Then her attention shifted to me.
“I hope this isn’t too inconvenient.”
Her tone suggested she meant exactly the opposite.
“Not at all,” I replied.
Daniel carried her luggage upstairs.
Vanessa followed him before stopping halfway up the stairs.
“Daniel said the guest suite has its own bathroom.”
“It does.”
“And you’ll probably handle meals?”
I looked directly at her.
“Probably?”
She gave a small laugh.
“With the baby, I mean. I’m going to be exhausted.”
Daniel appeared behind her.
“Claire, don’t start.”
I smiled once more.
“I’m not starting anything.”
That afternoon, their sense of entitlement became almost theatrical.
Vanessa adjusted the thermostat to her preference.
Daniel handed her my usual parking spot.
Her mother opened my refrigerator and began writing a grocery list for me.
Then Vanessa entered my home office without bothering to knock.
“I’ll need this room during the day,” she announced. “The guest room doesn’t get enough sunlight.”
“My office?”
“For the baby.”
I leaned back in my chair.
“You’re planning quite a life here.”
She folded her arms.
“Daniel said this was basically his house too.”
There it was.
Exactly the sentence I had been waiting to hear.
“Did he?”
Before Vanessa could respond, Daniel walked in.
“Claire, can we not make Vanessa uncomfortable?”
I looked from one of them to the other.
“No problem.”
I shut my laptop.
“Actually, I have a surprise for everyone.”
Vanessa smiled.
“A baby gift?”
“In a way.”
I told everyone to meet me downstairs at six.
At 5:58, Daniel entered the living room carrying two champagne glasses.
Vanessa was sitting beside him while the baby slept nearby in a carrier.
Her mother flipped through television channels.
At precisely six o’clock, the doorbell rang.
Daniel frowned.
“Expecting someone?”
“Yes.”
I opened the front door.
Rebecca Sloan walked inside carrying a leather folder.
A licensed process server stood behind her.
Daniel’s expression changed immediately.
“What is this?”
I accepted the folder from Rebecca.
“The surprise.”
Vanessa rose to her feet.
“Claire, what are you doing?”
I gave Daniel the first document.
A petition for divorce.
His champagne glass slowly lowered.
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