Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Which she might do just to spite me.
“Then we need to do something fast.”
“I can apply for an emergency child arrangements order if you believe Kelly is at immediate risk of harm, but we’ll need proof. Will Kelly testify?”
“I don’t want her to,” I hedged. “Can you put in the order, and we’ll find proof?”
“Bear in mind if you don’t find proof, Jill could become more vindictive.”
My solicitor knew my ex-wife well. “I know, but I don’t know what else to do. I’ll hire a private investigator to look into what’s happening in that house.”
“I would do that immediately. Also … you do know a judge would look more favorably on you for sole custody if you had a two-parent household. And marrying someone would have the added benefit of cutting Jill off instantly.”
I let out a huff. Oh aye, like I’d be able to find a wife in the next two weeks. “Apply for the order. I’ll work on getting that evidence.”
4. London
Ramsay and Tierney were an unexpected couple in some ways. On the outside they appeared as opposites. My best friend was warm and outgoing and genuinely liked people, even though she’d seen the worst in them. Ramsay was a bit of a misanthrope, to the point of having bought an entire island to escape from other people. He was gruff and intimidating and was as warm and fuzzy as a porcupine. He was also thirteen years older than Tierney.
No, they didn’t seem like they should match. But they did. Because behind Nee’s warmth was a spine of steel, courage for days, and she and Ramsay shared a passionate sense of justice. Moreover, Nee was incredibly pragmatic, forthright, and wise beyond her years. I’d seen the way Ramsay looked at her when she spoke, and I knew he thought the sun rose and set with her. Nee and Akiva, their Alaskan malamute, were who Ramsay cared about.
But also me, I realized. I was in the small group of people Ramsay McRae would throw down for. There weren’t very many. In fact, every single one of them had been at their small, private wedding. Their wedding guests included me, Ramsay’s business partner and friend Quinn McQuarrie, Taran, Quinn’s sister Cammie, Taran’s brother Laird and his wife, and their friends Forde Dallas and Murray Shaw. There were some villagers a little put out by the lack of an invite but not entirely surprised.
I’d been pulled into this little makeshift family, and I was beyond grateful for it. To Nee and her husband. They were my safe place. In truth, Nee had always been that for me, considering my parents had never been that. Ever.
Therefore, I’d confided in Nee the day after Nick called. Not really thinking it through, I relayed everything as we stood in the B and B’s kitchen. Ramsay had joined us, which he sometimes did before he headed out to work on a small development of homes he and Quinn were building on the other side of Glenvulin.
Because I’d spent the rest of yesterday hidden in my bungalow like a trapped rabbit, it all just spilled out.
That cold, controlled wrath I’d seen in Ramsay’s eyes eighteen months ago in New York returned as Nee flushed with outrage.
“There’s no way we’ll let Nick interfere with your visa. Right?” My best friend turned to her husband.
“Let me talk to some people so we can verify whether he really does have connections to the Secretary of State.” Ramsay gave me a reassuring nod. “Even if he does, I have connections who would be more than happy to convince a member of the British Cabinet to reconsider interfering with your visa to satisfy independent foreign interests.”
“How? It would be hard to prove. There wouldn’t be anything unusual about denying someone an extension on their skilled worker’s visa, considering you got me that on a very loose definition of skilled.”
“You’re a trained chef. That’s a skilled profession,” Tierney argued.
“You know what I mean.”
“Don’t panic,” Ramsay insisted. “There’s fuck all Nick can do. And he can’t go anywhere. Did you block his number?”
I nodded.
“If he calls again using another number, I want to know. In the meantime, I’ll start digging into the Hustons, see if we can’t find more incriminating information that might finally convince Nick it would be in his family’s best interests for him to forget you exist.”
Nee hugged me tight and Ramsay gave my shoulder a comforting pat, his brow furrowed, already in problem-solving mode.
As soon as they left me in the kitchen, I was swamped with guilt.
What was I doing?
I knew in telling them that they’d take it on themselves. That they would make it their mission to fix this for me. After everything my friends had been through, they deserved peace, not more problems. And certainly not my problems.