Juliet knew she couldn’t run away, not now. It would make her look weak. So she raised her hand, then crossed the road at the traffic light, trying to come up with an excuse as to why she was in their neighborhood. For some reason, the first thing that came to her mind was a Botox appointment. But she was not going to be telling her husband’s younger affair partner that.
“Hi there,” she said, pretending to be bright and free. “That ice cream looks incredible!”
Maggie blinked at her. Alvin stood and smiled. “What are you doing in our neck of the woods?”
She stuttered, then said, “I had a business meeting, actually.”
“Oh! Are you back in the fashion world?” Alvin asked.
“That’s right,” Juliet said, eager to follow her train of thought wherever it needed to go. “I’m working with, um. Elektra? She’s a TikTok star, and…”
“I know her,” Maggie said, raising her chin.
“Of course you do,” Alvin said. “Maggie’s always on TikTok.”
Juliet felt the not-so-subtle dig like a knife between Alvin and Maggie. She wanted to relish it, but she found herself feeling bad for Maggie instead. Alvin could be a tough guy to have around. He was judgmental, to say the least.
Maggie looked at Juliet angrily, as though her success with Elektra was ruining her relationship with Alvin. Juliet kept her smile up. Pretending was easy, sort of.
“I’m glad we ran into you, actually,” Alvin said. “I need to talk to you about something.”
Juliet remembered Alvin’s text from yesterday about Danica and how sick he and Maggie were of her “bad attitude.” Juliet grimaced, willing herself to stand up for her daughter.
“Maybe we can chat in private?” Juliet suggested. She didn’t want to talk about Danica in front of Maggie.
“This involves Maggie, actually,” Alvin said firmly. “It’s big news. I’ve just accepted a job in Singapore.”
Juliet’s lips parted with surprise. “Singapore? Wow.” Her heart thumped with a mix of emotions. One of them was glee that he was leaving and she wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore. But she knew it was more complicated than that.
“We need a fresh start somewhere else,” Alvin continued. “And you know I’ve always been interested in Asian cultures.”
“Right.” Juliet also remembered that Singapore was a tax haven, a place for the super wealthy to hide.
“And we feel like it’s our chance to follow our dream,” Alvin parroted what Juliet used to say to Callie back in Bluebell Cove. “We’re not getting any younger, right?”
Juliet wanted to throw up. “What about Danica?”
Alvin smiled. “We’re happy to have her visit whenever she wants to and her school schedule allows it. Provided we’re not traveling or something like that.”
Juliet gaped at him. In the span of half a year, he’d gotten rid of his wife and now his daughter.
“Do you remember what we talked about when we had Danica?” she asked, surprising herself.
Alvin raised his shoulders. “That was a long time ago.”
“Sure, but I remember, so I’ll tell you.” Juliet ignored Maggie’s monstrous gaze. “We talked about how having a child meant giving up some of our personal dreams. Not everything. But we knew we had to be here for her. We had to stand guard. We had to make her feel protected and safe.”
Alvin kept his smile up, bright. “She’s fourteen years old, Juliet. She can take care of herself.”
Rage rose in Juliet’s chest. She knew that Alvin couldn’t comprehend how young and naive Danica still was. He’d hardly paid attention to her development over the years and had lost interest in parenting around the time Danica had begun to speak.
Alvin clapped her on the shoulder, startling her out of her reverie. She couldn’t believe how much she hated him.
“Just get through these final teenage years and move on with your life,” Alvin said, as though motherhood was a brief era rather than a completely altered state of mind. “Our lawyers are about to clear up all this divorce crap, and we can move on from that, too.”
He continued to beam at her, as though everything was settled. Behind her, on the street, traffic tightened, and horns blared, and Juliet had the sudden sensation that the city was too loud, too alienating, too frightening. She’d never felt that before.
5
