Jax felt yet another flicker of concern for Shawna. The newly engaged bride-to-be was jumping into the planning with all the energy of someone who really thought there was going to be a wedding. She wondered how long Harris was going to string her along. For a brief second she thought about sharing her concerns, but then mentally slapped herself. It wasn’t her party. She was a mildly interested bystander. This was firmly on Harris.
Her phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen. “It’s the bed delivery people confirming the time on Friday.” She looked atboth her kids. “I need you to tell me for the four hundredth time that you’re perfectly okay with me sleeping downstairs.”
“Oh, Mom.” Xander patted her hand. “We’re growing up. You have to accept it. We’re not babies anymore.”
“Thanks for the reassurance.”
She typed in the wordConfirmedto let the furniture company know she would be there to take delivery.
The room had come together quickly. Once she’d approved Marcus’s very fancy and beautiful vanity option and given him the info on the paint, his guys had gone to work. By five on Wednesday she had a new toilet and vanity and the bedroom and bathroom had been painted. That morning the junk guys had taken everything that couldn’t be donated. Tomorrow the carpet would be cleaned. She’d thought about replacing it but once she’d taken a look at it, she’d realized it was in really good shape. With her bed being delivered on Friday, she was all set. Saturday she would move her things downstairs, giving Harris and Shawna the main bedroom.
Ramon flew over and landed on the back of Gentry’s chair, careful to keep his back to Jax. When Gentry held out her hand, he hopped on, then nuzzled her hair before flying over to Xander and doing the same. Then he gave Jax a death stare before flying off.
Gentry frowned. “Is Ramon still mad at you?”
Jax sighed. “He is. I thought he might want to forgive me but I guess he doesn’t.”
“But it’s been a couple of days.”
Xander rolled his eyes. “He almost goteaten. He’s gonna stay mad for a while.” His gaze followed the bird. “I wish I could have been there to see Lucy attack him.”
“Xander!” Gentry sounded horrified. “Don’t say that.”
“I don’t want anything bad to happen to him,” he amended quickly. “Just that it would have been great to see Lucy in action and...”
Jax looked at him and his voice trailed off.
“Sorry, Mom.”
“It’s okay. I know what you meant.” She sighed. “He’s really mad at me.”
“You need to get him something special,” her daughter said. “To show him you’re really sorry.”
“Like another cat,” Xander said with a snort.
“Stop it,” Gentry told him, then looked at Jax. “I mean it, Mom. An ‘I’m sorry’ gift can help. Remember how mad Dad was that time you forgot his birthday? But then you said he could buy that classic car he wanted and he wasn’t mad anymore.”
Jax winced at the memory. Somehow she’d totally forgotten about Harris’s birthday and without her mentioning it, the kids had forgotten as well. He’d gone silent for three days until she’d finally gotten him to tell her what was wrong and then she’d felt like crap. Gentry was wrong about one thing—Harris hadn’t been mad, he’d been hurt. He’d accused her of not being interested in having him in her life.
She’d told him that wasn’t true, but now, looking back and still feeling a lot of guilt and shame, she wondered if he’d been right. Had she not wanted him around? Had she secretly preferred life when he was gone? While she wasn’t sure how to get an answer, she knew it was important to figure out that truth because until she understood exactly what had gone wrong with her marriage, she was never going to feel whole and comfortable in her own skin.
Chapter Twelve
Tuesday morning Jax left her apartment feeling oddly out of sorts. While she never enjoyed leaving her kids for the week, this time she felt even more conflicted than usual. She knew part of it was having Gentry remind her about forgetting Harris’s birthday—a memory not designed to make her feel good about herself. It also meant she didn’t get to be the righteous one when it came to her divorce. While it was comforting to say all the blame fell on Harris, the truth was she hadn’t been the perfect spouse, either.
“I’ll be introspective tonight,” she murmured as she walked downstairs. “For now, I have work to do.” And a parrot to take care of, assuming Ramon was ready to start speaking to her.
Ugh—when had her life gotten so complicated?
She stepped onto the main floor only to come to a stop when she saw Marcus was already there.
“Hi,” she began, only to stop talking and frown. The man had the strangest look on his face.
“What?” she demanded. “Something happened.” Her stomach clutched. “Please don’t tell me you discovered a crack in the foundation.” Her nerves and her bank account couldn’t handle it.
He shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry,” he began.
She groaned. “It’s worse than a foundation problem?” What could that be? Some kind of infestation? Electrical?
