The Restaurant(55)

“Just Daisy,” Brooke said.

Mandy decided to change the subject. “So, what do you two want to do today? I was thinking maybe we could go for a bike ride along the trail and stop for pizza at Oath after?”

Blake jumped up. “Can we go right now?”

Mandy laughed. “No. But soon, buddy. Give me a little time to get up and get ready.”





Later on, after a fun day riding bikes with the kids, and after they’d had dinner and gone to bed, Mandy called Cory.

He answered on the first ring and sounded pleasantly surprised to hear from her.

“Hey, Mandy, what’s up?”

Mandy cut right to the chase.

“Are you having a ‘discreet’ affair with Daisy now, too?”

There was a long, uncomfortable silence. Finally, Cory sighed.

“The kids told you she stayed over.”

“They did. What are you thinking, Cory? Daisy, of all people? Your partner’s wife? What will you do if he finds out?”

“He’s not going to find out. It’s just a bit of fun. It’s not serious for either of us.”

“I don’t care what it is, I really don’t. If you want to be that stupid, that’s your business. But I think we need to set some ground rules. I assumed it went without saying, but I don’t want you to bring any of these women around the kids. For the one or two nights a week that you see them, have the focus be on just them. It’s not fair and too confusing for them. They don’t understand what you’re doing, Cory.”

“I don’t understand it, either. If you let me come back, it won’t be an issue.”

Mandy sighed in disbelief. He was like a broken record that never stopped playing.

“Cory, I’ve made a decision. I’m meeting with a lawyer this week. I think it’s time we start discussing divorce.”

“Are you sure about that? I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make this work.”

Mandy laughed bitterly. “You mean like go to counseling? You said you’d do that, but I’ve mentioned it twice now and you’ve brushed me off.”

“If I agree to go to counseling, will you change your mind?”

Would she?

“No. I think we’re past that now. I’ll have my lawyer get in touch once we meet and decide how to move forward.”

He sighed. “Okay. Whatever you want to do, Mandy. I’ll support it.”

“I appreciate that.” At least he wasn’t going to be difficult. Mandy suspected Cory still didn’t believe the divorce would actually happen. But knowing he’d been with Daisy was the final straw. It was just too much for her to get past.

When she hung up with Cory, she fished through her purse until she found Taylor Nickerson’s business card. She was the divorce lawyer that Mandy was going to call first thing in the morning.





Chapter 25





Jill was used to the twice-monthly trips to Manhattan now, though two weeks ago, Billy had come to see her for a change and they’d had a great weekend. He was falling in love with Nantucket, too, and they’d talked about spending more time together there, maybe a full week vacation at some point. Both of them rarely took time off for vacation, but they both agreed it was something they should do more often.

She rolled over and looked at Billy, who was still sound asleep in her bed. They’d stayed at her place last night and stopped for pizza at a local restaurant on the way home. Jill was a little nervous that today was the day they were planning to tell the office that they were an item. Billy said he’d do most of the talking, which was fine with her. She was happy for it to be out in the open and she didn’t think anyone was going to mind. She hoped not anyway.

She jumped in the shower and by the time she was out, Billy was up and drinking coffee in the kitchen.

He gave her a kiss on his way into the bathroom. “My turn.”

Jill drove and they reached the office a little before eight. They were the first ones there, but within minutes the rest of the team began arriving. It was a typical Friday, busy and loud and as usual, the day flew by.

At four, Billy came into the bull pen, the large open office where all the recruiters sat in their cubicles. He walked into the middle of the room, holding a bottle of champagne and looked around expectantly. Everyone quickly understood that he wanted their attention. Once everyone was off the phone, Billy smiled and held up the champagne.

“We have an announcement and something to celebrate today. Jill and I wanted to let you know something. You all know we’ve been friends, best friends for many years?” He looked around the room as people nodded.

“Well a few months back, we decided that maybe we wanted to be more than friends and we started dating.” He grinned. “So, we wanted to let you know that we’re officially an item. What do you think of that?” There was a moment of silence and then a chorus of congratulations. Jill was relieved that they all seemed to be happy for them.

But Billy wasn’t done yet.

“There’s something else that I wanted to do, here, in front of all of you. This company that Jill and I started brought us together and it just seems appropriate to do this here, too.” Billy set the champagne down, took a few steps closer to Jill and shocked her by getting down on one knee and pulling a small black box from his pocket. He opened it and held up a huge, shimmering square-cut diamond ring.