quietly as she could, and raced upstairs to surprise him. She could hear him in his office, talking to someone, presumably on the phone. She knocked gently on the door and walked in, and a naked blond woman was sitting on the desk, while Nigel made love to her. She was moaning, and so was he, and saying how much he loved her, which was the conversation she had heard from the stairs. He looked at Coco with horror, withdrew immediately, and held his jeans up in front of him. The girl didn’t know what had happened, and then turned and saw Coco. It wasn’t someone she knew this time, but it didn’t matter.
“I can’t believe this,” Coco said to him, but she did believe it. She had been afraid of exactly this happening again. “I came home to tell you that I’m pregnant, you son of a bitch,” she said, picked up a book and threw it at his head, and narrowly missed him.
“Coco, please!” he said with a tortured look.
“Not this time,” she said in an icy tone. “You can both get the fuck out of my house. Now!” The girl scurried off to the bathroom with her clothes in her arms, and Nigel stood staring at her.
“Are you really pregnant?” He looked shell-shocked. Again.
“It doesn’t matter now. Just go. Both of you. I’ll come back with the police if you don’t.” And he knew she would. Then she turned around and ran down the stairs. She went back to the office and didn’t say anything to Leslie, she was too upset. And when she went home at six o’clock, he was gone. He had taken his computer, and some clothes. He knew she meant business. She didn’t cry this time. It was over. She was dead inside, except for a baby she didn’t want now. And she didn’t want him either. He had killed everything she had ever felt for him, and he had made a fool of her again for loving and trusting him.
She lay awake that night, and called the lawyer in the morning, to file the papers. She didn’t know what she was going to do about the baby, but she could figure that out in a few days.
* * *
—
Two days after Nigel left, she was sitting, staring out the window at first light, when she heard a text come in. She thought it might be from Nigel, but it wasn’t. She hadn’t heard from him this time. He didn’t know what to say, and was smart enough not to try, and make things worse for himself. The text was from Sam.
“I just got engaged” was all it said, and she was almost as sad for him as she was for herself. It was a dark day for both of them. Her mistake had just ended. And his had just begun. She didn’t have the heart to answer and congratulate him. She was always honest with him. She finally texted a single phrase. “Mazel tov.” His parents had won. He was throwing his life away with a girl they both knew he didn’t love.
The man she had loved and done too much for had thrown her away for another blonde.
Chapter 11
Coco had called her attorney before she did anything else the morning after she found Nigel cheating on her. It had been four months since she had spoken to him and she apologized for the time lapse and not following through before.
“We were trying to work things out again. It’s not possible. He cheated on me again. I want to file for divorce.”
“Remind me how long you’ve been married. It wasn’t long, as I recall.”
“It will be a year next week.”
“That’s excellent, and works well for us. You have to be married a year to file for divorce, as I told you before. So we’ll file next week. All the papers are still in order. I’m glad you’ve moved on this quickly. Even a year is considered a short-term marriage, and won’t impress any judge if your ex-husband makes unreasonable financial demands. And no children.” She didn’t tell him she was pregnant, in case she decided not to keep it. She hadn’t made up her mind yet. “Is there anything else that I should know, that you didn’t mention before?” He was matter-of-fact and methodical, which she liked. And she tried to be as well. She had already given him a copy of their marriage contract, and Ed’s office number in