“Where are you?” Instead of telling him the truth and havingto explain, to a drunk person, no less, I decide that now is aperfectly good time to tell a little white lie. “I’m in a lineup atthe grocery store. Everyone can hear me.”
“Can’t you leave?”
“Will, I have a cart full of groceries. Unless you’re dying inthe next five minutes and need me to hear your last rights, no, Ican’t just abandon my cart.”
“Okay.”
“Where are you?”
“In Vegas.”
My eyeswiden. “Vegas? What the hell are you doing there?”
“I know. You don’t approve.”
“If you’re gambling, certainly not. You know how I feel aboutthat.”
“I know. You were always a straight shooter, Ellie. That’swhat I miss.”
“Will, why are you in Vegas?”
“Came…with a friend.”
I lift abrow. “This a female friend?”
“Yeah. It’s that…girl I fucked around with when we first gotmarried.”
“You still talk to that whore?” I ask, pulling my phone awayfrom my face, staring at the screen in disbelief.
“She…wanted to go. What was I supposed to say?”
“Uh…no. You are familiar with that word, I know. I heard itenough times while we were married. And not for the things that youshould have said no to, either.”
“Ellie…” he sighs, defeated.
“Will, what’s going on? If you’re with your little friend inVegas, what are you doing on the phone with me?”
Hehesitates, and I swear to God I hear him sniffle, like he’s crying.Will isn’t a crier, even when he’s drunk.
“Will? What’s wrong?”
“I…I gotta go.” He says and hangs up. Usually the cocky, waytoo all that for what he is type of guy, this is out of characterfor my ex-husband. Drunk or not. I stand there for a second,wondering if I should call him back, and then I think better ofit.
…and I don’t find out for weeks what was wrong…and lookingback, I wish I’d made that call.
Chapter 4
Ellie
My heartis pounding as me and Sloane sit in the doctor’s office together.Part of me thinks that the pregnancy test must have been a falsepositive, since I have no other symptoms, other than a late period,of course, and the other part of me is still begrudging what I did.Maverick, while a god in bed, is not cut out for a relationship.And neither am I, for that matter. I’ve been married. It was afailure. And clearly both Will and I are still healing from that,so it’s way too early, even if Maverick was Don Juan and WardCleaver all rolled into one, to think about starting a newrelationship.
Sloanekeeps looking at me like I’m about to come unglued. “What?” Iwhine. We’re the only two people in the waiting room,thankfully.
“I’m just…wondering what’s going on inside yourhead.”
“What do you think?”
“I just hope you’re not planning on jumping off the Brooklynbridge or doing something equally stupid. This is fixable,Ellie.”
