Chasing Shadows (First Wives #3)(84)

“We’re going to start the demo. Lots of noise, dust, and trash.” He offered the sledgehammer to Sheldon. “Some of my clients like to take the first swing.”

Sheldon immediately shook his head. “I’ll leave that to the profess—” He paused and accepted the tool. “On the other hand, there’s a desk I wouldn’t mind taking a hammer to.”

With that, he walked back into the house.



“First Wives Club meetings shall always include shopping, shoes, and champagne.” Avery lifted her glass to the other three club members as a toast.

“Cheers.”

Their club meeting was being held at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego.

“I needed this!” Avery exclaimed. “I can’t remember the last time I managed any serious shopping.”

Their bungalow looked out over the Pacific Ocean with endless sunshine. They sat on a private deck, enjoying the last rays of heat as the sun started to set.

“Wade and I did our share of damage on our honeymoon,” Trina told them. “I’ve never known a man who likes to shop more than him.”

“That’s because he’s loaded,” Avery teased.

“It’s because he looks good in everything he puts on.” Everyone turned to stare at Shannon.

“Is it possible the woman who seems impervious to the male species is finally starting to open her eyes?” Avery asked.

“I fall hard, and fast . . . and for the wrong men. You flitter from one flower to another until a Venus flytrap grabs your leg to keep you from running away.”

Lori tilted her flute glass Avery’s way. “She has a point.”

“So are you dating?” Avery asked Shannon.

“Not yet. Before you ask, yes, I’ve been going out a little more. I’m not sure I want to date in LA.”

“What does that mean? Where would you date?”

She shrugged. “I’m thinking of selling the house and moving.”

“What? Why?”

“Because Paul bought it for me.”

“That was part of your agreement,” Lori said.

“I’ll use the money from the sale to buy something else. Granted, he didn’t have much to do with the purchasing process other than writing a check, but it still feels like it’s part of him.”

“Hey, anything you can do to move on, sista.” Avery clinked her glass to Shannon’s.

“Where would you move?”

“I’m not sure. I like the beach.”

“Just don’t move too far,” Avery suggested.

“Hey, I moved to Texas,” Trina said.

“You fly here all the time.” Avery set her glass down.

“True.”

“So, Avery, how is everything going with Liam?”

“He is an unexpected pleasure in my world.”

“Has he told you he loves you?” Trina asked.

Avery knew her cheeks were blushing. “Yes.”

Trina did the smiling chair dance.

“And you him?” Lori asked.

Avery hid her answer in her drink.

“Excuse me, what was that?” Shannon asked.

“No. I can’t.”

“Do you?”

“Yes. Of course. He’s the best thing in my life. We laugh all the time, toss each other around in krav and in the bedroom. He keeps me grounded and safe . . . and I don’t know, settled.”

Lori moved away from the railing she was leaning on and sat in a chair. “So why not tell him that?”

“Because then he will move on to the next thing. It’s what he does. It started with insisting that we were dating when we weren’t . . . and the next thing I know I’m in a relationship. I erased all my dating profiles, my data dump of phone numbers gave my phone so much room it downloaded music all by itself just because it could.”

They were laughing.

“He has a drawer at my place—hell, he took half the closet. I even have a dog bed for Whiskey. His niece is already calling me Auntie Avery, and Michelle is calling me to arrange a family dinner so everyone can meet. I can’t do that, because I still haven’t taken him over to the Grant home for what will surely be the dinner from hell.”

“It could go well,” Miss Glass Half-Full told her.

“Snowball’s chance, Shannon. Snowball’s chance.”

“What does he do when he tells you he loves you and you don’t say it back?”

Avery found herself smiling. “He tells me it’s okay that I don’t because he knows that when I do, I’m all in, that since the words aren’t easy for me, they mean more. He’s so damn understanding.”

“Sounds like the real thing.”

“I tell him I love him, and the next thing I know, you guys will be back buying more freaking bridesmaids’ dresses. My condo doesn’t work for the dog. I love my condo. And what happens if I get pregnant? I’m too young to be a mom.”

“You’re thirty-two,” Trina reminded her.

“Liam will be a great dad,” Lori added.

Avery thought about how he treated his niece, and smiled.

“You know what is killing me about this whole picture?” Shannon asked.