Divorce Me Today, Beg Me Tomorrow novel · Chapter 3 of 16

Chapter 3: The Shoebox

Rebecca goes to New York, meets cold COO Sebastian Thorpe and her grandmother's last letter, and is handed Trevor's VP promotion to sign.

My mother's nails were still in my arm.

I thought about the phone call.

Tell no one.

"A shoebox," I said.

She blinked.

"What?"

"Her lawyer's sending me a shoebox of her old letters. That's what she left me."

My mother held on for another second.

Then she let go and laughed through her nose.

"Of course she did. That woman never gave anyone anything that mattered."

Kristen rolled her eyes.

"Mom, you scared me. I thought it was something real."

"It's nothing, baby." My mother patted her hair back into place. "It's always been nothing with her."

She turned the white binder over in her hands and looked at me again.

"Kristen wants you at the wedding," she said. "So be there. And wear something that isn't scrubs."

They walked out of the lobby together, arm in arm.

Neither of them looked back.

On Friday I flew to New York.

It was the first time I'd been on a plane since my honeymoon.

Mr. Pruitt met me at the gate himself.

He was thin and bald with a white beard, in a gray three-piece suit, and he shook my hand.

"You look like her," he said. "Around the eyes."

A black car took us into Manhattan.

It stopped in front of a tower of dark glass with HALE over the doors in steel letters.

People in the lobby turned to look at me.

At my Target jeans. My hospital lanyard I'd forgotten to take off.

The boardroom was on the fifty-first floor.

A man was standing at the window with his back to us.

He turned around when we came in.

He was tall and broad through the shoulders, in a charcoal suit with no tie.

He had a scar on his right wrist, shiny and pale.

"Sebastian Thorpe," Mr. Pruitt said. "Chief operating officer."

Sebastian didn't offer his hand.

He looked at my lanyard.

"Riverside Methodist. Emergency department." His voice was flat. "Evelyn left forty thousand employees to an ER nurse from Ohio."

"She did," I said.

"Do you know what Hale International does, Mrs. Langley?"

"Hotels. Shipping."

"And Sterling Group." He almost smiled. "Where your husband works."

"Ex-husband. Since Wednesday."

That stopped him for a second.

Mr. Pruitt set an envelope on the table.

Cream paper. My name on the front in shaky blue ink.

The same handwriting as thirty-two birthday cards in a shoebox under my old bed.

"She wrote it in June," Mr. Pruitt said. "After the second stroke."

I opened it.

My dear Rebecca.

I wrote to you every month for twenty years. Your mother sent every letter back. So I wrote the cards to your school instead, and I hoped.

I have watched you from a distance. I know you gave that man everything. I know your sister. I know my daughter.

Don't tell them. Not yet.

Let them show you who they are while they think you have nothing. People are most honest with someone they believe can't hurt them.

The transfer closes on October 14th. After that, do whatever you like.

I'm sorry I was a coward for so long. I love you. I always did.

Grandma

I read it twice.

Then I put it face down on the table because I couldn't read it a third time.

Sebastian was watching me.

His expression had softened.

He slid a box of tissues an inch toward me without saying anything.

"October 14th," I said.

"Thirty-three days," Mr. Pruitt said.

My phone buzzed.

Kristen had posted.

A photo of her hand on Trevor's chest, the square diamond front and center.

Save the date! October 14th! We couldn't wait one more day for forever.

I turned the phone around and set it on the table.

Mr. Pruitt read it and took his glasses off.

"Well," he said. "Evelyn would have enjoyed that."

Sebastian looked at the screen for a long moment.

Then he walked to a cabinet and took out a thin blue folder.

"I was going to bring this up later," he said. "But I think you should see it now."

He set it in front of me.

STERLING GROUP. EXECUTIVE PROMOTIONS. PENDING PARENT APPROVAL.

There were three names inside.

The first one was Trevor Langley.

There was a photo clipped to the page.

Trevor in his navy suit, smiling his client-dinner smile.

Recommended for Vice President of Operations. Salary four hundred and ten thousand. Strong family values. Recently engaged.

At the bottom was a signature line.

The name under it had been typed in last night.

Rebecca Langley, for the Hale estate.

Sebastian held out a pen.

"The CEO is announcing Monday," he said. "He can't do it without you."

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