then pointed at her food. “Eat up. I’m buying, so you might as well take advantage of me. Who knows—you might fall and hit your head, then wake up and think you want to come work for me.”
She laughed. “I promise if I don’t do my own thing, I will give your offer very serious consideration.”
“You do that.”
* * *
Mackenzie spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the area. She stopped in at a couple of small wineries and tasted their wines, walked through an open house for a condo by the golf course, and spent an hour walking around a park, trying to get her thoughts together. It was close to seven before she drove home.
She pulled into the garage, going slowly to make sure she didn’t ding the Jeep. Parking something this big, rather than one of the golf carts, was still new to her. While she was used to driving trucks for the winery, parking those was more of a matter of pulling off a dirt road than maneuvering in a confined area.
As she climbed out, she saw two carts by the back door, which meant Rhys was home. She hurried inside.
“It’s me,” she called.
“In the kitchen.”
She found him standing by the microwave, the scent of a heating frozen dinner filling the air.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Making dinner.”
“Why didn’t you take what the chef left us?”
He grimaced. “I didn’t want to bother cooking anything.”
“You are such a guy.” She picked up the package and glanced at the picture of some kind of pasta. “You hate these dinners. I only buy them for myself.”
“I know but I was hungry.”
She walked to the refrigerator and checked on the meal that had been left earlier that day. There were two pork chops, twice-baked potatoes and salad.
“Give me five minutes and I’ll have dinner on the table,” she said as she walked to the sink and washed her hands.
“You don’t have to cook for me,” Rhys said.
“I’m cooking for both of us. And brace yourself, I have things I want to talk about.”
Twenty minutes later, they were seated across from each other. Despite having had a quesadilla only a few hours before, she was hungry—probably because she hadn’t been eating much lately.
Rhys had set the table in the dining room, as he always did. He’d also put a folder and a pad of paper next to his place setting.
She picked up her water glass and pointed to the folder. “So you have things to discuss, as well?”
“This is more related to your topic.”
“But you don’t know what I’m going to say.”
He smiled. “I have an idea our conversation is work related. It’s not as if we’re going to be planning a trip to Europe.”
Which was true, of course, but hearing him say it made her sad. Some because they’d never planned a trip anywhere and some because he was such a good guy and she was going to miss him.
How many more dinners would they share? How many more times around this table? How many more nights would she sleep in this house? There was no way to know and no point in speculating, she told herself. She was moving forward. Perhaps reluctantly, but as long as she got where she needed to go, did the motivation matter?
She passed him the salad. “I’m ready to get started with the divorce. I’ve done a little research, and if we agree on a settlement, then we just have to fill out some paperwork and wait ninety days.”
His dark gaze was steady. “You need to get a lawyer.”
“I will.”
“I’m not going to be an asshole, Mackenzie, but you have to protect yourself.”
“I will,” she repeated before taking a bite of her salad. Nader had told her the same thing. She was going to get a few names and start doing phone interviews to find someone to help with the divorce.
He opened the folder. “I’ve scheduled a valuation of the house. We’ll have that by the end of next week. Your share of my trust is a flat amount, so there’s no work there. It is what it is.”
He flipped to another page. “We’ve banked most of our salaries. Neither of us spends a lot of money on living expenses. We get paid about the same, so I suggest we simply split the accounts in half. Your wine royalties are in a separate account, so that’s easy. Those are yours.”
She nodded, trying not to think how, in the end, she would have a