“I like working,” I protested. “Ilikerunning the coffee shop.”
“Who are you going to trust?” he asked, running a rough finger down my cheek. Your loving partner or the weakling ex who cheated on you?”
“That’s not fair,” I said. “That’s not what this is about.”
“What if I went to the big city first, scouted things out for a few months, made sure we found a good place that you’d love?”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“How could you even think about leaving Blue for that long?” I asked sharply.
“Honey, it wouldn’t be that long. Just until I made enough money to convince you to move over, too. And you know she won’t remember anything from these days.”
“You’re already working such long hours at the mayor’s office,” I said. “And now you want to spend even more time away from her! These are memories you can’t get back!”
“I’ll try to do better about that,” he said, pulling me into his arms, “if that’s what you want. And hopefully I wouldn’t have to be gone too long.”
But I didn’t want him to spend time with Blue only because I wanted it. She was his child, too!
Cash was anxious to make sure I wasn’t upset with him, and that night I let him pleasure me as I lay back languidly, but through my leisurely orgasm haze a very unwelcome thought intruded.
Here was Frankie totally unwilling to move on, to leave town, to even grant me a divorce, while Cash was openly talking about moving away and a big separation!
Damn him!
CHAPTER 22
Frankie
If I wanted to prove to Jillian that we were soulmates I had to save her coffee shop.
And it was obvious Cash didn’t consider me a threat at all, for the next several days he didn’t even bother to hide what he was doing when I dropped off his lunch.
Not only that, but I was constantly running into stupid Christabelle, coming in with a morning or afternoon coffee for him, in her microminis with her nauseating tits hanging out.
I couldn’t believe I’d ruined my perfect life for a few minutes of hasty groping with her.
And she made it very clear that without any money, status, or connections to my parents, she had zero interest in me.
“I am going to stop you,” I warned Cash. “I’m not going to let you ruin Ramshackle Bay for your own selfish ambition.”
He snorted. “You couldn’t even stop me from taking your wife away. You couldn’t stop Jillian from leaving you. What makes you think you can stop me now?”
“I’mthe one that ruined my marriage,” I said. “And I haven’t given up on getting a second chance.”
He rolled his eyes. “When you’ve got steak at home, a woman doesn’t go looking for a gas station hot dog. Here,” he added,pressing a crisp $5 bill into my front pocket. “Earn a little money and feed Athena for me.”
Oh, great, now he wanted me to be pecked to death as well as destroy the town.
It felt so strange going into my former house, and I knew Cash had done it on purpose to taunt me.
I swallowed down a massive lump in my throat.
How familiar it all looked—the same sofa, the same throw over the back of it. The same artwork on the walls, with the sickening blank places where Jillian had taken pictures down. Because they had both of us in it. And she wanted to erase me from her life, forget I ever existed.
How could I blame her? I had been a dog and an idiot.
It was like a sickening uncanny valley, where everything was heart-stoppingly familiar, yet there were little differences everywhere I looked that showed Jillian had cut me out of her life.
