Chapter 3

A month later, Vanessa Price was waiting for me outside my building.

Her belly was bigger than the last time I'd seen her, but her face had gotten thinner, her chin sharp enough to cut.

"Olivia."

I had my grocery bags in hand and didn't stop walking.

She stepped sideways into my path. "Stop right there."

"If you've got something to say, say it."

"He says your name in his sleep."

I looked at her.

There were dark circles under her eyes, and her nails were digging into her palms. "In the middle of the night. He says it, rolls over, and goes right back to sleep. I asked him whose name that was, and he said things people say in their sleep don't count."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Don't play dumb." Her voice went shrill. "If you hadn't dragged your feet on making a clean break, would he still be thinking about you?"

"We're long divorced." I stepped around her. "We've got the paperwork to prove it."

She grabbed my arm and raised her other hand.

I caught her wrist and slapped her backhanded.

It made a sharp crack.

She clutched her face, eyes wide.

"You!"

"That one's to build up some good karma for the baby you're carrying." I switched the groceries to my other hand. "So the kid learns not to grow up to be the other woman."

She lunged at me, and behind us came the screech of brakes.

Nathan Carter got out of the car, his suit knocked crooked from running, and grabbed Vanessa.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"She hit me!" Vanessa pointed at me, her voice shaking. "Look, she hit me!"

Nathan looked at me.

I shook out my hand. "She swung first."

He turned and yelled at Vanessa, "What are you doing running all the way over here in your condition?"

"I came to ask her something!"

"Ask her what?" He started pushing her toward the car. "Go home!"

Vanessa clung to the car door and wouldn't let go. "Nathan, you're protecting her? You think I don't know you say her name in your sleep?"

He froze for a second.

Just that one second.

Vanessa laughed, and it looked worse than crying. "I knew it."

"Stop making a scene." His voice dropped. "Get in the car."

She didn't move.

He looked at her, then at me, and opened his mouth.

"Olivia?"

"Shut up."

He stared at me, stunned.

"What are you saying my name for?" I took a step forward. "You think you've earned the right?"

"I know I was wrong."

"You say my name in your sleep because you've got a guilty conscience." I kept my eyes on him. "You're scared your son will call some other man Dad someday. You feel guilty about all the rotten things you've done these past years. You say my name because you're afraid I'll do well without you, and next to me you'll look like a joke."

Vanessa had stopped crying. She leaned against the car door and watched him.

Nathan's face went pale, then red, then pale again.

"Haven't I been good to you all these years?"

"All these years, whenever it rained, you ran to her place first. You'd buy me a scarf and buy her a designer bag the next day. When I was giving birth, you were out drinking at some dinner. When she caught a cold, you sat up with her all night."

I stopped to catch my breath.

"And now you stand here, say you regret it, and I'm supposed to come back to you? Who do you think you are?"

His throat worked.

"What about Andy?"

"Don't bring Andy into this." I set the grocery bags down hard on the ground. "You come see him twice a month and you're late every single time. Sure, your child support shows up on time, but that's the least you owe."

Vanessa suddenly spoke up. "He's been going to the South Side a lot lately."

I glanced at her.

"I thought he was meeting clients." The corner of her mouth twitched. "Turns out he was going to see his son."

Nathan whipped his head around. "Shut up."

"No, I won't." She put a hand on her lower back and straightened up. "Olivia, we were both blind. You were blind for ten years. I was blind for three."

"You're a little better off than me." I picked up my groceries. "At least you saw him for what he is before you had his baby."

She looked down at her belly and didn't say a word.