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“I can’t pass up the overtime, Josh, and I know you’ve been
with them all day, but I had to come home for a nap. I was
exhausted, okay, and I know it’s not fair, but life isn’t always fair,
you know—”
“I hope you had the sense to use a condom,” I spit out.
“What are you talking about? I just—”
She shuts up when she realizes I know what she’s been
doing. And whom she’s been doing it with.
“I just . . .” Her words die.
I shake my head in disbelief. “I assume he paid you for ser-
vices rendered.”
She gives me a practiced look. “You don’t talk to me
that way.”
“What the hell was he doing here, Rosie?”
“Call me Mom.”
I chuckle, maybe because I know it’ll piss her off. “I’ll call
you Mom when you start acting like one.”
“You can—”
“Jesus Christ, we have a restraining order against the guy,
and here you are, in a robe, kissing him on our doorstep.”
Her mouth clamps shut.
I sweep a hand toward the two bottles and the fucking uni-
corn on the table. “You’re sharing drinks with him—”
“I have to work, Josh. I wasn’t drinking.”
“Even better. Give the mean and nasty drunk more than
one drink. That makes sense. And lie to me, say you have to
work so I’ll take the girls for the whole fucking day, so you can
spend the afternoon in bed with this guy.”
“He was only here a couple of hours. Not the whole day.”
An uncomfortable silence needles between us.
“I didn’t have a choice, Josh. He said he had a check for me.”

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