“Eight thousand,” Gemma admits, turning pink.
I have to stop the urge to roll my eyes.
“Guys," I say, turning to my children, "we are going to return some things. Gemma needs to do some shopping, then we are going home.”
Returning the clothes is probably the most painful part for her. Gemma looks heartbroken over each item that she has to hand back. I almost feel sorry for her. This is the life she's grown up knowing, and it's been yanked out from under her feet. No one's to blame, except her parents. They should have raised her better. Her brother and Gemma seem like totalopposites, but I prefer Gemma. Brody misled me too, after all.
Once we've sorted out her refunds, which I notice the sales assistants are rather snotty about, I take Gemma to a shop I know is popular with the ladies at work.
We walk in, and Gemma looks around hesitantly. I sit Ace and Eden down on a seat and give them my phone again for YouTube before joining them. We watch Gemma as she takes her time looking through the rails until she finds something she likes.
“Oh, this is kind of sexy… Why haven’t I been here before?” she asks me.
“I have no idea,” I reply dryly.
Gemma starts to hand me the clothes she wants to try on.
“Gemma. This is pretty,” Eden says. Her and Ace have given up with my phone and are helping by pulling clothes off the racks and looking for a size eight for Gemma.
“This is enough. You have nowhere to put it all,” I say, struggling to hold onto everything that’s been handed to me.
“There's a wardrobe in my room,” Gemma suggests.
I pause for a moment and then say, “I need to get rid of my wife’s stuff, don’t I?”
Ace and Eden don't say anything, and neither does Gemma.
Gemma decides to put on a fashion show to see how she looks. We rate the outfits out of thirty, with anything below twenty-five discarded. Once we're done, I'm left carrying all the bags.
"Normally, when you spend a lot of money, you get a free gift. How can this store not do that after I drop one thousand just like that?" Gemma complains.
"It's still a lot of money for clothes,” I say while I pile the shopping into the boot.
I help Ace and Eden get buckled in first before jumpinginto the front seat to find Gemma scrolling on her phone, her long legs crossed. Feeling uncomfortable, I clear my throat.
Gemma looks at me. “Are you okay?" she asks.
"Never better," I say under my breath.
We get home and Gemma starts to skip her way inside when I call her back. "Gem, are you forgetting something?"
Gemma blushes and comes back. "Thank you for helping me take my things inside."
"I meant for you to take your own things inside. I'm not your maid.” Raising an eyebrow at her, I gesture to the bags.
She pouts and nods. I feel a bit mean, so I grab some of her things.
I get Ace and Eden settled in front of the television before I head upstairs to Gemma's room. "Just give me an hour to sort through the wardrobe," I call to her, thinking she would come and help, but she leaves me to it.
Chapter
Eight
ALEX
I'm notgentle as I rip Julia’s clothes out of the wardrobe. I carry them downstairs in batches and throw them in a pile on the kitchen floor. The faint smell of her perfume lingers in the air, twisting my gut.
I stare at the clothes, my mouth pulling down at the corners. I wish they were voodoo dolls I could poke holes into, and Julia could feel the pain she's putting my children through.
