The Red Hat Society's Queens of Woodlawn Avenue
Page 24
He let out another ragged sigh. “Thanks, Mom. I need to ask you for another favor, though.”
“Anything.”
“I need you to go…” He drew in a quick breath. “To my house.”
He couldn’t call it home. He’d only been gone a few hours, but he couldn’t call it that anymore. Panic pressed on Millie’s heart, too. She refused to believe it was too late, though. Maybe she could still help.
But how could she, who had never interfered before, interject herself into the middle of a battle between a husband and wife when she had no real idea what their problems were?
“Steven, I don’t think it’s my place.”
“I just need you to pick up my briefcase. I’ve looked through the boxes I brought downstairs.”
Boxes? He’d already moved boxes of his stuff from his home to the basement?
“And I checked the trunk again. I can’t find it. I brought it home with me to do some work this afternoon. I had a couple of life insurance applications in it that I had to finish up.”
He wasn’t even going to take off the rest of the day to fight for or mourn the end of his marriage? Was it over that quickly and cleanly? Millie couldn’t begin to understand. She hoped it was just as he’d said, that it was too fresh…and it hurt too much.
“I need my briefcase, Mom. Can you go get it for me? I can’t go back there.”
“Steven, you’re going to have to. For Brigitte.”
“I can’t go back because of Brigitte. It’s too soon. We all need time to adjust.”
Millie worried that he was adjusting pretty quickly, then she saw his eyes and the tears he couldn’t blink away. He was hurting, and he didn’t want his daughter to see him in that kind of pain.
Millie hated seeing him in that kind of pain.
“Of course.” She blinked fast, pushing back her own tears. “I’ll go right now.”
And give him a chance to pull himself together. She needed one, too.
She’d conveniently left the car running for a quick getaway. Hands shaking, she opened the door, then tossed the duster into the backseat. She rammed it into reverse, then glanced into the rearview mirror after she’d already started back. Too late.
A man stood behind her, his outstretched arm clutching a leash. But she couldn’t see the dog he usually walked at the end of it.
She slammed on the brakes, the seatbelt biting into her sore muscles and threw open her door. “I’m so sorry! Are you all right?”
She couldn’t look down. She was too afraid to see whether or not a furry, gray body lay beneath the tire of her car.
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The Red Hat Society® has brought together
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Red Hat Society novels about love, relationships,
and being happily over fifty!
Dear Friends,
Life is certainly full of surprises. First my husband dumps me for a D-cup Hooters waitress. Second, I buy a tumbledown 1920s Tudor with the oddest—and most ironic—living room arch. Yup, it’s heart-shaped. Then, just as I’m starting to adjust, my perky new neighbor comes calling with an incredible announcement. My home is one of four houses built by the original members of the Woodlawn Avenue Bridge Club. I’m now the“Queen of Hearts“! I cant play bridge, but she and the other two queens are determined to teach me—“Fifty is not too old to learn anything!”mdash;and help me start dating, live life my way, and deal with my ex, who suddenly cant resist the new me.
Hoping for good luck,
Ellie