Jeopardy in High Heels (High Heels #12) - Gemma Halliday Page 0,30

the exchange, her eyes filled with a faraway look like she was detached from the whole thing.

"Had you seen your ex-husband recently?" I asked her softly.

She focused on me with difficulty. "Yes. We were very close." She must have seen my surprise, as she continued. "We were married for almost twenty years."

"And you share a child," Dana added.

"We shared much more than that," Laura said. "A history, first love. We made each other who we are today. He was my best friend."

"I hope you don't mind me saying, you seem a lot more friendly than most divorced couples," I told her.

She shrugged. "We enjoyed each other's company. He was a good man."

John scoffed, quickly turning it into a cough.

"You disagree?" Dana asked him.

"Let's just say I don't share my mother's romanticized view of the man," he answered.

Laura turned a sharp eye on her son but said nothing.

"What was your view of Dog, then?" I asked John.

The frown returned to his features. "Well, for starters, have you seen where he lives?" He glanced around the room we were currently in, as if to illustrate the differences I'd noticed when we'd walked up.

"John," Laura chided softly.

"What? He gets to live like a king while he can't even spare a dime for his best friend?" John sneered.

Chloe looked distinctly uncomfortable, and I had a feeling this was not a new argument we were witnessing.

Laura picked up a coffee cup from the table. "It was never about the money between us, John, and you know that." She turned to us. "I never asked Dog for a penny when we split. I know he would have given it to me if I had. But by the time we split, his career wasn't as hot as it once had been. He was struggling a bit, and I didn't want to be a burden. I've done just fine on my own."

"Your home is lovely," Dana said, giving her a smile.

John crossed his arms over his chest, sulking. Then again, if my father had been going through a string of new wives while my mother was in NoHo smelling eleven herbs and spices all day, I might have a little resentment too.

I glanced at Laura, who was sipping silently from her coffee mug. While Dog's career might have been fizzling when he and Laura split, thanks to the cooking show, it was as hot as ever again now. I wondered if Laura might have been rethinking her decision to forgo alimony in light of how much Dog's subsequent wives were raking in with their real nice settlements.

"You recently graduated?" I asked John, pointing to the photo on the wall.

"Yes. UCLA business school."

Which I already knew from googling him, but that just seemed creepy and stalkerish, so I nodded like it was news to me.

"Thanks to Dog," Laura added. "He paid for John's entire education."

"Under duress," John added.

The bitterness in his tone was apparent. Laura returned his stare with the same look that I gave my children whenever Max had hidden my phone or Livvie got into my makeup. It was the "behave yourself" look that knew no age limit.

"It was the only term of our divorce," Laura said, "that Dog pay for John's education. Which he did, in full and on time."

"Despite the fact that I wasn't following in Daddy's footsteps," John mumbled under his breath.

"Were you studying to be in the music business too?" Dana asked.

"No," he said emphatically. "Dog wanted me to. I was supposed to be some sort of ego-driven extension of him."

"John," Laura admonished again, "he was your father."

"When it was convenient."

I shifted in my seat, feeling about as uncomfortable as Chloe looked. "It's always hard growing up with celebrity parents," I said, trying to diffuse the tension.

Laura turned a tight smile my way. "Yes. Well, Dog did the best he could. But his art was very demanding."

"Art?" John stood. "You've got to be kidding me. His music was degrading to women and insulting to the entire Scottish culture."

"Sweetheart," Chloe said with a sniff, "you're just upset. You know his music was pioneering."

John's mouth formed a thin, hard line. But clearly outnumbered, he sat back down on the sofa beside her and said nothing.

"You were a fan?" Dana asked Chloe.

She nodded, her pink lips parted into a wide smile. "Doggy Z was a music icon. And I'm not just saying that because he's John's father," she added quickly. "I've been a fan of his bagpipe rap since I was a teenager, way before the