To say Jack was furious would have been an understatement. He seemed to grow twice his size while he yelled at his father. And yell he did. My eardrums rang as Jack barked accusations and swore a blue streak.

The entire time John just stood there and took it, almost like he knew Jack had to do it and he deserved it. A few times, John tried to explain, but there really was no explanation for what he walked into. And besides, Jack was not in the mood for listening.

After a few minutes of getting raged on, John left with a sad look and a mouthed, “Sorry,” to me.

I knew I was next on the chopping block and let me tell you, I’d rather be anywhere than here. Jack didn’t come any closer. He stayed standing with his hands on his hips, looking ready to murder someone.

“You’re sitting here, having a nice, cozy lunch with the man who destroyed my life?” he spat out with as much venom as he possibly could. It hurt, how he threw insults like I was some petulant child. “What kind of idiot would do that? You know what he did to me, and there you are, in his arms?”

“If you’d shut up for a minute, I could explain,” I screamed back. He laughed. He fucking laughed.

“There’s an explanation for you having lunch with the evil incarnate behind my back?” he shouted, demeaning me every chance he got. “You know,” he said, pointing violently at me, “of all people, you know what he did to me.”

I butted in, “He’s changed. We’ve been talking and—”

That was all I could get out. “He’s changed?” he said, and his body practically shook. “He’s a leopard, Harper. Those spots run deep. The man is manipulating you to get to my mom.” Jack took a deep breath, and his nostrils flared. “Don’t you see what he’s doing? Nobody else will speak to him, so he chose the weakest link. And the real kicker is, you let him. Is there a reason you decided to collude with him? I mean, really, how could you be so stupid?”

Yeah. He said it. There was no taking it back. “Stupid?” I stepped back, and my chair rolled until it hit the photocopier. “You know who’s being stupid right now? You are, like a big bully,” I said and snapped my hands to my hips. “I’m standing here, trying to discuss this with you like a rational person, but instead, you’re resorting to name-calling. Forget it.” I threw my hands up in resignation. “I’m done,” I told him and grabbed my purse. I left everything on—computer, fax, and photocopier—and walked out the side door. No way was I passing by him.

Deep breathing helped get me to my car, but once inside, the dam burst. The rush of adrenaline tingled through my body, and I felt lightheaded. Part of me thought—hoped—Jack would be there in the parking lot, waiting to apologize. He wasn’t. A bigger part of me agreed with him, that I was, in fact, an idiot for talking to the enemy.

How I managed to drive home was a mystery. The roads were difficult to navigate with blurry eyes and a broken heart, but I did what was necessary.

My life in shambles, I stumbled with heavy legs up the stairs and into my apartment. My body crumpled in on itself at the realization of what just occurred. Seconds later, there was a gentle tap on my door. Are you kidding me? I groaned and stomped to the door with no intention of opening it. “It’s a bad time, you guys. I’ll talk to you later. Right now, I need some alone time,” I said to the rectangle, knowing one or both of my neighbors were behind it.

I grabbed the box of tissues from the counter and lay down on the couch, chin quivering and more than ready for a sob-fest. Barely getting comfortable, my door swung open. What the hell? I sat up and saw Riley on her knees with some kind of tool in her hands.

“How the hell do you do that?” I yelped, my eyes bulging out at the scene before me.

“Uh, just a little something I picked up,” she said and stood. The door slammed behind her. “What happened? I heard you come in.” Wasn’t she supposed to be at work?

“Did you come home for lunch? Why are you home in the middle of the day?” I asked, avoiding her question.

“Flex hours,” she said without a beat. “Now, what happened? You’re a mess.” She sat down beside me, and I ended up sobbing all over again. Somehow, I told her the gist of what happened, using only a dozen tissues or so.

“Clever bastard,” Riley said, shaking her head. “Jack’s right. John targeted you as a way to infiltrate. Smart plan on his end, but a shitty thing to put you in the middle of family fighting.” I knew she didn’t mean it, but what she said stung. Like I was just some moron. Of course, I knew John was using me, but his intentions were admirable. Weren’t they?

