“…so you decided to waltz into my home uninvited?” I heard Jack retort, his face flushed and his hands ready to strangle his father.

“I’m here for my wife. This is no concern of yours.” John snarled back like a rabid dog.

“I’m not going with you. You chased all of my kids and grandkids away, and I won’t stand for it!” Elaine spread her arms wide and took in a ragged breath.

Where exactly did you go from here? They were each convinced they were right, and nobody was willing to listen to what anybody else said. Yeesh.

“I didn’t chase anyone away. It’s not my fault your daughter is so sensitive. I’ll call her up today and everything will be fine,” John said, not about to take the blame for anything.

“She’s not okay. Are you deaf? None of the kids are coming back. First, you treated Jack as though he wasn’t even your child, and now you’ve made the rest of them run as well. I can tell you something, John,” she spat out his name and placed her hands on her hips, “if it’s a choice between them or you, I pick them. No contest.”

John took a few steps back and looked like he’d been shot. His voice quieter now, as he narrowed his eyes and said, “After thirty plus years of marriage, you’re going to throw it all away?”

“Do not blame this on me. You’re the one who threw away this family, and it doesn’t look like you honestly care. All this time, everything always had to be your way. We all had to look the part so we’d impress your clients and partners. Well, a hell of a lot of good it did. It’s nice that everyone thinks you had the perfect family, when all these years your kids hated you.”

“That’s not true. Elaine, we had a good life. Sure, I had to work a lot, but…” he said and massaged the back of his head.

“A lot? You worked day and night. And honestly? Things ran smoother when you weren’t there. Do you hear me? We all liked it better when you were gone. That’s not the way families should be. And don’t look at me as if you’re shocked. You didn’t want to be at home either. You practically ran out of the house every day.”

“I…you can’t be serious?”

“As a heart attack.”

Jack stood there between them, silent. I stayed on the landing, trying my best to stay out of sight. This was between them, and the last thing I wanted to do was interrupt. Elaine was saying things she should have said thirty years ago, and the funny thing was, John looked genuinely surprised.

“You’ve left me and you’re not coming back? I was that shitty of a husband and father?” he asked, his voice cracking at the end.

“You’ve been a shitty parent, but I was worse because I knew better. I should have left years ago, but I kept making excuses for you. And the worst part is, it cost me my kids. The very people I was trying so hard to protect dropped me like a sack of potatoes. I’m going to work hard for them to forgive me, and I pray that some day they will. But I’m not making your amends for you. Not anymore. You helped create this monster. Now you get to fix it.

“And as for being a shitty husband? Are you really asking me that? Because I don’t think you want the answer. Most days I’m invisible to you, other than being your verbal punching bag. And most evenings? I won’t even go there.” Oh boy. Talk about laying it all out there. John looked gobsmacked, like you could have pushed him with one finger and that tall, intimidating man would have toppled like a felled tree.

There was no way to save face at this point, and even he knew it. “We’ll discuss this later,” John said before he turned and walked to the elevator doors, visibly shaken. Once he disappeared behind the silver doors, Elaine began apologizing profusely.

“I can’t believe that man. He has the gall to show up here unannounced? And think that I’m just going to go back home with him?” she said, arms reaching for the sky.

“He shouldn’t have been allowed in, Ma. I need to go speak with the guys downstairs. I’ll be right back,” Jack said, and he left to go kick some ass.

If there was one thing I was used to, it was marital discord. Although I didn’t know the exact circumstances of her situation, women who had been in bad relationships were truly the only ones who were able to commiserate effectively with each other. My feet carried me to her, but my heart bled for her.

“You okay?” I asked and touched her arm lightly. “Can I get you something to eat or drink?”

Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “No, child. I’ll be fine.” Her words didn’t match her body language: shaky hands, shallow breathing, and pale skin tone.

“Let’s go sit down for a bit,” I suggested. The TV was already on some morning news show, spouting off about the latest celebrity couple gone bad.

We sat, and I curled my legs up under my behind so I could face her. “You’re not okay. Do you want to talk about it?”

She looked at me hesitantly, but then said, “You’re divorced?” I shouldn’t have been shocked, but I was. It must have shown on my face because she immediately said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just blurted that out. Blake always tells me to think before I speak.” Her head shook from side to side, and she played with her fingers on her lap.

“It’s fine, really,” I said, attempting to comfort her. My hand gently touched her arm. “Yes, I’m divorced. Almost two years now. I told Jack right away, if that’s what you’re wondering. It’s no secret. Of course, I’m not extremely proud of that time in my life,” I said and sighed while I leaned my head on my hand, elbow resting on the back of the couch. “But it happened, and I take my part of the blame.” I smiled sadly at her.

“How did you know it was time to leave?” she asked innocently enough. Her body jumped when I snorted and laughed loud enough to scare her.

“Uh, when I caught him in bed with my cousin. That was a good indicator it was over.” I continued to chuckle.

“Oh my,” she whispered, eyes round like dinner plates. “Jack didn’t tell me that. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything,” she said remorsefully.

