It’s getting colder the later it gets, or earlier, depending on which side of the clock you’re on. My breath blows out in puffs of white smoke as we head back to our SUV’s. Once we’re there, I get back into my SUV, and fight the urge to message Magnolia. If there’s one person I want to share the fact I made what could potentially be a big break in this case with, it’s her.
Chapter 6
Magnolia
I hate being here. What once was my home has turned into a place that just makes my stomach queasy. Looking out the window, my gaze lands on the big house. The one I was able to purchase once my business really started taking off. I can remember clearly, Cody and I searching the ones for sale online, favoriting the ones that we wanted to look at.
It had been fun. We’d had so much to look forward to.
Then life turned on itself, and now I can’t stand looking at that house.
My phone buzzes, and I know it can’t be Levi. He’s been at work, and now he’s probably asleep. Groaning slightly, I reach over and pick it up. It’s Molly.
MO: Hey, how is everything going? I heard through the grapevine you were dancing on tables?
MA: Ughhh, I bet it’s gotten around town. What else did you hear?
MO: A fish and wildlife officer that I might know well came in and got you down? How’d that go?
MA: Luckily I’ve known that fish and wildlife officer most of my life. He was nice enough to get me down, and take me out of there. Had it been someone else, they probably would’ve arrested me.
MO: More than likely, but then you could’ve told them about the hell you’ve been through the last year and a half, Mags. I think they’d understand.
MA: Somehow I doubt that. Even when I called my parents to let them know what was going on, they didn’t understand. In their minds divorce isn’t a thing. Apparently I should be willing to put up with anything.
God it hurts the same as it did when I first went to them and let them know that my marriage was imploding. My mom told me I wasn’t doing my wifely duties, obviously. That’s why my husband and I weren’t getting along any more, why we hadn’t had sex in almost a year. Then when I called her and told her that he was contesting the divorce, she said good. That meant that he didn’t want it to happen, and it was his way of fighting for me.
Which is a fucking lie.
MO: Your parents are old-school. They believe that you should stay married forever to the people you chose to marry in your early twenties. Maybe some people can do that, Mags, but you shouldn’t be forced to stay with Cody. Not after what he did to you.
She’s the only person. The only one who knows how bad it actually got, and what it cost me to really leave him. She’s the only one who knows how terrified I actually am. The fact that I’ve spent time at a gun range so that I know how to protect myself.
MA: They’re never going to understand, I don’t even know why I tried to explain.
MO: Because you desperately want people to understand that you didn’t give up on your marriage.
Tears silently fall down my cheeks. I didn’t. I wanted to make things work, but they just couldn’t, not after what happened that one night. I’d laid on the floor of my living room, with glass shattered around me, blood pouring from a wound on my forehead. I have a scar, but it’s in my hairline, and I don’t let anyone get close enough to see it.
MA: I just have to realize that I don’t owe them an explanation and no one knows what the hell I’ve been through.
MO: You’re exactly right. Do you want me to come over and stay with you? Is there a reason you’re awake at this hour?
Blowing out a breath, I run a hand through my hair.
MA: No, you don’t need to come over, I’m just finishing up some orders. I’m fine.
MO: You say that all the time, but I know you aren’t.
I know I’m not either, but I don’t want people to know. There’s been too much already in my life of people knowing my business when I didn’t want them to.
MA: Love you.
MO: Love you, too. If you need me, just call me.
I put the phone down on the table, next to the last of the order I’m making. All I need to do is grab these trays and put them in the freezer so the chocolate can set, but I can’t even make myself get up and do that. If I’m not careful, depression will set in, and it’ll be as bad as it was this summer.
Absolutely no one knows how bad that was, and as long as I can keep it at bay they won’t.
