone, the kids are asleep, and Jennifer and I are on our fifth house of the night. I stop spraying water onto the sidewalk and
sprinkle on Fruity Pebbles while I watch her. She’s running back and forth across the yard, toilet paper trailing behind her as she layers it across Joey’s hedges, having the time of her life.

  Even though this week has been sort of a disaster with all things Jennifer, it’s been the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Something about her makes me feel young again. Young, happy, and more like myself. I love that I get to just be me when I’m around her. That I can say silly stuff to make her giggle instead of getting chastised. I love that we can joke around. And don’t even get me started on the way kissing her feels. If things weren’t so complicated, I would have done way more than that by now, and I know without a doubt that we’d have equally as much fun in bed.

  I’m pulled from my thoughts when a bright light comes on.

  Shit, I think, getting ready to run.

  But then I see a cop has Jennifer cornered by a tree on the edge of the property.

  “Whoa,” he says, shining his flashlight in her face. “Are you Jennifer Edwards?”

  “Yep,” she says.

  “Is this some kind of celebrity prank?” the cop asks. “Am I on camera?”

  “Nope,” I say, sneaking up behind him. “Just a couple of kids having fun.”

  He quickly turns in my direction, the flashlight blinding me.

  “And Danny Diamond? Now, I know something’s up.”

  “What’s up,” I say, “is that I was telling Jennifer about all the stuff we used to do to our friends’ houses on Halloween when we were kids. And she told me that she’d never TPed a house in her life. I felt that needed to be remedied.”

  He shines the light back in her direction. “Is that true?”

  “Your light is really bright,” Jennifer says, holding her hand up. “It hurts my eyes.”

  “Plus, we’re kind of trying to be incognito here,” I add.

  “Oh, well, shoot, you’re right,” he says, quickly turning off the torch.

  “It’s true,” Jennifer tells him.

  “I can’t believe you’ve never done that,” he says. “Hell, back in my day, I mean—”

  Jennifer hands him a roll of toilet paper from the sack she has tied to her belt loop. “We’ve done four of his friends’ houses so far. Want to know my favorite part? It’s when you throw the roll as high as you can and then a branch catches it and it rolls back down so fast and it’s so pretty and you catch it and then you throw it up in the air again.”