Gumbo hopped on my chair, propping his front paws on the table. His claws matched his bow, a brilliant shade of blue reminiscent of the Blue Hoard. And the lightning that had flown from my hands.
He angled his wide-eyed gaze at Brianne. “I can haz?”
“No more, little one.” She scratched him behind his ear while I scooped the fries off the table. Lauren followed me into the kitchenette, chewing on her lip like it was dessert.
“Um, I wanted you to know that Ray’s weekly session is today. He’ll be here soon.” She checked her watch, even though I suspected she knew exactly how much time we had.
“I can handle it, Lauren.” I paused to listen to my own voice. Sure enough, I could handle it.
“You know,” I continued, turning to lean against the counter and face her, “it occurred to me the other day that you did me a favor.”
“I did?” Lauren crinkled her eyebrows. “When?”
“Thirty years ago, when you told Ray that Ethan and I were sneaking around together and broke us up.”
“Oh.” She hung her head, yanking on her ponytail. “About that…”
“No, I mean it.” I waited until she’d looked up to continue. “Whatever your reasons were, because we both know you didn’t believe Ethan and I had a thing, you did me a favor. I was going to choose him.”
We walked into the lobby just as the front door opened. Ray strode in, halting when he saw the two of us talking. I hugged Lauren close, whispering in her ear in case Ray had super wolf hearing.
“The mistakes I made these past thirty years—and there have been plenty—they’re mine. If we’d stayed together, I would have followed him. Chosen him. I got to choose me instead. Even if I didn't realize it at the time.”
I pulled away, pausing at the door to my office.
“If I can screw up that powerfully without realizing it, imagine what I can do now that I’m paying attention.”
CHAPTER 32
“Oh my God, is this real?” I’d arrived at the boardroom thirty minutes early, and after a moment of deliberation, decided to keep my original seat. Ethan had followed me in, spoiling my plans to gather myself before everyone arrived. But since he’d given me the best news possible, I wasn’t too upset with him.
“It’s real.” He pointed to one of the fifty arrow stickers on the stack of papers. “As soon as Brianne comes in, she can witness our signatures. He signed every single page. I made sure of it.”
There was a gleeful menace to his voice that I had to admit I enjoyed, which made me feel incredibly guilty. My marriage of twenty years was about to end. I should have at least been sad about it.
But I wasn’t. We hadn’t spoken since the day he stumbled onto the Magnolia property and Ray chased him away. There was no indication he regretted his actions. He definitely hadn’t tried to win me back.
“How did he look?” Ididfeel guilty about all the accidental hexes. Even if I’d cleared them.
“Completely normal, Simone.” Ethan squeezed my hand in reassurance. “There was no trace or mention of cursing. He didn’t dare say anything ill about you in my presence.” He paused, his voice heavy. “He didn’t even contest the divorce.”
“Of course he didn’t. I gave him everything in our house and the house itself.” Maybe I was a touch bitter he’d let it go so easily. Evenwhen you’re meant to give up the past, it hurts to see it drift away like a passing storm.
I had to remind myself this was a good thing. He could have all the dated furniture and bad memories.
Everything I needed was here in the Magnolia.
Well. Almost everything.
My throat closed, but it wasn’t a magical constriction. Whatever magic I had tried when I wrote Gabe a letter hadn’t worked. Or worse, it had. Either he’d never read it and was still walking around thinking he didn’t have a mother, or he’d read the letter, remembered me, and decided he wanted nothing to do with me.
Both options sucked. And both were out of my control.
I didn’t realize I was crying until Ethan’s fingertip grazed my cheek.
“Don’t cry, Simone. It’s going to work out.”
Ethan didn’t know about Gabe. If he did, he probably wouldn’t be so gentle with me right now. He probably thought I was shedding tears over my marriage ending.
