Page 31 of Reckless (Adventures in Love 3)
“That’s a great idea,” Margret agrees. “You two take your drama outside.”
“Bitch, who the fuck are you?” Donna asks on a hiss, leaning in toward Margret.
“Lower your tone, stop tossing around the word bitch, and take your husband and marital problems somewhere else,” Margret says, starting to get up, and I grab the back of her shirt to keep her seated.
“Let’s go. We’ll talk.” Ken grabs Donna’s arm, or tries to, but she yanks it out of his grasp and spins around, shoving him in the chest hard enough that he is forced a step back.
“Do not touch me.” She shoves him again, then throws her arms down at her sides and gets up on her tiptoes so that she can yell in his face. “I want a divorce. I’m tired of this.” Her voice cracks, and my heart breaks for her because I know how she’s feeling. Know what that kind of pain feels like. “You keep doing this to me over and over, and I keep taking you back like an idiot.”
“Baby, I love you,” Ken tells her on a sigh.
“That’s a lie,” Margret mumbles, and I elbow her.
“You love yourself; you don’t love me. I don’t even think you care about me,” Donna says, sounding broken.
“Of course I love you and care about you.”
“If you did, you wouldn’t be able to hurt me like you do,” she whispers with tears now falling quickly from between her lashes. “I can’t do this anymore.”
“We’ll go home and talk.” Ken tries to grab her, but she shakes her head and takes another step back away from him.
“No, I’m not going home. I’m going to my parents’, and tomorrow while you’re at work, I’ll get all my stuff.”
“You can’t leave me.”
“I can and I am going to.” She wipes the tears away. “I’m done.”
“You don’t even have a job. You won’t be able to survive without me,” he tells her, and I can see that statement’s made an impact. Dick.
“You can work with me,” I blurt when I notice her start to waver, and she looks at me and blinks. “My best friend and I are opening a store in town; we’ll hire you once we open.”
“Jesus,” Maverick mutters, but I ignore him and keep my attention on her.
“Or I work at the Bear now. I could probably get you a job there,” I tell her, then add stupidly: “The tips are pretty good.”
She stares at me for a moment, and I’m half-ready for her to ask me if I’m on something, but she doesn’t; instead she looks up at her husband. “See, I can get a job. I don’t need you.” She looks back at me and swallows. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I whisper. Then with that, she spins on her heel and heads out of the restaurant with Ken hot on her tail.
“I really hope she doesn’t take that douche back,” Margret says as they walk outside and the chatter in the restaurant begins to resume.
“I hope not too.” I scrub my fingers through my hair. “I can’t believe that he had a wife.”
“How could you know?” Margret wraps her arm around my shoulders.
“I could have asked.”
“Do you really think that he would have told you that he was married?” She laughs. “That’s doubtful, and he didn’t have on a ring or even a tan line from wearing one, so there was literally no way for you to know that he is married without him being honest, and it’s obvious that he’s not a very honest guy.”
“You’re right.” I then sigh when our waitress comes to the table with the food we ordered. “I’m so sorry about this, but do you mind boxing that up for me?”
“Of course not.” She gives me a solemn smile. “Do you need anything else?”
“Yes, the check please.” I laugh because it’s either do that or cry. I mean, not only did I just experience the worst date of my life, which is saying something since I’ve had some real doozies, but now I get to pay for it too.
“I’ll be right back.” She walks away, carrying the food. I ignore everyone in the restaurant I can feel glancing over at me and avoid making eye contact with Maverick, even though I can feel his gaze on me like a physical caress. I grab my bag so that I can get my wallet. The sooner that I get this all paid for, the sooner I can get out of here and go home. If it weren’t so late, I would stop by Cybil’s and tell her what happened and make sure she knows that I’m never letting her talk me into going on a date again.
“Jade,” Maverick says softly.
“Yep.” I don’t look at him; instead I pull out my credit cards, trying to remember how much money I have on each one. Before I lost my business, I would try to keep my cards paid off or down to at least half my credit limit at all times, but I’ve been using them a lot more lately so that I can hold myself over until I get my first paycheck from the coffee shop. Now I will probably have to split the bill among a few different cards.
