She stepped back. “Do not touch me. You don’t get that right anymore. I wasn’t kidding when I told you to get out. I’ll send any shit you have here to your place. I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to hear from you. We. Are. Done!”
Chad sighed. “Gran is going to be very disappointed.”
It took everything in her not to throat punch him. “You are such a fucking asshole. Seriously? You’re throwing my eighty-five-year-old grandmother in my face? Believe me, she’ll be okay with me kicking your ass to the curb when she knows why.”
“You’re going to tell her?” Chad’s voice rose in panic along with the flush that crept up his face.
Had he always been this stupid and she had just ignored it, or was this a new development? How had she gotten to this point? Why had she let it go on for so long?
She spoke slowly. “Yes, Chad. I’m going to tell my family why I’m breaking off the engagement. We’re done here.” Bree stormed out of the room and down the short hall to the kitchen, where she tore his suit jacket off the back of the kitchen stool. Grabbing his shoes by the heels, she opened the door, then stepped onto the wide porch that ran the entire front of her house and threw all his things onto the walkway.
“Bree! That coat cost eight hundred dollars!” Chad jogged down the steps to pick up his things.
“Well, that’s just ridiculous.” Bree stormed back into her house, slammed, then locked the door behind her.
She leaned against the door and took several calming breaths. “Stupid fucking asshole.” She snatched her purse off the table and dug around for her phone. Still muttering curses, she dialed as she walked into the dining room.
Denise answered on the second ring. “What up, chica?”
She opened the corner hutch. Empty. “Do you have any alcohol?”
“I might. What do you need?”
“Vodka. Or whiskey. Both if you’ve got it.”
“Uh…do I need to bring a shovel, too?”
Brianna let out a short laugh. “No. I avoided doing anything that would land me in jail. Just come over when you can and I’ll fill you in then.”
“Dude. You gotta give me a clue. You never drink liquor.”
“Oh no, you’re going to want to hear this in person.” Her wine rack was bare as well. “Where is my wine? How do I not even have any wine?”
“Pretty sure we drank it last weekend. I’m heading out the door now. Don’t break out the mouthwash before I get there.” The phone disconnected.
Where the hell are Charlie and Polly?She set her phone on the counter and opened one of the french doors. Her two dogs, Charlie and Polly, came running from across the wide lawn. Bree sat in one of the loungers on the deck and leaned against the back with her legs on either side of the long seat, feet on the floor. Polly jumped up onto the lounger and lay down with her head on Bree’s hip, staring up at her. Bree scratched Polly’s ears. “Well. That sucked.” Polly raised her head. “I know what you’re thinking. I should have broken up with him a long time ago.” Polly lowered her head back to Bree’s hip and huffed. “Especially since he never really liked you and Charlie. Should have been all the warning I needed.”
Charlie bound up the steps of the deck. He stood with his paws on the armrest of the lounger and tried to lick the side of Bree’s neck. “Eww! Gross. Quit.” Bree pushed him off the chair. “There’s no telling what you’ve been eating out here. Where’s your ball? Go get your ball!” Charlie leaped off the deck in search of one of the many tennis balls in the yard. She threw the ball until Charlie spread out in the shade of the large magnolia tree her grandfather had planted when he built the house for her grandmother.
Bree let out a sigh and pushed up from the lounger. The dogs trailed after her as she returned inside to her bedroom. She stood on the threshold of her room and sighed. She didn’t want to touch the sheets, but there was no way in hell she was ever going to use them again. Later. After she’d had a few drinks and checked to see whether Amazon sold hazmat suits. She changed her scrub top for a t-shirt and her yoga pants for cut-off shorts. Back in the kitchen, she poured a glass of water and made sure the dogs’ bowl was full.
The side door opened and closed. “You here?”
“In the kitchen.”
Denise walked around the corner holding a bottle of mandarin-flavored Absolut and a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey. “I wasn’t sure what you were in the mood for.”
“Well, I don’t have any cranberry juice for the vodka, so whiskey.”
Denise set both bottles on the counter. “You mixing it with soda or Bailey’s?”
“It’s a cut-my-alcohol-with-more-alcohol kind of night.”
“Right. So, what happened? And why is your car in the front of the house instead of on the side?” Denise pulled her long, honey-blonde hair into a bun and secured it with a hair tie.
“Chad. Chad happened.” Bree spared no detail as she poured their drinks. By drink three, she’d managed to fill Denise in on all the gory details.
“I have to ask again, because I’m having a hard time with this. In your bed?” Denise asked as they lounged in the living room.
