“Hey, Thomas!”
I looked up and frowned. Marlene was in the backseat of the car, waving to me.
“What are you doing here?” I stepped closer to the car and crossed my arms over my chest. The early November night was a chill one, and I was only wearing a light jacket.
“I had a meeting in Brooklyn,” Marlene explained. “I was just driving by and I thought I saw your Porsche.” She wrinkled her nose. “God, what happened? It looks awful.”
I shrugged. “Vandalism,” I said. “I was just about to call for a car.”
Marlene jerked her head towards the interior of the back seat. “Get in,” she said. “We were supposed to talk anyway.”
I glanced back at my wrecked Porsche, feeling helpless and somehow tricked. Still, I knew that I didn’t have a better option. It would take forever for a good car to make it into this part of Brooklyn, and I sure as fuck wasn’t going to hang out on these thug-filled streets.
“Fine,” I snapped. Marlene grinned.
I walked around to the other side of the car and slid in, relaxing against the plush leather. Marlene smiled at me.
“So, what did you want to talk about?”
Marlene tossed her red hair and the spicy scent of vanilla filled my nose. I shivered – when we’d been married, I’d like the smell of my wife’s perfume. But now I loved June’s all natural musk. I loved that she only wore deodorant, and not perfume. She always smelled so young and clean.
And the scent of her pussy was as juicy as a fresh peach.
“How have you been?” Marlene asked. She pulled out a compact and dabbed powder on her already-perfect makeup.
“Eh.” I shrugged. “Good and bad.” I narrowed my eyes. “Remember Keith Carner?”
Marlene narrowed her eyes. “Yeah. He was a dog,” she said. “He tried coming onto me once at a bar.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed dryly. “Well, maybe it’s good he’s blowing me off, then. Maybe he just learned about the divorce.”
Marlene looked wounded. “Why would you say that?” She scooted closer. “Thomas, just because we’re not together doesn’t mean that we aren’t in each other’s lives.”
“That’s right,” I countered. The car slipped through the dark Brooklyn streets and suddenly I regretted leaving my very expensive car behind. “Because we have Brett,” I said firmly. “And if you’re trying to win him over by sending that PlayStation Five, it didn’t work. The thing is boxed up in my office.”
Marlene narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
My heart sank. Even though I still wasn’t sure who had sent my son that expensive toy, it didn’t help to discover that it hadn’t been my ex-wife, after all.
“I was hoping you’d sent it,” I said morosely. “Brett got a box in the mail the other day, with some new video game system that’s only been released in Japan. There was no return address, and when I told him that he couldn’t have it, he got pretty mad.”
“I was wondering why he was in such a shitty mood last weekend,” Marlene said. She rolled her eyes. “I chalked it up to normal ten-year-old boy drama, but holy shit.”
I sighed. “No, definitely not normal ten-year-old boy drama,” I said. “I couldn’t find a return address so I’m keeping it until I can have it checked out.”
Marlene narrowed her eyes. “What, you think someone is trying to hurt Brett to get to you?”
I shrugged. After a moment’s debate, I told her about Hannah, leaving out the grittier details. By the time I was finished recanting the whole sordid saga, Marlene looked shocked and pissed.
“That little bitch,” she said. “I can’t believe I trusted her around my son!”
“I know.” I shook my head. “So, I’m not ruling out the possibility that she’s somehow trying to get revenge. She did come from money, it’s possible she could’ve bought that stupid PlayStation on her own.”
Marlene shrugged. She gave me a devious look. “I bet you’re not doing so well without an assistant,” she said smugly.
“Hey,” I said, pretending to be offended. Marlene burst out laughing and after a second, I joined in. It was odd – I wasn’t having a bad time with her. Now that the poison and vitriol of the divorce had passed, it felt strange to be having an okay time with the woman who had ripped my heart out.
I just hoped we could keep it up, for the sake of parenting Brett.