Chapter 3

03

The thirty-day cooling-off period ended.

I hauled Patrick straight to the county clerk's office, no dawdling.

The moment the seal came down.

The instant the finalized divorce was in my hand, Patrick's eyes went red again.

He reached out to hug me, trying to stage one last tearful farewell.

"Honey, if there's a next life, I swear I'll love you with a clean heart."

I twisted away in disgust, dodging his hand.

"Save it. You make me sick."

I said nothing the whole way and walked straight home.

The second I was through the door, I went straight to the bedroom and dragged out the oversized black trash bags I'd already set aside.

Right in front of him.

The clothes hanging in his closet, the shoes in the rack, the razor in the bathroom.

I crammed all of it into the bags in one sweep.

Then I dragged and hauled.

I dumped both huge trash bags right out in the hallway outside the door.

I pointed toward the elevator and yelled at him.

"Take your garbage and get out. Now."

Patrick stood there stunned.

Clearly he hadn't expected me to turn on him faster than flipping a page.

His pride in shreds, he jabbed a finger at my face and railed at me.

"Lucretia, you really are cold-blooded!"

"Is money all you see? You get the house and the savings, then you kick me to the curb!"

Right as he was going.

The phone in his pocket rang.

Stella's sugary voice leaked out of the speaker.

"Patrick, my morning sickness is so bad, I can't keep anything down. I'm suddenly dying for those palmiers from that place on the South Side."

Patrick's furious face flipped in an instant.

He softened his voice to the person on the line.

"Okay, sweet girl, I'll go buy them for you right now."

He hung up and turned back to me with a look of pure contempt.

"Lucretia, you don't have the faintest idea what real love is."

"A woman like you, with nothing in her head but material things, deserves to grow old alone!"

I couldn't be bothered to stand there listening to his crap.

I lifted my foot.

The suitcase he'd left sitting outside the plastic bags, I kicked it straight through the security door.

As he stumbled backward.

I slammed the door hard and threw the deadbolt with a click.

Finally, some peace.