“He knows he made mistakes in the past, and all he wants to do is make up for them.” I sniffed, but it didn’t help. Riley wasn’t buying it.

“Your problem is that you have too soft of a heart. You believe everything people say, even the jerks. It makes you a nice person, but it leaves you open for shit like this to happen. You’re an easy target.” Her arm went around me, and I cried even harder. If I couldn’t get Riley to understand, how was I going to convince Jack?

A minute later, there was banging on the door. “I’m coming in. Hope everyone is decent,” Roza said before barging through the door. “So much noise during my stories. What’s going on, huh? Middle of day, you two should be at work.”

Luckily, Riley was there to give Roza the lowdown on what happened. Big baby that I was, I blubbered and cried the entire time.

Roza clapped her hands together loudly. “Okay, you two, my place in ten minutes,” she announced and shuffled out.

“Good Lord, what do you suppose she wants with us now?” Riley asked, giving me a scared look.

“Who knows. But I hope it doesn’t involve another cooking lesson. My arms were sore for a week after the last time,” I said and shook out my arms while Riley nodded.

While we waited, I got several calls. All from Jack. Each one of them I sent to voice mail. When calling didn’t work, he texted.

Jack: Would you answer my calls? I need to talk to you.

I kept ignoring his persistent messages until his last one came through.

Jack: I’m sorry. So fucking sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I said. If you won’t

pick up the phone, at least send me a message so I know you’re okay. Please? You’ve

got me worried out of my mind.

Either I kept him waiting or I sucked it up and started acting like an adult.

Me: I’m at my place. Not in the mood to chat.

He responded back instantly.

Jack: I’ll give you some time. Thanks for replying.

The formality of his statement hurt, and a cold chill went through my body.

“Let’s go before Roza hunts our asses down,” Riley suggested as she got up to open the door.

“Are you sure this is safe?” I questioned Roza, who was currently spraying some kind of hair product—circa 1977—into my hair. Riley waved her hand in front of her face in an attempt to avoid maximum inhalation.

“Safe? You don’t know what safe means. Young people today, so worried about due dates. Oh no, my eggs a day over the date. What will happen? Maybe I die from rotten eggs?” Roza said in a mocking tone while waving her arms and the spray around. “Ha, die from old food. You know what you die from? War. Starvation. Communists barging into your house in middle of night. Not sour cream with a little bit of fuzz on it.” She wiggled her fingers. I gave Riley a fake gag face, and she giggled. “So scared of old salad dressing, but staring at your phone and driving is great idea,” she said, her hands pretending to steer while still spraying toxic fumes everywhere. Hmm, the woman had a valid point. But I still made a mental note to never eat salad, sour cream, or eggs at Roza’s ever again.

“Now you let hair set,” Roza said to me, then shuffled over to Riley. “Your turn. These curlers are good.” I presumed they were “good” by her standards, but by mine they looked more like torture devices. Made of metal with awful looking pokey spikes inside, I had not one clue how to use them. The only thing scarier than those curlers was Roza after you told her not to put them in your hair.

“Ah, perfect, see?” I had to admit, I was surprised that half of Riley’s shining locks didn’t come out with the metal tubes. But her hair was in such a tight curl, it looked half as long as before and not quite as stylish. For this century, anyway.

Roza had already done our makeup, unfortunately. The word that would best describe it was severe. Dark blue mascara, dark blue eye shadow, and the reddest of red lipstick. I’m not going to discuss the blush.

Riley and I had giggled ourselves silly while Roza applied it to our faces like some kind of Halloween disguise. We took pictures, and that set us off again. Only with these women would one of the worst days I’d ever had turn into one of the funniest.

“Sometimes when you having sad day, it helps to get gussied up. Changes not only how you look on outside, but how you feel on inside, too,” Roza said, staring directly at me. “Now tell me why on God’s green Earth you having secret lunch dates with your boyfriend’s dad?”

