When Lightning Strikes (Whiskey Creek #1)(58)
Author: Brenda Novak

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Sure it matters. Why is she texting you?”

“She sends shit she thinks will make me mad.”

“Such as…”

He grimaced. “‘Meet Ty’s new daddy.’ ‘Before long your little boy won’t even remember your name.’ Crap like that.”

Outrage gnawed at Gail’s soul. “That’s not fair! She has a restraining order against you. How is it that you can’t contact her, but she can contact you?”

“Welcome to Bella’s world, where nothing ever makes sense. You can’t fight emotion with logic. I learned that years ago.”

“So you haven’t gone to the police.”

He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “What do you want me to say? ‘My ex-wife keeps sending me upsetting texts?’ How do you think that’ll make me look?”

Gail supposed it did sound a little whiny. “Well…can you block her, at least?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never blocked anyone. But even if I could, I wouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

His gaze slid over to her again. “Because she has my son, and I need to know if anything happens to him.”

Gail adjusted her seat belt so she could turn toward him. “Does she ever send you anything to do with him?”

He passed a slower-moving Honda. “I’ll get a picture every now and then.”

“So she tries to be nice sometimes.”

“Definitely not,” he said with a laugh. “She’s twisting the knife, but that’s better than nothing.”

Having full custody of his son had empowered his ex-wife. It tied Simon’s hands behind his back while she was free to slug away. That drove Gail crazy. But as long as Bella had Ty, Simon would remain defenseless. He wouldn’t fight her if there was any chance Ty could get hurt.

“She’s taking advantage of your love for your son.”

“Is that news?” he asked.

She thought most people would be pretty surprised if they ever learned the rest of the story. Bella had done such a good job of smearing Simon as a heartless, irresponsible, selfish bastard. “We’re going to get him back.”

He slid his glasses down until he could see over the top of them. “And Matt?”

“Matt’s going to Green Bay to play football.”

“While you keep up appearances with me.”

“Yes.”

“I can depend on that?”

She slipped her hand inside his and felt far more gratified than she should have when his fingers curled through hers. “You can depend on it.”

* * *

“What is it you want me to do?”

Simon checked to make sure Gail was still engaged with the furniture salesman across the display area. Ian sounded understandably shocked, but what good was money if Simon couldn’t use it to assuage his conscience? “I want you to call Mark Nunes, the diamond guy.”

“I heard that part. But then I thought you said to buy Gail a five-carat diamond.”

“That is what I said. Have him design the setting himself. Tell him it better be good, too.”

Just out of hearing range, the salesman was having Gail try out another leather couch, one with a recliner at both ends.

“Why are you doing this?” Ian asked. “You got away with a gold band, man. Why would you buy her anything else? You know she’ll just want to keep it when this is over, don’t you?”

He didn’t care about that. She was sacrificing more than he’d expected so she deserved a nicer ring. Or maybe it was the sudden competition. He wanted to appear more favorable than some dysfunctional movie star destined to devastate the town sweetheart. He had his shortcomings but he wanted people like Matt to know that at least he was generous with his money. Professional athletes made a fair amount, but chances were good, very good, that Matt couldn’t give Gail a diamond of quite the same value. There weren’t a lot of men who could.

“Just do it.”

“Okay, but…how am I supposed to get it to you?” Ian asked. “I can’t imagine the insurance company would cover it if it got lost in transit. They have stipulations on stuff like that.”

They’d learned a few of those stipulations when Bella had lost her wedding ring and demanded that he replace it with one twice as expensive. Turned out, the insurance company was right to be careful. She’d been lying about losing the ring, had merely wanted to get another rise out of Simon.

“Drive it to me if you have to,” he said, and hung up because Gail was coming toward him.

“Who was that?” she asked when she was close enough. “Not Bella…”

“No. Ian.”

“What did he want?”

He could tell by her tone that she didn’t hold Ian in the highest esteem. “He was giving me an update on some business at home.”

“Everything okay?”

She was searching his face so he manufactured a bland smile. “Fine.”

“Do you like this?” Drawing him over to the brown leather couch he’d seen her sit on, she insisted he try it out.

“Feels comfortable to me,” he said as he settled into the recliner at one end.

“I like it, too,” she mused. “But…it’s almost ten grand.”

The salesman, an older guy with a toupee, stood at a respectful distance so they could discuss their buying decision. If he recognized Simon as a celebrity, he didn’t show it. He probably hadn’t seen a movie since Casablanca.

“Would you quit that?” Simon murmured.

“Quit what?”

“Worrying about price!” Bella hadn’t thought anything was too much if she wanted it. Buying her the best of everything was just another way he was required to prove his love. Gail acted as if she didn’t want to be a burden.

She leaned down to whisper in his ear. “I don’t see any point in wasting money. Who buys a ten-thousand-dollar couch when there are starving children in Africa?”

“I’ll make a donation to compensate. We need a couch, and we need one today.”

“We don’t have to have one today,” she hedged. “We could shop for something we like that’s a bit cheaper.”

“No. Enough shopping already.” He was done traipsing through one showroom after another. “Let’s have them ring it up. Otherwise, they’ll close before we get anything at all.”