“I want to know what’s going on. I want to talk to Dad. He’s a lawyer who knows defense lawyers. Mom, the news stations are saying you shot Massio Crossbow.”
I move to sit closer to Chi-chi. She’s scared for me, so I take her hands in mine. “Honey, you know I didn’t. You know I couldn’t shoot anyone.”Well, maybe your dad when he’s aggressive and threatening, but you don’t need to know that.
“Dad said you got pulled over with a rifle in the back seat of your car. Mom, a rifle. And now an SUV with tinted windows arrives for me, and I find you here in the Crossbow mansion,making out with one of the Crossbow twins. It doesn’t look like you’re innocent. I’m scared they’re going to convict you for his murder. You know Selnoa’s laws. You know they’re going to seek the maximum penalty.”
Selnoa executes for high crimes. “Please don’t worry about me, Chi-chi. I’m going to be okay.”
She throws up her hands. “How will you be okay?”
“I don’t know. But I will be. Have faith.”
Chi-chi sighs. “I have a bad feeling about all this. Why don’t you come with me on the cruise?”
“What cruise?”
“The cruise Crossbow is sending me and Nathalie on.” Chi-chi reaches for her phone and shows me tickets to a Mediterranean cruise for two. “It’s for two weeks with the possibility of an extended stay at one of the ports called Couldermouth.”
I gather my wits about me. Declan and I need to talk. “But you have school.”
“My classes are almost all online.”
“You can’t possibly be thinking of accepting this.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” Where is that man? I look up at the terrace and find him standing with Connor and Nathalie. She twirls her long brown hair around her finger while giggling at something Declan said.
I look at my daughter, who sighs. “Nathalie is experimenting with me.”
“Oh no.”
Chi-chi shrugs. “It’s fine.”
They’ve been together for months. Chi-chi invested time and love into this woman. “I’m sorry.”
“I knew from the start. She told me I was her first. When it’s like that, there’s always a chance a woman is experimenting.”
On the terrace, Connor takes his leave, so now there’s only Declan and Nathalie. I watch her scoot closer to him. He doesn’t back off. She is much younger and pretty, so instead of being jealous, I just feel inadequate. A throwaway.
If you’ve divorced a cheating man who chose another woman over you, then you know what this feels like. You know that healing these feelings takes time and requires lots of work. When a woman has to also struggle to pay her bills, including her lawyer, she rarely has time to recover from feeling like a failure. In addition, she is constantly judged.
Nathalie reaches for Declan’s face. He evades, and the next thing we see is him walking down the steps toward us.
Chi-chi snickers.
Nathalie follows him.
Declan walks past us toward the pool. Nathalie follows and tries to talk to him. He spins, and she stops so as not to run into him, but slips and falls into the pool.
Chi-chi and I gasp. I hold back a bout of wicked laughter.
Declan sits at the table and unbuttons his suit. “She won’t drown, will she?”
Chi-chi pours herself more coffee. “Not sure I care.”
A smile plays on his lips, and he extends his hand. “Declan Crossbow.”
“Christina-Cherie. I go by Chi-chi.”
