Chama 264
Chapter 264
It was eight thirty at night when the first autumn rain started falling, cont and gentle against the city. Patricia sat in her car, watching the raindrops race each other down the window She picked up her phone for what felt like the hundredth time, checking her messages Her fast text to Oliver was so!! sitting there, unread and unanswered.
Even after she got home and took a shower, the house was quiet. No sign of Oliver
Downstairs, Sara finished her game and realized Oliver still hadn’t come back. She tiptoed up the stairs and poked her head in. “Aunt Patricia, do you think Uncle Oliver’s mad at you?”
Patricia looked up, her face impossible to read. “And if he is?”
Sara grinned. “Then you have to make it up to him, duh.”
Patricia raised an eyebrow. “How am I supposed to do that?”
Sara stared at her like she’d grown two heads. “You’ve never tried cheering up a guy before?”
Patricia shrugged. “If I had, would he be my ex–husband now?”
Sara was silent for a second, then groaned. Seriously? One of them was all nerves, the other one was made of pure jealousy.
She tapped her forehead against the doorframe, half–joking, half–exasperated. “Okay, so your husband disappears late at night and doesn’t come home. What are you supposed to do?”
“Call him,” Patricia replied, at least confident about that.
“Exactly. So do it already! There’s hope for you yet.”
Patricia grabbed her phone from the nightstand and dialed Oliver’s number. The phone rang four or five times, the numbers on the screen blinking in the dim light. Across town, Hector was watching the screen, glancing from the phone to Oliver’s unreadable face.
He couldn’t help but wonder what Patricia had done this time to get under Oliver’s skin. Whatever it was, Oliver was ignoring her call.
“Dude, pick up the phone. What are you doing?” Hector tried to nudge him.
“Patricia’s a few years younger than you. She’s basically a kid. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?”
“Keep playing hard to get, but I’m telling you, I’ve watched enough dramas to know it always backfires. Your wife? She’s practically an expert at divorce.”
“You’re here looking for a lawyer, and she’s probably already at the courthouse filling out the forms.”
“If she walks out, then what are you going to say?”
“Shut up,” Oliver cut him off, his voice cold as ice.
Hector shrank back a little, feeling the chill in Oliver’s glare. He hated hearing the word divorce. “I’m being real with you,” Hector tried, softer now. “Most people can’t even tell how you really feel
19:25
Chapter 64
about Patricia‘
How did he feel? The question lingered, heavy
Oliver’s thoughts drifted back to the first time he’d met hver it was at a party at the Parsons‘ house Atticus had worked his way up out west for years and finally thrown a celebration. The place was buzzing not too crowded, not too empty, and right there in the middle of it all was Patricia.
Chapter 265
