I’d never seen the function room at the racetrack look so fancy. The walls had been draped in sparkling gold cloth that hung from the high ceilings all the way to the floor. Thousands of fairy lights were strung across the roof, the main lights dimmed to show them off to their full effect. Waiters in crisp white shirts and black ties circled the room with canapes, offering them to the formally dressed partygoers. The men wore black suits, cufflinks glinting at their wrists. Many of the women had gone with shorter, cocktail-length dresses, but there were some full-length skirts in the crowd as well, giving the room an extra elegant feel. Classical music floated over the air, mingling with the many conversations taking place around the space.

Working at a different bar with a different crew of people was strange. I knew from other times I’d picked up these extra shifts that the night would probably drag as we tried to feel our way around each other. We’d only been working for half an hour, but I already felt like I’d been in this over-decorated room for days.

A blond waitress, whose name I couldn’t remember, placed her empty tray down on the bar top while she waited for me to refill it with drinks. I mindlessly poured the glasses of champagne, vaguely registering her friendly chatter, but unable to concentrate long enough to take part in it. My gaze kept wandering to the big double doors that opened every few minutes to admit new couples dressed to the nines.

I searched the faces of every new person with a mixture of hope and dread sitting on my chest. Each time I wanted to see Elodie’s moss green eyes, while at the same time, part of me hoped she wouldn’t come.

Cool liquid cascaded over my hand and I swore, looking down to find I’d overfilled a champagne flute to the point that I’d created a waterfall over the edges. Shaking my head, I tipped the glass toward the sink, then wiped down the outside with some paper towels before I placed it on the tray. The woman gave me a quizzical look but didn’t say anything as she moved away with her tray held high above her head.

I mopped up the puddle of champagne I’d made on the bar top and gave myself a kick up the ass. I was working, and I didn’t think these people with their fancy clothes and presumably huge salaries would take kindly to a bartender who was fucking things up.

“Jamison.”

My heart stopped. I lifted my eyes and my mouth dried at the sight of her. Her hair was swept back in an elegant twist, showing off her long neck and creamy white skin. Her shoulders were bare, the satin of her dress dipping low between her breasts, showing off her cleavage to full effect. The deep-red material swirled across her torso before flaring to a full-length skirt. My palms suddenly felt sweaty, and I tucked them inside my pants. She looked like fucking royalty.

“Wow.” I didn’t even try to hide the lust I knew burned in my gaze. I couldn’t stop looking at her. I drank in every curve of her body and committed each one to memory.

“I just…” She bit her lip before glancing over her shoulder. When she turned back, she took a step closer, resting perfectly polished fingertips on the bar top. Elodie’s were simple and elegant though—clear polish with white at the tips. Nothing like the red talons Bree had been sporting when I’d seen her earlier in the week.

Elodie’s teeth worried her bottom lip, and I wanted to reach out and run my finger over the pretty pink plumpness of them. “I just wanted to come and say hello, so things aren’t weird tonight. I wasn’t even sure you’d be working.”

I took a deep breath, trying to find some control over my body. “The money is good. I couldn’t turn it down.”

Her gaze searched my face for a moment too long before she nodded. We both knew my answer was bullshit. There was more to me taking the shift than just the extra coin. “How’s Nathan?”

A strange look I couldn’t place passed over her features before she forced a smile. “He’s good. He loves having his dad home.”

I bit the inside of my cheek for a long moment before I replied. “And you? Are you glad to have him home? Reese said…”

Something flickered in Elodie’s eyes that made my heart thump triple time. But then she forced a smile, though I saw the tinge of sadness in it. “I guess—”

“There you are!” Rick’s booming voice announced as he sauntered to Elodie’s side and wrapped his arm around her middle, pulling her close. He gave me a smug grin. My molars ground together. He was all show and no class. Elodie squirmed in his arms, creating distance between them and cementing the idea that maybe everything wasn’t as rosy as it seemed. My eyes flicked to hers and she shook her head slightly.

What did that mean?

