The Summer of Sunshine and Margot(101)

She touched her lips. She’d felt nothing when he kissed her and looking at him, she continued to feel nothing. They were done. Completely and totally over. At one time he’d been her world and wasn’t that just sad?

“No,” she said with a smile. “Absolutely not. To quote my girl Taylor, we are never ever, ever getting back together.”

“Margot, please.” He raised both hands, palms up. “I shouldn’t have left the way I did. You are still angry, yes? I understand. But come on. You know we belong together.”

“We don’t. It’s not the leaving I object to, it’s the coming back. You need to stop that. I don’t want to be with you anymore. Dietrich, we’re done.” She pointed to the door. “It’s time for you to go.”

He smiled at her. “Not without you. You want me to fight for you. I understand that. I stayed away too long.” He winked. “You want to punish me and I would like that, too.”

She flushed and wished she could bolt, but first she had to take out the trash.

“Margot,” he said, his smile fading. “I need you. You’re my muse.”

“You heard the lady, Dietrich. It’s time to go.”

The voice came from behind her. Margot held in a groan. She’d hoped to get through this conversation without Alec hearing any part of it but her luck just wasn’t that good. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him glowering at Dietrich.

“It’s okay,” she said quickly, not wanting things to escalate.

“It’s not okay.” He moved to stand next to her. “He’s not listening.”

“Who is this?” Dietrich demanded. “Who are you?”

“I’m the owner of this house and I’m telling you to leave.”

Dietrich glared at her. “You live with him? You live with another man? How could you? Our love was forever.”

She felt the beginnings of a headache. “Apparently not.” She walked to the door and held it open. “Goodbye, Dietrich.”

“No.” He sounded petulant and for a second she thought he was going to stomp his foot on the floor. “It’s not fair. I love you.”

“You only love yourself. I should have seen that a long time ago.”

“While I hate to repeat myself,” Alec told him, “you heard the lady.”

Dietrich looked between them. Margot had no idea what he was thinking so she wasn’t expecting him to lunge at her. Before he even got close, Alec grabbed him by his shirtfront, spun him and shoved him face-first into the wall. Hard. Alec held him, with an arm twisted behind his back.

“Now, are you leaving or are you going to make this difficult?” he asked calmly.

“I’m leaving, I’m leaving!” Dietrich’s voice was a squeak. “Stop! You’re hurting me.”

Alec held on for another second before releasing him. Dietrich scampered toward the front steps. As he passed Margot, he glared at her. “You could have just said you weren’t interested.”

He ran to his rental car and in a second was gone.

“Bravo,” Bianca said, clapping her hands together. “Oh, Alec, that was magnificent. You were so strong and determined. My heart is fluttering just thinking about it.”

Instead of answering his mother, he looked at Margot. “Are you all right?”

She nodded.

He turned and walked away. When he was out of sight, she closed the door and leaned against it. Bianca went off with Edna, the two women discussing what had just happened. Margot stayed where she was.

While she appreciated the save, she had a bad feeling about what had just occurred. Not Dietrich—he didn’t matter anymore. But Alec’s reaction. It had been wonderful but very out of character and something inside of her told her there would be consequences—for all of them.



Chapter Twenty-Five


Sunshine’s sad mood lasted until the end of class when her professor passed back the results of their most recent test. She stared at the bright red B plus and nearly whooped out loud. Professor Rejefski smiled at her.

“A nice improvement, Ms. Baxter. Keep it up.”

“I will.”

Sunshine gathered her backpack and raced out of the building, heading for the math lab. When she got there for her standing appointment with Ann she bounced from foot to foot until the older woman walked out to get her.

“Look! Look!” She waved the test. “I got a B plus! Can you believe it? Do you know how close that is to an A? OMG, I’m so happy.”

Ann smiled at her. “You worked hard and now you’re seeing the results of that. Come on back and we’ll go over your homework.”

“I knew I’d done better, but not like this,” Sunshine told her. “There’s been so much crap in my life lately. No, that’s not true. It’s my own fault and I’ve been dealing with—”

Ann turned to her. “Stop. Just stop. If you have a problem, talk to a friend. If you need emotional support, find a therapist. I do math. It’s my thing.”

The words were so harsh, Sunshine thought, feeling emotions rise to the surface.

As they walked into the small study room where they held their sessions, Sunshine fought against tears. She was about to complain when she realized Ann was right. This was the math lab, not group counseling. Ann was a tutor, not a friend or support buddy. Sunshine’s emotional state wasn’t her job.