Chapter 40

“Oh, well, look who it is!” A voice calls out. My head turns around, trying to see who is being loud in the store.

It takes a moment to find the source, which I realize is my own cousin.

Anger flares through my nostrils, and I feel my teeth start to clench as Melinda approaches.

It hasn’t been long since I’ve seen her, but she already looks different. Her short hair seems even shorter than usual, but her curvy form is perfectly outlined by her outfit.

I try to decipher her, essentially looking for the baby bump like only a month or so of pregnancy will show up.

“If it isn’t the bitch that stole my husband!” I deadpan, crossing my arms over my chest as if to hide my own belly.

As we stand facing one another in the grocery store, I feel the rest of the world slip away from around us. We narrow our eyes at one another, and I question what this woman could possibly want from me right now.

“It’s not like he wanted to stay yours anyway. He’s just found his perfect match.”

Scoffing and rolling my eyes at her idiotic thoughts, I shake my head at the woman.

“You know, Melinda, you’ve spent a lot of your life believing you are better than anyone else. Why don’t you float back down to Earth and realize you’re just another mistress that will be left by the man who left his wife.”

“He won’t leave me!” She snaps back.

“If he was so willing to cheat on me with you just so he can take my money, what makes you think he won’t do it again?”

Melinda shakes her own head, with that short bob floating around her. “You just don’t understand Ryan. You’re the one who pushed him away in the first place!”

“Ha!” I shout, unable to control myself. “That’s rich coming from you.”

“And what does that mean?”

“It means that you and Ryan only began your secret affair after I failed to give him a child, right? After he wanted me to become a housewife, he got himself into significant debt. Is that not right?”

Melinda’s dark brown eyes crinkle as she studies me. “You think that because you have this cushy job, you’re sleeping your way to the top and that you believe you’ll win this divorce, you can just speak to me like some hooker?”

I shake my head. “No. Melinda, hookers don’t steal husbands. And they at least get paid for the sex.”

Melinda growls. “You never deserved any of what you’ve been handed. That’s how we all see you.”

“We all? So, you and your imaginary friends, then? Because last I checked out of our entire generation, I’m the mogul of this family. All you have to show for yourself is a year of college, a line of men you string along, and breaking up a marriage that you couldn’t bother to leave alone. I’m your cousin!”

Her eyes roll now. “You might as well hurry up and divorce Ryan already. You’re dragging him and his greatness down with your stench of failure.”

“After you just said I have a cushy job and you accused me of sleeping with my boss, which is honestly just a low blow, even for you,” I shoot back, growing tired of this meaningless fight.

“You’re not going to get away with any of this!” Melinda stomps her foot.

“Melinda, why don’t you just do me a favor and take out the trash? Because that’s all Ryan will ever be to me. He clearly has no trouble hurting those around him.” I want to move on, push her aside with my shoulder and maybe knock her to the ground of the grocery aisle.

But that’s not going to be the solution today.

“You can take him away from me and leave me alone. I’m tired of these circles we travel in with our arguments as if we’re going to hurt the other so badly that it impacts the rest of their life.”

“Ryan is going to take all you’re worth in the divorce; you can guarantee that!” She stomps.

Another eye roll from me. “The fact you continue to believe Ryan isn’t the villain in all of this proves to me that you’re no longer redeemable in my mind.”

Over this conversation, I turn around to leave the grocery store. Might as well go somewhere else today, because there’s no way I’m coming back here.

But I don’t get a chance to do that. Melinda grabs my arm and pulls me back, turning me to look her in the eyes.

“You’re really going to insult me like that and leave? Huh?”

Though I feel incredibly uncomfortable, I look calmly at my arm still wrapped around Melinda’s fingers. I then look back up at her. “Let go.”

“You don’t get to do that!” She demands.

“Melinda, I would love to see a law in which states that I cannot insult the man who I’m going to divorce so you can marry him!”

“But we’re not giving up without a fight. We’re going to take everything you’ve ever worked your ass off for. You will lose everything in that court room whether you like it or not.”

“Take me down? I’m pretty confident in my ability to stay standing. If you truly believe that you and Ryan will win based solely on the fact that he got you pregnant or because he swears up and down, he’s wrong and a liar.”

“Well, what do you know?”

“A lot more than you! You two better watch yourselves because you’re turning this from a stupid divorce into a criminal offense. Now let go of my arm!” I demand again, nearly ripping my arm out of its socket at this point.

“You really believe you have the upper hand here? Really? Because I feel that everything you’re expecting to get better will only get worse.”

I bat my eyelashes at the curvy woman. “How? Because you’re gonna shove in my face that you’re pregnant every five minutes? Because you get your rocks off by sleeping with other men’s husbands?”

“You don’t deserve him!”

“No! You’re right, I don’t. But you know what I do deserve? To be believed that I have done everything for this marriage, for our family, for everything. Now, what makes you believe I’d want his sorry excuse for a man back for myself?”

“This isn’t over!” Melinda screams. “You don’t know what you’ve brought onto yourself.”

“I’m so scared,” I deadpan again, shoving Melinda out of my way when I decide enough is enough.

She might not tell me what she’s plotting, but one thing is for sure. Ryan cannot know that I’m pregnant for as long as I can possibly hide it.

I dig around in my purse for my phone, and it takes nearly six minutes to search the entire thing. But once I find it, I ignore all the messages that Ryan and Melinda have continued to blast my phone with.

Maybe now’s the time to file some sort of restraining order or to get them to both stay out of my life altogether.

My phone starts to ring right as I’m about to walk out of the store, and I look down to see the person’s name.

My mom?