“What’s the CEO’s name again, El? John? James? I can never remember,” he asked her, his eyes travelling over and resting on a group of men at the front of the room. “They’d be a huge coup for my firm if I could bring them in.”

“Rick, I don’t think that’s a good idea tonight. This isn’t supposed to be a business meeting. It’s a fundraiser. The man only lost his wife a few months back; he isn’t going to want to talk legal representation.”

Rick waved his hand around, dismissing her concerns. “I get men like him. Every event is an opportunity for a business meeting.” He jerked his head in my direction. “The waiter can bring your champagne over, can’t you?” He directed his question to me with all the sweetness of a cobra. “And a bourbon and coke for me.”

I nodded, almost rolling my eyes at the predictable way he spoke to me. He might have had all the money in the world, but he was a little man, trying to make himself feel big by putting me down. I couldn’t have cared less. Bringing drinks to their group meant more chances to be near Elodie. “Happy to.”

Elodie shot me an apologetic look as Rick dragged her off to a group of three men who stood drinking bourbon at the front of the room. I poured their drinks slowly before putting them on a tray. I wiped my hands on a cloth, then rounded the end of the bar and made my way over to their small group. I cleared my throat as I arrived. “Sir?” I said to Rick with a smile that I was sure gave away every ounce of distaste I had for the man. He took his bourbon without so much as looking at me, let alone saying thank you, and I turned my attention to Elodie. I handed her a glass of red wine and said quietly, “I hope you don’t mind. I know you don’t like champagne.”

I hadn’t meant for Rick to hear, but his head snapped around. “Of course she does.”

She took a tiny step back from him. “No actually, Rick, I don’t. I never have.”

I wondered if I looked as smug as Rick had earlier. Rick huffed and went back to the conversation. Elodie took a sip of her drink and shot me a tiny smile. I winked at her and turned to walk away but an older woman came barrelling up, almost running straight into me. I stepped to the side, trying to navigate around the crowd of people, but brushed Elodie’s arm in the process. The older woman was heavyset; a black shawl draped across her arms and a ruby—so big it had to be costume jewellery—sat centre stage at her throat.

“Elodie, love!” she called loudly, pulling Elodie into her arms and kissing the air somewhere to the side of her face. She turned to Rick and did the same thing. “Rick!” She pulled back, holding him at arm’s-length. Her gaze bounced between the two of them, her painted-on eyebrows rising sky high. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes! I heard the two of you broke up and you married someone else!” I slowed my pace, wanting to tell the old gossip to mind her business.

Rick laughed. The fake sound grated through my nerves. “El here couldn’t stay away from me and begged me to come home.”

He and the woman laughed loudly as my blood boiled. Before I could stop myself, I dropped the tray with a clatter and spun back, taking three quick steps to close the gap between Rick and myself. My fists clenched. I was really going to enjoy punching him in the face. He’d had it coming for a long time, and Nathan’s dad or not, he deserved it.

But before I could even lift an arm, a swirl of red stepped in front of me and slapped Rick square across the jaw. The smack of flesh against flesh rang out, causing the people around us to stop and stare, their mouths hanging open. They weren’t the only ones. I stood behind Elodie and gaped at her back. Her body trembled, one hand clenched into a fist, the other shook violently, her palm already pinkening. Holy shit.

“How dare you?” she seethed, seemingly forgetting we were in a room filled with her work colleagues, most of whom were now staring. “You cheat on me, marry someone else, grovel your way back into my life when I was doing just fine without you, and now this? You self-important asshole.”

“Elodie,” Rick whispered, a fake smile forced across his face. “Stop. People are—”

“No, you stop, Rick. I’m done with this. I wanted it to work—for Nathan. Because he loves you. And because I had some stupid idea in my head that I needed to keep up the perfect couple with a perfect family facade. But the truth is, we’ve never been perfect. And I don’t want this anymore. We’re over.”

Rick’s face darkened as he rubbed his jaw. “You’re making a scene!” he hissed.

She glanced around and gritted her teeth. “You’re right. Let’s take this outside.”

