Page 30 of Heartbroken Husband
He scoffed. “You don’t have baggage and I’m no savior.”
“I have two daughters who are… really going through it,” I said on a soft sigh. “Marriages like this don’t happen in our world.”
“Then we’ll be the first.” He was staring at Jennifer as he said it.
She was running toward us while Theo seemed to be doing his best to convince Lu to come down from the rocket. As far as I could tell, Lu was resistant to his charms.
Jennifer ran straight up to Zach, and I knew before she even said anything that she was about to tattle. I just thought it would be about her sister, but nope. “Theo is using naughty words.”
Zach didn’t hesitate for even a second, nodding down at her like he was taking this precisely as seriously as she was. “Tell him he has to give you twenty dollars for every bad word he’s said so far. Don’t take no for an answer.”
Jennifer grinned up at him, and for just a minute, I let myself wonder what my life would’ve been like if I’d had the opportunity to choose for myself in the beginning. Because I would’ve chosen him. I knew that as well as I knew my own name.
Zachary Westwood had been it for me. I never would’ve chosen anyone else if the choice had been mine and mine alone.
CHAPTER 13
ZACH
Back at our house on Sunday night, I was trying to decide what to order for dinner when Theo walked into the kitchen. I thought he was here to offer his opinion on food, but instead, he completely ignored the pile of menus and hopped onto the counter, leaving the decisions, as always, to me.
“Jennifer completely cleaned out my wallet,” he said, his head shaking, but he was smiling. “Can you believe that? She’s only seven and took me to the freaking cleaners.”
“Yeah, well, think about everything you said.” I set down the menu for the Chinese place down the block and pulled out my phone to place an order on the app. “You deserved it.”
“For what?” He scoffed down a laugh. “What could I possibly have done to deserve that?”
I finally looked up at him and arched both my eyebrows. “You called a little kid afart head, among other things.”
“Hewasa fart head. He was taunting Lu. I was standing up for her.”
“You’re twenty-nine.”
“So?”
“So Lu can handle herself without you escalating a playground dispute into a lawsuit for defamation.”
“Hey, it was both a substantial truthandmy subjective opinion,” he said. “He was creating a hostile environment and I acted accordingly.”
“It’s interesting that you know the defenses to defamation so well,” I said as I placed our usual order instead of any of the things I’djustdecided I might try from the menu. “Either way, considering the rate at which our siblings are churning out kids, it was better for you to learn now. Cheaper, too. With only one kid to pay up to instead of all of them.”
He laughed. “Fair enough. Nate would probably have tried to have me arrested for auditory assault if Emma had been on that climbing frame.”
“I’d say that charge doesn’t exist in law, but you’re not wrong. He probably would’ve paid someone to have it written in only so he could have you charged with it.”
“Truth.” He finally slid off the counter and pulled up a barstool instead, silent for a beat before he looked at me again. “How did it go today?”
I knew he wanted juicy details, but I didn’t take the bait. “How did what go today?”
“You know what.” He widened his eyes at me. “Okay, I’ll start. It looked like your talk with your former lover went well. No one cried. Except for that other kid, but he had it coming. Fart head.”
“That’s a strong metric,” I said dryly. “Besides, why would anyone cry?”
He snorted. “Why would anyonecry? Dude, you two are, like, star-crossed lovers who were torn apart by their rich and inconsiderate families, only to be forced back together again almost a decade later. Neither of your hearts ever?—”
“She’s signing the divorce papers this week,” I said just to shut him up before he really started building momentum. “Assuming Louis’s lawyers have finally decided to cooperatelong enough to let him review the papers on his end and sign them.”
Theo blinked a few times, all the humor fading from his eyes as he frowned. “What happens then?”
