Chapter 4: Card Trouble

"There's a problem with my card," I said into the phone. "The bank flagged the charges and froze it. It's being fixed."

It was easy to say, which surprised me.

"Frozen?" Derek said. "The resort cancelled our whole reservation because of a freeze?"

"The bank will sort it out by morning."

"Then call them. Right now, Leah."

"The branch closes at five," I said. "I'll handle it."

He breathed out hard through his nose.

I could hear a car door open and shut on his end.

"Fine," he said. "Don't let it ruin tomorrow. I mean it."

He hung up first.

At five, I stood in the lawyer's office while she slid a folder across the desk.

The petition was twelve pages long, and I signed where the little yellow flags told me to.

"He'll be served in person," she said. "Do you want that done before he leaves town?"

"I'll do it myself," I said. "At six tomorrow morning, in front of his friends."

She raised her eyebrows and then wrote something down.

"Bring a witness," she said.

I drove home with the folder on the passenger seat, buckled in.

Derek's car was already in the driveway.

He was in the kitchen when I walked in, standing at the open freezer with the door against his hip.

"Where's the lasagna?" he said.

"Third shelf. Labeled."

He lifted out the foil pan with my handwriting on the lid and set it on the counter.

"Taryn hasn't eaten all day," he said. "I'm taking it over to her."