Rick gave a forced smile to the CEO and the old gossip before turning and storming away to the doors. Elodie sighed, the fight going out of her, as she turned to follow him. She stopped when she saw me standing behind her, surprise and embarrassment clouding her eyes. I’m pretty sure my mouth was hanging open. But through my surprise, hope rose. Had she really just broken up with him? Did that mean there was a chance for a future between us?

“You heard all that, huh?”

“Most of the room did. Do you need ice for your hand?”

She shook her head. “I need to go sort this out.”

Any hope that had risen in me was put out in an instant. Had I really thought she’d just gasp and fall into my arms? I wasn’t her first priority here. As much as it grated at me, she was still running to him. I swallowed hard before I could speak. “I’ll get out of your way.”

She nodded, giving me one last lingering look, before she sighed and pushed her way through the double doors and out of my sight.

Elodie

“What the fuck was that!” Rick roared when I eventually found him in the parking lot. He paced up and down in the dim light beside his BMW. I folded my arms across my chest and let him say his piece. “You humiliated me in front of everyone! And not just me, you humiliated yourself.”

“Actually, Rick, I humiliated myself when I let you weasel your way back into my life when it wasn’t what I wanted. I let you bully me into it, and that was weak. But you knew Nathan was my weak spot and you manipulated me. And I was stupid enough to let you. But, that?” I pointed back to the function room. “Whatever that was you pulled in there? Acting like you’re the big man in front of Jamison and my boss? That was the last straw. You don’t respect me, and that’s not something I want my son to grow up witnessing. We’re done.”

Rick’s posture softened as he stopped pacing. “Look, I’m sorry. I’ve had too much to drink. We’ll talk about this in the morning. Let’s go.”

“No.”

“No?”

“That’s what I said. Hear the words coming from my mouth, Rick. We’re finished. We’ll co-parent, but anything romantic between us is in the past. You should go back to Bree. Or move on with someone else. I don’t care. But I mean it when I say, we are never getting back together.”

Rick’s face was a mess of bewilderment. He threw his hands up in the air. “For fuck’s sake, Elodie, whatever.” He pulled his keys out of his pocket and I snatched them from his hand quickly.

“What now?!”

“You’re not driving home like this. There’s a cab rank at the end of the parking lot.”

“I’m fine to drive.”

“You’re not. You may have acted like a complete and utter ass tonight, but you’re still Nathan’s father and I’m not letting you drive. Walk, Uber, or taxi. They’re your choices.”

He studied me for a long moment. “You’re a bitch when you’re like this.”

His words stung for a moment. I’d never been called a name like that in my life, but then I remembered who it was coming from and the state he was in.

“Maybe so. Or maybe this is just me standing up and putting myself first. Finally. It’s something I should have done a long time ago. And in the morning, you’ll see this was me looking out for you too, even though you don’t deserve it.”

“Whatever. Go back to your waiter, then.” He skulked across the parking lot to the road, where a line of taxis sat waiting. He opened the door of the nearest one and disappeared inside, the taxi melting out of sight in the darkness.

My shoulders slumped and I walked back toward the function room slowly, finding a park bench a few metres off the path. I sunk onto it and tilted my head back to take in the night sky. My lungs heaved with the effort of sucking in deep gulps of clean, fresh air. My heart pounded in my chest, slowly coming back to a normal pace now that I didn’t have adrenaline coursing through me. I barely recognised my actions in the past hour. Slapping someone in a roomful of people? That was certainly something I’d never had on my bucket list.

Time ticked on as I sat there contemplating the mess that was my life. People started to leave the event, making their way back to their cars and the taxis, but I couldn’t find it in me to move. Exhaustion rolled over me, and I gave into it for a moment, closing my eyes. I’d have to talk to Rick in the morning and organise removalists to move him out of the house. We’d need to work out a permanent custody arrangement for Nathan too. None of this half-hearted stuff and just playing it by ear like we had in the past. I was done. We were done.

At least we didn’t have to get divorced again. I let out a little laugh of irony, and a smile crept across my face.

