Page 68 of The Best Bad Decision

“Sure.” Still ignoring my parents, Casimir kept going like the whole situation was perfectly reasonable. “And later I’m also going to remind you again that you’re not responsible for her child. She’s got marketable skills and is an adult. She’ll be fine on her own.”

Part of me was really glad about that part, but I wasn’t sure if it made me a bad person or not. “I talked to my lawyer on Friday. He’s going to petition the court to order her to have a psych evaluation. This isn’t reasonable.”

There was no way to ignore the way my parents sucked in their breaths or the squeaks they made, so we both frowned and turned to them. I’d found my gumption by that point and rolled my eyes before responding to them. “Is there a reason you’ve interrupted my date?”

Manners were for morons…at least at this point.

“Is that the tone you should use to speak to your parents?” My father finally spoke but his insanity did not help the situation.

“Well, polite wasn’t working with you guys, so it’s probably time for him to pick a different option.” Casimir’s snarky retort had me reminding myself not to smile. “How about you answer his question so we can continue with our evening?”

I was not lucky enough for it to be that easy.

“He’s a married man.” How did my mother think that was a reasonable response, even with her fake shocked voice? “Get your claws out of him.”

“No.”

Casimir’s firm tone had me trying not to laugh, and I had to swallow it back before I could say anything. “I’d have been divorced by now if Valerie hadn’t dragged her feet every step of the way. When you add in the cheating thing, we’re not going to throw around the sanctity of marriage like that.”

They’d all lost their minds and I was going to start pointing that out.

“She doesn’t like me. Our marriage was over a long time ago because she does nothing but bitch at me and make me guess what she wants. For everything. Birthdays. Restaurants. Which fucking chore should be done first.” And for some magically unexplainable reason, I’d always picked the wrong one.

Every. Time.

That’s been the one to drive me the most insane, but there were still a thousand reasons left to list. “I was even supposed to have been psychic enough to understand that just because she’d said she’d liked the house, it didn’t mean she liked it enough for me to have bought it.”

No human was psychic enough for that.

“Then you add in the way she kept trying to spend my money for stupid shit like vacations to places I hated and there was no reason for us to be together even before the fact that she can’t stay faithful.” That should’ve been enough but somehow it wasn’t. “I’m not going to stay married to that. Period.”

How hard was that to understand?

“When you marry someone, you have responsibilities. One is to provide for your family. Another is to take care of them. Well, your family needs you to do both of those.” My mother tried to make that sound like a scathing retort but it was still just nuts.

“No. My responsibilities ended when she cheated on me. They should’ve ended when she was a bitch and found every reason she could to criticize me. It probably should’ve ended when she spent our honeymoon listing off everything I was doing wrong.” Looking back, the red flags had been visible from space.

But with them as role models for how marriage looked, I probably couldn’t blame myself for being so blind.

My mother didn’t seem to know what to say to that, but my father was faster on his feet. “Then you should’ve worked harder at being a better partner. Running away won’t help that. It’s time to step up, Atlee.”

“What the fuck?” Casimir was quick too. “You’ve lost your mind.”

I found myself nodding before I could think about it. I’d have caught up with things eventually, but Casimir didn’t wait for that. He turned away from them like they were nothing and completely focused on me as he lowered his voice. “We’re going inside unless you can tell me a reason otherwise.”

Tell me a reason.

A safeword.

Unless I could tell him my safeword.

“I think that’s a wonderful plan.” Turning to face his front door, I held out my arm. “May I escort you in?”

Sir.

Master.

Either would work but I held them back. His smile said he knew what I’d wanted to say and his very regal nod made me think he approved. “Thank you.”