Chasing Shadows (First Wives #3)(6)

“Been there, done that . . . got the check. I’m doing fine on my own.”

Adeline started to grumble before Margaret jumped in.

“I don’t understand why you bothered with plastic surgery, then. Isn’t the whole point of those things . . . to find or keep a man?”

Avery blinked a few times. “What are you talking about?”

Margaret lowered her voice and leaned forward. “Your nose job, dear.”

Inadvertently, she lifted her hand to her face. Her blood started a familiar beat in her head. “That wasn’t a choice.”

“We should just drop it, Margaret. Avery is very sensitive about her surgery.”

Avery pinned her mother with a look. “I’m sensitive about why I had surgery. I don’t give a crap about the nose job.”

“I don’t understand. I thought you said Avery was fine-tuning her face to attract another man.”

The confusion started to settle in Avery’s mind. “So you told Margaret that I had surgery but didn’t tell her the truth behind why?” she asked her mother.

Adeline blinked several times and kept her chin up. “I didn’t want you to be embarrassed, darling. Everyone has nose jobs. It’s not a big deal.”

Avery placed both hands on the table and leaned forward. “Someone rearranged my nose on my face with the bottom of his boot, Mother.”

Margaret drew a sharp breath. “Oh, my.”

“I’m not embarrassed, because it wasn’t my fault. But obviously you’re ashamed to tell people the truth.” God, this was pathetic.

Her mother’s resolve started to crumble. She kept her voice low and looked to her left briefly before saying, “We are not the kind of women who get into fights.”

The muscles in Avery’s forearms tightened.

“I’m so sorry to have brought this up,” Margaret apologized.

Avery stared her mother down. “On the contrary, I’m glad you did. At least now I know how my own mother feels about the subject. You honestly think I brought this on myself.” She pushed back her chair and grabbed her purse.

“Avery, sit down. Don’t be overly dramatic.”

When she was a teenager, her mother’s cue of calling her dramatic would have resulted in a loud tantrum that would grab the attention of every patron in the room. If she were honest with herself, she wanted to do just that. Instead, Avery kept her voice cold. “Tell Daddy I won’t be able to make our Sunday dinner next week.” She turned to Margaret. “Lovely seeing you again.” Said no one, ever.

With a turn of her heel, Avery offered her mother a view of her back as she left the restaurant.





Chapter Three



“I just wish she liked me.”

Trina took center stage of their First Wives Club meeting, but that was to be expected, since she was on the verge of joining a Second Wives Club.

“Vicki likes you,” Shannon argued.

“When a future mother-in-law wants you to marry their son, she doesn’t go out of her way to be around every weekend. Wade and I seldom have the opportunity to be alone.”

“A future mother-in-law should be thinking of grandbabies.”

Everyone turned to Lori.

She jumped. “No. I’m not. I’m just saying . . .”

“You want a baby.” Shannon voiced what they were all thinking.

Lori shook her head. “Of course not. I’m too old.”

Trina started to laugh. “I’m sorry . . . Do you still have a period?”

“That’s a stupid question.”

“Then you’re not too old,” Shannon said. “Has Reed talked about kids?”

Lori stood and walked to her kitchen and grabbed the open bottle of wine they were working on. “He might have mentioned something the other night.”

“What kind of something?” Avery asked.

“About what our kids would look like.” Lori leaned her trim figure along the counter and stared beyond the three of them. “Would our girls have his brown hair and my smile? Would our boys be lawyers or join the Navy SEALs . . . you know, stuff like that.”

“Someone’s biological clock is ticking.” Avery leaned back on the sofa and stared at her friend.

“It’s not.”

“It is!” Trina said. “Nothing wrong with that. You’re married to a man you love and trust. You’re young enough to go there. It isn’t like the first round, where you knew you were married to Mr. Wrong.”

Of the four of them, Lori was the only one who had married her previous spouse for love and forever. Avery, Trina, and Shannon were all temporary, hired brides who entered matrimony for a predetermined amount of time and left their marriages several million richer. And for Avery, that was exactly how that played out. Trina, on the other hand, dealt with her late husband allegedly taking his own life and then found out he was offed by his own father. Cue the music for Days of Our Lives. And Shannon fell in love with her temporary husband and never got over it. Hence the cobwebs growing in her vagina.

To have one of them talking about having kids was a plot twist in itself.

“I totally want kids,” Trina told them.

All the attention fell back on her.

“Soon?”