After All (Cape Harbor #1)(6)
Amicable or not, divorce was hard. When Bowie and his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Rachel, separated, they were anything but cordial, and both ended up with separate lawyers, which was something he’d wanted to avoid, but her parents insisted. His lawyer was sucking the life out of his checkbook, while Rachel’s made sure he had to cover her fees too. He was getting royally screwed and couldn’t even enjoy it. Nor could he do anything about it.
He went outside and whistled. Within seconds, his faithful companion, Luke, came running. Bowie held the door to his truck open as his dog jumped in. This was the one thing he wouldn’t budge on with the divorce. He was keeping his dog, and he couldn’t care less what Rachel’s lawyer threw at him. Luke had adopted Bowie—at least that’s how he told the story. When he was a pup, the black Lab had wandered onto a jobsite, climbed into Bowie’s open-doored truck, and fallen asleep. He’d shooed, tried to chase the dog away, and told him to scram. The dog wouldn’t leave.
Rachel was none too happy about having a dog in the house. She claimed she was allergic, but Bowie could tell that her sneezing fits were fake. The dog stayed, and mostly he ignored Rachel, following his master everywhere. The only time Rachel had given a rat’s ass about Luke was when she’d told Bowie she was moving out and wanted to take the dog with her. There used to be a time when Bowie would have given Rachel any and everything she asked for, but there was no way he was letting her take his dog. Getting the message loud and clear, she’d packed her clothes, left his dog with him, and never looked back.
Luke hung his head out the window with his tongue dangling from his mouth. His ears flapped from the wind, causing Bowie to laugh. As he drove toward downtown, he mentally ticked off the phone calls he needed to return. Business was slow. The days of Seacoast Construction building multiple houses at the same time had gone by the wayside. Vacant or affordable land in Cape Harbor was scarce, and where Bowie failed, other companies succeeded. He was far too focused on keeping his company local, never branching out to the other towns. He held on to the belief that if he took care of the locals, they would take care of him, and it so happened that he was right. He was everyone’s go-to for construction. The problem was, no one needed any repairs, or they couldn’t afford them right now. For a while, he’d been able to make excuses; however, he was out of them now. He had no choice. He needed to expand the area he was willing to work, take jobs even when overnights were required, and he needed some advertising. Nothing hurt his pride more than when he saw a commercial for his competition. But those flashy ads on television cost money, which he didn’t have, unless he laid people off. It had been months since he’d taken a salary, and even he was running out of money . . . mostly thanks to his ex-wife.
He pulled his truck up to the curb and shut off the ignition. He sat there with his arm resting on the door, waving at people as they walked by. A few stopped to say hi to Luke, who had become a local celebrity of sorts. Everyone in town knew who he was, and when they saw him sitting on the sidewalk or in the truck, they greeted him; some offered his dog a biscuit. Luke was the friendliest dog in town, and everyone loved him.
Bowie sighed and finally opened the door. “I’ll be in the diner,” he said to Luke, as if the dog knew which door led to the restaurant. As soon as he shut the door, his dog took his spot behind the steering wheel, watching as his master disappeared into the building.
Rachel waved. Bowie grimaced. He hoped she hadn’t noticed, but she put her hand down, and her smile faded; he knew she had. Not that he was mad at her; he was just frustrated by the process of their divorce. They’d had a good life, until she’d wanted children and they could not conceive. She had wanted to try IVF, and he’d been willing until he saw the price tag. They simply couldn’t afford it. Not without taking out a second mortgage on the house and a loan against his business. It wasn’t like there was a guarantee either. If the process didn’t work, they were out the money, in debt, and no baby to show for it. The risk was too much for him. Each step he took toward her now made him thankful he’d never caved. He never wanted to imagine what life would be like without a company to run, more debt than he had now, and a child to care for.
He slipped into the booth and smiled at Peggy, the waitress he’d known his whole life. She brought him coffee, asked Rachel if she was ready to order, and went on to the next table, writing nothing down and never asking what he wanted. She knew. He had the same meal every time he came in. The best part about eating there would come later, when Peggy brought the check. She would hand it to Rachel and walk away. Bowie was a town favorite. Everyone loved him. There was a time when they liked Rachel too. It took the people of Cape Harbor some time to accept her, though. Most of the grumblings through town had been about how Rachel thought she was too good for them. She was from a few towns over and had wanted Bowie to move, news that had spread like wildfire when his mother had mentioned it at her weekly book club years prior. The locals hadn’t taken too kindly to the thought of Bowie leaving on account of his new girlfriend, at the time. She had moved here, and all was good, until she asked for a divorce and the townspeople shunned her again.
The former couple sat across from each other. Rachel rested her hands in her lap while Bowie played with the handle of his ceramic coffee mug, avoiding the large envelope on the table. He sighed heavily, a sign meant to convey to his ex he had other things he needed to take care of. He chanced a look at her. Her eyes were staring at the chipped Formica tabletop. “I’m here,” he said gruffly.