“It’s okay. I’m glad Jack told you. Our marriage wasn’t exactly ideal anyway. Catching him in the act was a blessing in disguise.” And it truly was. I still needed to send my cousin Mary-Jane a gift basket. “It killed, you know, seeing my husband with someone else. But eventually, I realized it was for the best. Until he started stalking me.” Oh crap. That just kind of slipped out.

“What? He was stalking you?” she asked, a look of complete shock overtaking her face.

I gave her the watered-down version of what happened with Gabe, but she was still rightly horrified.

“Oh, you poor thing. I’m so glad Jack was here to help you. He’s smitten, you know. A mother can tell these things,” she said and placed her cool hand on top of my warm one.

The next week went by like this: Jack’s mom stayed at his penthouse, and we stayed at my place—like usual. The doorman apologized profusely for allowing his father upstairs, and he was now on the “watch” list. Everyone in charge of the doors was notified.

Elaine wasn’t handling things especially well, but one thing I could say for her, the woman stood her ground. Part of me wondered if she’d run home after a day or two, but from the look of things that wasn’t going to happen. She was pissed right off and wasn’t going to take it anymore.

Jack’s siblings were zero help. He called and spoke to them about the situation. Iris held firm on her stance of not getting involved unless and until her parents had worked things out with Jack. Blake said it was about time their mom left, but that he’d abide by Iris’ rules.

So, all of this fun landed in Jack’s lap. The stress of not dealing with his parents at all to being the only one now responsible for his mother was getting to him. After the first few days, I saw the toll it was taking on him, and I kicked it into high gear. From then on, I decided to check on his mom every day when I got off work and Jack was at the restaurant during his busiest time of the day. That way, I hoped to alleviate some of the pressure on him.

Sometimes, she’d make supper for us or we’d go out. Once or twice we went in to visit Jack. Elaine was fun to be around, and I enjoyed being needed. She had her own car, so it wasn’t like she was completely dependent on us, but Jack and I felt guilty if we left her alone too long.

Those first days after your marriage blew up were hell. I remembered that well enough. I knew I didn’t have to take Elaine out shopping or to get our nails done, but I did it anyway. Having someone to do things with was important. And while I thought it was a small thing, she appreciated it fully.

The entire arrangement was less than ideal, but we made it work. We’d fallen into a routine fairly quickly, so when my surprise guest showed up at work, it threw a bit of a wrench into the whole arrangement.

It was just over a week since Elaine moved into Jack’s place, and I was at the stupid photocopier from hell, fighting with it again for the zillionth time that month. The door dinged to let me know someone had come in.

“I’ll be right with you,” I called over my shoulder, not looking at who was there.

“That’s not how it’s supposed to go in,” I heard in a deep voice behind me that I recognized. Shit.

“Here, the toner needs a bit of a twist. Not that the instruction manual would tell you that. Trust me, it doesn’t. I spent hours fighting with ours down at the office.”

I stood there in shock with the toner cartridge dangling precariously from my hand.

John took it gently out of my hand and smiled at me. What the fresh hell just happened? My heart was practically pounding out of my chest, and my skin flushed.

“There, it should work now,” he said as he stood and pushed the big green button to copy. And, sure enough, a page came out in perfect order. His arm reached over and handed it to me.

“Uh, thanks?” I said, not knowing what correct protocol was when your boyfriend’s father—whom he hated—showed up at your work.

“No problem, Harper. Glad I could help,” he said politely, and I just stood there with my head cocked, waiting for his head to start spinning around. It surprised me that he remembered my name. “Look, I know this must be a surprise…me showing up like this.”

“You could say that,” I responded, careful of what I said.

He exhaled and raked his hand through his hair, just like Jack did. I may have inadvertently smirked at the resemblance. Both men were roughly the same height, but John was leaner. Jack’s arms and chest were more muscular than his father’s.

John’s hair was half gray, but in that sexy, distinguished businessman way that looked hot even on a man in his sixties. Looking at John, you knew Jack was going to age similarly, and I counted my lucky stars.

“Is there somewhere we can sit and talk?” he asked. Was I on some kind of prank show? I actually looked around for hidden cameras.

“I’ve got work to do, John,” I said with a bit of ice in my tone.

He laughed at me and said, “I’m sure it can’t take you long to do whatever it is you do here.” His hand motioned flippantly.

Was he for freaking real? “You come into my place of work, ask me for help, then insult me? That’s real smooth,” I said and gave him my best screw-right-off face.

“Dammit.” He sighed and shook his head. “Being an asshole comes second nature to me. I’m sorry. Believe me when I tell you that,” he said and stared directly at me.

“You can’t just spurt out something nasty and then think a quick apology is going to help,” I blasted.

“One minute? Please? I’ve lost my entire family,” he sputtered out, and if I wasn’t imagining things, his eyes were glassy. Who was this man? A week and a half ago he was spewing venom on anyone near him, and now he’s practically crying in my office?

What could I say? I motioned to the chair in front of my desk. There was the break room in the back, but I was not going to be somewhere secluded with a crazy man. Hesitantly, I sat down and stared at him. There was no way I was going out of my way to make this comfortable for him.

“I need your help.”