Pelican Court (Cedar Cove #3)(83)

Zach felt as if he’d been hit square in the chest. The impact was so jarring he nearly placed his hand over his heart. “You know that’s not true.”

“I told Chris, but he wouldn’t listen.” Eddie shook his head. “I shouldn’t have hit him, but he wouldn’t shut up and he kept shouting it and finally…I had to make him stop.”

“What’ll happen the next time, Eddie?”

“Next time,” Eddie repeated, “I’m going to look him in the eye and tell him it isn’t true and then I’ll walk away.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Zach ruffled his son’s hair. “You want me to beat him up for you?” he teased.

The hint of a smile touched Eddie’s mouth. “Dad!”

Zach nudged him with his elbow and Eddie nudged him back. After a couple more elbow exchanges, the door opened and Mr. Durrell returned. The three of them talked for a few minutes, and then the principal brought in the other boy. Chris refused to look at Zach. After the two boys had apologized, Mr. Durrell instructed Eddie and Christopher to go back to their respective classrooms.

Zach was about to suggest Eddie come home with him, but he realized it was better that his son face his class and his friends sooner rather than later.

Zach thanked Mr. Durrell and left. He pitied Chris Lamond, suspecting that Janice had paraded a number of men through her son’s life. He’d almost been one of them. Zach was halfway to the parking lot when he recognized Rosie. She was dressed in a straight skirt and matching jacket and looked…professional. Sharp and savvy. He wasn’t used to seeing her like this, and it made him feel a bit odd, as though she’d somehow become someone different. When she noticed him, she paused momentarily. Then, with her chin held high, she continued toward the school.

“I’ve already been to see Mr. Durrell,” Zach said when their paths crossed.

She nodded. “The school secretary called to tell me Eddie had been in a fight. I thought I’d better find out what happened. That just isn’t like him.”

“Mr. Durrell phoned me.”

“I didn’t know if you’d be able to come. I know how busy you are this time of year and I managed to leave a few minutes early.”

“You assumed I wouldn’t come.” Zach was mildly offended that she’d expected him to put his work schedule ahead of his son’s needs. He might be lacking in a lot of other areas, but Zach prided himself on being a good father.

“Oh, no, I knew you’d come. I just figured that it’d be later, and I didn’t think it was a good idea for Eddie to sit in Mr. Durrell’s office all afternoon.” She gave a quick shrug. “I was wrong—you obviously came over here right away.”

He wondered if she’d said this just to prove she had no trouble admitting when she was at fault. Fine, he could do it, too.

“Speaking of assumptions,” Zach said, looking past his ex-wife. He owed her this, even if it meant humiliating himself in the process. “It’s easy to leap to conclusions.” He glanced at Rosie to see if she got his point.

“How do you mean?”

It should be obvious, but apparently she wanted him to spell it out. “The way I assumed you were talking to Cecilia to pump her for information about Janice.”

Rosie stared at him. Then she frowned as if she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly. “Are you apologizing, Zachary Cox?”

Zach clenched his jaw and nodded. “Yes, I’m apologizing. I was out of line that day.”

Her face relaxed, and she offered him a soft, almost shy smile. Then she said, “Thank you, Zach.”

“For what?”

“For admitting you were wrong. I know how hard it is for you to do that.”

“Really?” He didn’t think he was that bad, just reluctant at times. Still, he’d gotten worse once his marriage began to fall apart. Although maybe that was why his marriage had fallen apart—or at least a contributing factor.

“Oh, that sounded self-righteous of me, didn’t it?” Rosie laughed and shook her head.

It was easy to forgive her when she was so willing to laugh at herself. He smiled in response, feeling a connection with her that he hadn’t felt in nearly two years.

“I owe you an apology, too,” she told him.

“Me?” They’d waged war over a comma in their divorce papers. Their weapons had been highly paid attorneys. During the bitter months preceding the divorce, there’d been no interchange that wasn’t witnessed and presided over by those same attorneys. Yet here was Rosie, standing with him in a school parking lot, and they were having one of the most important conversations of their relationship.

“I apologize for assuming you were involved with Janice,” Rosie continued. “I convinced myself that you were having an affair and I turned into a vindictive shrew. I’m not proud of the things I said and did, and I apologize.”

Zach had never expected Rosie to do anything like this. For months she’d been filled with resentment and vicious anger. Now he saw the tears of regret in her eyes, and his own heart softened.

“Rosie…”

“You denied the affair from the beginning,” she went on, barely able to speak through her tears. “I never had any real proof. I’d decided it was happening, felt it must be. She was obviously attractive and capable, and you spent eight hours a day with her. I was insanely jealous.”