“It didn’t exactly start out like that,” I told both of them. “At first, I told him it wasn’t a good idea, but the more I talked to him—”

“The more human he seemed?” Roza asked. I nodded. “Mmmhmm. Two sides to every story, my dear. Things happen we have no control over. Sometimes makes us stronger and sometimes weaker. Depends how you react.”

“John told me that he had a rough upbringing, and someone helped him along the way. He and Elaine actually had an office with another lawyer. They were child advocates,” I said and reached up to touch a curler. Still wet.

“You’re kidding. What’s the other guy’s name?” Riley perked up and turned her head toward me. Rosa huffed and moved her head back.

“Not sure. Bill somebody,” I told her, not remembering if I’d heard his last name.

“Old Bill Ross?” she asked, but I just shrugged. “Bill’s one of the great ones out there. You can’t say that about all lawyers, that’s a given. I never knew he started out with anyone. Our office occasionally has to defer a client or two to him. Why’d John leave?” She squinted her eyes.

“Money,” I stated quickly and evenly.

“That’s not surprising,” she said and wiggled in her seat. “Nobody in advocacy makes any real coin. And if he had a young family, I can only imagine he felt the pinch.” She nodded, but Roza clutched her head and made her stop.

“Elaine didn’t mind, though. Sounds like she was in favor of him working there,” I said and fiddled with my bracelet.

“The road to respect is long. But road to contempt? Short. For years you can build up all the admiration in your spouse’s eyes you want. But easy to knock it down,” Roza said and poked a long, painted fingernail at me. “His wife lost regard for him. That’s death to any relationship.”

“He was worried about money,” I attempted to stick up for my lunch buddy.

Roza laughed. “I bet Elaine wasn’t. Money can’t buy affection or esteem from your mate. Trust me,” she said and pointed at me again. “That is most important thing in marriage and worth more than any treasure.” She removed the final curler from Riley’s hair and stood back to observe her handiwork.

Shit. She was right. Jack’s mom probably didn’t give a rip that they struggled. And when John quit their dream without consulting her first, that was likely the beginning of the end.

A knock on the door interrupted my daydreaming.

“I’m busy. Go get it,” Roza ordered, shooting a glance at me while she continued fluffing and spraying Riley.

Why I bothered to look through the peephole, I didn’t know. “I said I needed space,” I told Jack as soon as I opened the door.

“No, I said I would give you some space. I’m done giving you that space now. Come home,” he said, smirking for some reason. He leaned his body against the doorjamb, looking hot as hell in his suit pants that hugged all the right places. His shirtsleeves rolled up a few times told the world yeah, I’m sexy, but I don’t give a fuck.

“I am home. You have your home. I’m sure your mom would love the company,” I said, glaring at him.

That sure got his attention, because he pushed off the door and said, “You don’t get to decide that. We had a fight. You don’t break up after every fight. You cool off and talk it through.”

“Oh, well, I’m glad you’re cooled off now. That’s great news.” I raised my voice at him, still pissed off from his harsh words earlier.

“Go,” Riley said as she shoved my purse at me, then physically pushed me out the door. What the hell? “Save yourself,” she whispered. “Roza’s bringing out something that looks like a crimper, but for sheep.” The door shut in my face. Shit. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a medieval crimping iron.

“I’m going out,” I snarked at Jack, and he actually chuckled. The asshat laughed at me? “What’s so funny?” I glared at his brashness.

“I can guarantee you that you’re not going out anywhere.” He smiled. What a jerk.

“So, now you’re in charge of where I go?” I ground out, mad as hell that he’d even think to boss me around.

He didn’t say anything before he pulled his phone out and passed it to me. It was on camera mode. I stared into it and saw the reflection of a poorly paid, small-town pole dancer. Jack got me so angry and flustered that I forgot all about my heinous pancake makeup job and the curlers in my hair. Dammit.

After chucking his phone back at him, I scampered across the hall to my apartment.