The music from inside the function room stopped, the lights coming on, and the rest of the room emptied out. Maybe people didn’t see me, sitting over in the darkness, or maybe they did and just didn’t want to talk to the woman who had slapped and dumped her ex-husband in the middle of a work function. But either way, nobody spoke to me. I wasn’t looking forward to the questions I’d face at work on Monday. That would no doubt be embarrassing. But the relief of not being shackled to Rick for another night made those thoughts a little easier to bear.

I waited until the crowd trickled down to the last few people before I pushed to my feet and made my way back to the function room, in search of my bag. The room was quieter when I pushed through the doors. The fairy lights had been turned off and the wait staff and the DJ were all sitting around a table with beers. They all looked over when I entered, but Jamison’s eyes were the ones I sought out. He stood and put down his beer bottle. He took a few steps toward me and held up my clutch bag. “Looking for this?” he asked gently.

I took it from him. My fingers trembled as I tilted my head back to look up. Even though I was in heels, he towered over me.

“Thanks for having my back.”

“Anytime.”

I dropped my gaze to my fingers and wove them between the strap of the bag. It would be easier to get this out if I didn’t have to look him in the eye. “Can we talk?”

His hand dropped to the small of my back and he steered me away from the others who were talking and laughing quietly. He pulled a chair out for me, but I shook my head, preferring to stand, so he perched on the edge of the table instead, which evened out our heights a little. He watched me pace back and forth for a moment before he spoke.

“Elodie, I—”

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “No, please. Let me speak first.”

“Okay.”

“I’m not perfect.”

Jamison reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “No one is, El.”

“Yeah, but it’s come to my realisation that I try too hard. And in the process of trying too hard, I managed to lose myself.”

“What do you mean?”

I sighed. “I don’t know. My mother pointed out that I always put Nathan and Rick before myself. I’m not sure that’s entirely true, but trying to fix things just to keep the two of them happy wasn’t making me happy.” I flexed and unflexed my fingers before I whispered. “That feels incredibly selfish, though.”

His fingers trailed up my arm and over my shoulder until his palm cupped my cheek. “It’s not.”

“I just want things to go back to being easy. And the last time things felt easy was when I was with you.” I cleared my throat and straightened my shoulders. I knew he needed to have it laid out, so there was no confusion between us. “I broke up with Rick. We weren’t ever really back together though. Not in my mind, anyway.”

Jamison pushed to his feet, his fingers sliding into my hair as I tilted my head to look up at him. He dipped his mouth down to hover just over mine, and hope made my heart flutter. “Do you still want to be my boyfriend?” I whispered, butterflies swirling in my stomach like I was fifteen again.

He let out a little chuckle. “What do you think?”

His mouth met mine, and sparks exploded as brightly as if fireworks had gone off around us. Our lips moved in unison, as if we hadn’t been apart a minute, let alone a few weeks. Somewhere, part of my brain registered the whistles and catcalls from the other bartenders, and a song filling the air around us, but all I focused on was him. I lost myself in the feel of his lips as his tongue pressed along the seam of my mouth and I opened to him eagerly.

Our tongues moved together, exploring and remembering where we’d last left off. The pressure of his hands—one at the back of my neck, one on my hip, both urging me closer to him. Sparks of hope and happiness rose up in me. He’d seen my imperfections—both the physical and mental ones—and he’d accepted them without hesitation.

I pulled away, breathless, before I jumped him right here in front of everyone. I didn’t need to make another scene in this room tonight. It was only then, with a little space from the heady way he made me feel that I realised the song playing was “Love Shack” by the B-52’s. The same song we’d sung at the wedding when we first hooked up. I raised an eyebrow. “Did you orchestrate this with the DJ?”

He held his hands up in mock surrender and shook his head, but the glint of mischief in his eyes made me doubt his truthfulness.

“Want to dance?”

I shook my head. “Does this mean “Love Shack is our song now?” I screwed up my nose. “It’s not exactly romantic.”

His lips pressed against the sensitive spot beneath my ear, making a shiver run down my spine.

“Nothing’s perfect.”