“You didn’t tell me that.”
“I didn’t want to rehash it.”
Having her brother try to defend her ex for cheating on her had been almost as big of a betrayal as Mark cheating on her in the first place. Gabby had a tendency to try to play peacekeeper. She didn’t need her trying to see João’s side.
“Hmm. What are you going to do?” Gabby asked.
“Leave a note on the door and sleep in my car.”
“That sucks. Too bad you can’t sneak in the way we used to in high school.”
“I couldn’t climb that tree now even if it was still standing. And you did the sneaking.” She opened the car door and rummaged in the console for a pen. “Too bad the latch on the kitchen window isn’t still broken.”
“I think it is.”
She stood up. “Really? I thought dad fixed it years ago.”
“It was one of those things he was going to get around to but never did and he didn’t want to pay a handyman fifty dollars to fix it.”
Yes! She might have a way in.
“I don’t think you’re going to fit through that window,” Gabby said.
“What are you trying to say?”
“Uh, we’re built like mom and your hips aren’t going to fit through that window.”
“I’ve lost fifteen pounds, I’ll have you know. Divorce will do that to you.”
She dragged the heavy-duty plastic trash can under the window.
“So really you lost two hundred pounds.”
“Oh, yeah. Good one.” She climbed on top of the bin. Sure enough, the latch was still broken.
“Have you heard from him since you left?”
“He’s called a couple of times. I try not to answer. Hang on, I’m going to put you on speaker.”
She slid the window open and assessed it. The trash can only put her almost waist-high to the bottom of the sill. There was no way to climb in sideways, which would be the easiest way in.
Okay, so it might be a tight squeeze. Normally she’d wait but she wanted to go to sleep. She’d hauled ass across the country, only stopping when she absolutely had to and waking up at the crack of dawn to get on the road. If she could get in the window, she’d be able to get a decent amount of sleep as opposed to the little she’d get in her car.
Gripping her phone, Zoe hefted herself into the window. Using her hips as a pivot, she leaned forward and wiggled in a little more, the metal track of the frame digging into the fleshy part of her hips.
“Well?” Gabby asked.
“Almost.” She grunted. Her bruises were going to be epic in two or three days.
She tried wriggling in the rest of the way. With her feet in the air and all her weight forward, she didn’t have any leverage. Shifting her weight to one side, she tried to roll onto her hip.
Nope. Nope. Nope. That hurt way too much to work and without being able to brace her feet and the heaviest part of her body on something, she’d never be able to crawl in.
Rolling back to her front, her head fell forward in defeat. “I’m not going to fit.”
“I told you.”
“Can we skip theif-everyone-would-just-listen-to-me-in-the-first-place-everyone-would-be-so-much-happierlecture right now?”
