bag down on the countertop. Walking over to them, I stand at the side of the table, looking down at Tennessee because it’s her that I’m the most worried about.
“Landry,” she rasps.
I shake my head once, crouching down in front of her. Placing my hands on her thighs, I squeeze them as I look into her green eyes. These eyes of hers, they own me, just like every other part of her body does.
“Susan is doing this out of spite. She thinks that I’ll back down, that I’ll go back to her because it’s easier than divorcing her. I guarantee, if I called her right now and said we could just go back to the way we were, that she would drop this.”
My hands slowly slide up her thighs, wrapping around her waist. “Even if you weren’t sitting right here in front of me, the perfect woman for the moment of time I’m living in, I still wouldn’t take her back. I would rather live alone than to live like that, because that wasn’t living, honey.”
“This is all too much,” she whispers.
I snort. “Fuck that. Nothing is too much for you. Nothing is too much for my happiness either. Absolutely nothing on this earth is too much for Holden.”
“That’s the truth of it, too,” Bethie chimes in. “That boy is innocent and perfect, all rolled into one little sweet blond toddler.”
Flicking my gaze back to meet Tennessee’s, I grin at her, because Bethie is right. Holden is perfect and he’s innocent.
“Susan is a cunt,” she whispers. I choke back a laugh, but Tennessee shakes her head a couple of times, her eyes narrowing as she stares just past me. “She’s willing to force me to hand my baby to my rapist for visitation. A man whose name I don’t even know? What is wrong with her?”
“She’s a narcissist,” I say, shrugging my shoulder.
It’s the truth. One of her many therapists over the years told me that in a family meeting. I didn’t know they were fucking at the time, but he still wasn’t wrong. Susan is a classic narcissist.
It’s why I didn’t want to bother actually divorcing her, I knew that she would do what she’s doing now, to our own children. That she would make their lives hell and it was just easier to move out and pretend that all was fine and that I just had to sleep at the office because I was a workaholic.
“What happens now?” Tennessee asks, her gaze shifting back over to meet my own.
Leaning forward, I touch my lips to hers before I rise to my feet. “Now we’re going to eat some lunch. You and Bethie are going to go shopping for whatever the fuck you want to shop for. Then, you’re going to come home and we’re going to enjoy our evening.”
“How about I buy a couple pairs of shoes?” she asks.
My cock twitches beneath my slacks at the thought of her in more high heels, of her naked, bent over the bed in those high heels.
“Gross. I know what this means and ew,” Bethie announces.
My head turns to the side, and I smirk over at her. Giving her a shrug, I wink at Bethie before I shift my gaze over to Tennessee.
“I’ll buy a pair of shoes and maybe something to wear to court?”
“Fuck, I hope it doesn’t get that far,” I admit as I begin to take the lunch containers out of the bag.
I don’t want it to go to court. I’m hoping that Hansen can dig up enough to get this guy to crawl back in the hole that he came out of. Taking the food over to them, I think about leaving and going back to the office, but I decide to stay. I need to know that she’s okay.
“Bethie, would you come to the family meeting on Wednesday? I think it would be nice to have someone there for support.”
Bethie looks from Tennessee to me for permission. Dipping my chin, I look over to Bethie, nodding my head once in approval.
“It’s really okay?” Bethie asks, looking at me.
Smiling, I shake my head once. “You’re dating Laurent? You’re best friends with Tennessee, you’re family, Bethie. Come to the meeting.”
Bethie’s face flushes, she looks down to her plate then lifts her eyes to meet mine. “You know about me and Laurent?” she rasps.
I laugh and at the same time, Tennessee joins in. “Bethie, I think everyone knows about you and Laurent,” Tennessee giggles.