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“No, it’s fine. I didn’t know Heath was coming over. He just showed up.”
I hear Heath’s voice as he tries to control our dog. There’s a few ‘no’s’ and ‘settles’ before Heath pushes through with Harper in the lead. Her tongue is hanging out, clearly excited. When she sees me, she tries to wiggle her way from Heath’s grip towards me. She pulls on her leash, whimpering when he won’t let her go.
Walking over to her, I bend down to pat and kiss her head. “It looks like you’re staying with me for a while, huh, baby?”
“I know you don’t have much of a yard–”
I stand, still petting Harper’s head. “No, it’s all right. Between the kids and me, we’ll make sure she gets enough exercise.”
“I wouldn’t mind walking her either,” Liam says as he takes a step towards her, reaching his hand out so she can sniff him. “I’m sure Talia would love hanging out with her. She loves dogs.”
“Who’s Talia?” Heath asks as he lets Harper’s leash slack a bit.
“She’s my four-year-old daughter.”
Heath nods at that piece of information, and then turns his attention to me, pushing her leash in my direction. “I need to go grab her food and dishes.”
“Okay.” I take the time to walk Harper through the condo, showing her around and finally letting her out to the backyard so she can get her sniffing out of the way. Liam is standing in the kitchen, hands crossed over his chest with a concerned look on his face. When I close the door, I face Liam.
“Did you need anything?”
“I saw you the other night.”
“What do you mean?”
“The other night when you came home. You were crying. I called your name, but you ran into your house. Heath came barreling around the corner soon after you made it inside. I was worried, but I didn’t want to pry.”
I wish he didn’t see me like that. “Thank you.” I take a step towards him, needing to tell him, but not wanting Heath to hear. “I found divorce papers–”
“Here’s everything,” Heath says as he enters the room. Setting a very large bag on the counter, he steps back and looks between Liam and me. His finger dances between the two of us, “What’s going on?”
“You filed for divorce?” Liam stands at his full height as he questions Heath. “How the fuck could you let a woman like Whitney go?”
“Liam–” I try to stop him, but Heath beats me to it.
“Not that it’s any of your damn business, but I’m not letting my wife go–quite the opposite, actually. I didn’t file for divorce–”
“So she finally decides not to be shit on by an undeserving husband, and instead of fighting–”
“Fuck you, man. You have no business in this,” Heath barks.
“Like hell I do. Whitney’s my friend, and it’s about damn time someone thinks about her for a change.” His fists are clenched at his side, jet set like stone as his stare hardens.
“Stop it,” I scream, done with listening to this pissing match. “Neither of you are thinking about me right now. Liam, I wasn’t able to finish what I was trying to tell you, so please drop it.” I turn to Heath. “I’ll take care of Harper, no problem. Don’t worry about the kids. They’ll be fine.”
His chest is slightly heaving when he looks at me. Taking a deep breath, he calms himself. “I’ll call you.” He takes a step towards me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into a hug. When his arms fall to his sides, he turns around leaves the condo without another word.
