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My stomach plummeted to my boots. I tried to speak but my tongue felt swollen and my mouth dry.
Nora looked at me, frowning in concern. “Are you okay?”
But I wasn’t the one who answered.
“Hi, I’m Alison, Michael’s ex-wife.”
Chapter 19
Nora
Ittookmehalfa second to decide I did not like Alison. It didn’t matter that Michael’s ex-wife was polite and friendly, because apparently she had the power to turn Michael into stone and that made me unhappy. Ergo, I did not like Alison.
It seemed the feeling was mutual, because Alison was looking at me with an expression that said she, too, was unhappy.
Good.
I smiled, forcing my eyes to make it look real. A useful little trick I had learned after my divorce in order to stave off the pitying looks. “Nice to meet you, Alison. I’m Nora Zeigler, Michael’s girlfriend.”
Maybe that wasn’t strictly true, but these were trying times. I had no idea how Michael felt about me claiming the label, considering we had agreed not to tell Suzie until he was gone, but that was a worry for later. His fingers squeezed mine reflexively, so at least I knew he was still alive in there.
Alison was undeniably pretty. Blonde, shoulder-length hair. Beautiful blue eyes. Average height, a couple inches taller than me, and above average breasts, damn her. And, I noted, a gold band on her left ring finger.
She must have remarried. It had been three years since their divorce, so that was no surprise—to me, anyway. Maybe Michael hadn’t been aware of it. That might explain why he was doing his best impression of a Greek statue. No one liked it when their ex moved on first.
Still smiling—and damn it, I would continue to smile even though my cheeks ached, even if it killed me—I wedged myself in his armpit so his arm was forced to drape around my shoulders. I wrapped my own arm around his waist and hooked my thumb in his belt loop above his butt. Proprietary, yes. But I also wanted him to know I was here, with him. Whatever was going on in that brain of his, I was by his side. When he looked down at me, I raised my eyebrows and gave him a gentle bump with my hip, trying to provoke a response that let me know what he needed.
A glimmer of something sparked in his eyes. The arm that had been hanging passively around my shoulders came to life and squeezed me closer.
Finally.
“It’s good to see you again, honey,” Brenda said softly. Michael’s old neighbor, he had told me. I realized with a start that she must have lived next door when he was still married to Alison. She had known them as a couple. Maybe even had dinners together or something. “How have you been?”
“Good.” Alison ripped her gaze away from me long enough to be polite and smile at Brenda.
A man approached. “Are we getting jam?” he said to Alison, completely oblivious to the charged atmosphere. He was wearing a baby strapped to his chest. I felt Michael spasm slightly against me.
Alison bit her lip, looking flustered. “Honey, this is my ex-husband Michael and his girlfriend Nora. Michael, this is Mark.”
Mark did a doubletake but recovered quickly. “Oh. Okay. So…Nice to meet you, I guess.”
I burst out laughing. “You are a terrible liar.”
His eyes widened slightly and then he grinned at me. “Nora, is it? Are you saying this was how you wanted to spend your Saturday morning? Meeting the ex?”
I smirked. “I’m saying…Try the jam. It’s delicious.”
Brenda, who had been attempting invisibility behind a rack of jellies ever since Mark showed up, moved forward. She threw me a relieved look, bugging her eyes out, and turned to Mark and Alison. “It’s strawberry pepper.” She spread the jam on crackers and passed them out. I accepted her offer of seconds, because, like I had told Mark, it was delicious. It took a lot to make me lose my appetite. More than a surprise meeting with an ex-wife.
We all chewed our crackers and stared awkwardly at each other. The baby lifted her head from her father’s chest and aimed her big blue eyes at me. I could feel my face soften in response. No one could be a bitch in the presence of a baby. It was a physical impossibility.
“How old is she?” I asked, nodding in the direction of the baby.
“Five months,” Mark said.
Young enough to still have that newborn smell. I melted further. “She’s beautiful.” I glanced at Alison and, as much as it pained me to admit this, I saw the resemblance and it was a good one. “She’s got your eyes, the lucky thing.”
Alison blinked those blue eyes at me, startled.
