Lahat ng Kabanata ng He Wants Me More After Divorce: Kabanata 371 - Kabanata 378

Estelle’s POVDaisy cried three times at the jeweler’s.The first was when I walked in and told the woman behind the counter I was looking for a diamond for an engagement setting in antique gold.The second was when the woman laid a tray of old-cut stones on black velvet and I picked up the smallest one and held it to the light.The third was when she slid it into the setting Harrison had given me and I put it on my finger and it fit and the diamond threw a tiny splinter of light across the glass countertop.“Daisy.”“I’m fine.”“You’re really not fine.”“I’m completely fine, Estelle. I am a grown woman standing in a jewelry store and I am completely fine.” She was blotting her eyes with the heel of her hand, and failing at it.The jeweler, a small woman in her sixties with reading glasses on a chain, handed Daisy a tissue without looking up from the setting. She had clearly done this many times.“It’s a 1920s stone,” she said, turning my hand gently under the lamp. “Old mine cut. The

Harrison’s POVKarl brought a Barolo he’d been saving. Thomas brought nothing, because Thomas never brought anything to dinner except himself and the faint smell of sawdust.The restaurant was a small Italian place on the west side that Karl had chosen for the booths in the back where nobody would bother us. The hostess seated us at seven-fifteen.Karl slid into one side of the booth. Thomas sat next to him.I sat across from both of them, which felt strange for about thirty seconds and then didn’t.Karl ordered the risotto. Thomas got a steak, medium, with a baked potato—the kind of plain, straightforward meal you order when you’ve spent years eating whatever was put in front of you and just want to choose something simple.I got pasta.Karl poured the wine without ceremony. Thomas drank carefully, slowly, as if he still wasn’t entirely convinced he was allowed.“So,” Karl said, leaning back and folding his hands behind his head. “Harrison Emerson is getting married. Again.”“Again,”

Estelle’s POVHelena Donovan called me Thursday evening.I was on the couch with a cooking show playing on mute, my feet tucked under a blanket, a glass of wine at my elbow I had forgotten to drink. Harrison was upstairs. Chloe was at the kitchen table doing her Spanish homework out loud to herself because she said repeating the conjugations helped. Lucas was in his room reading a book about basking sharks.My phone rang, and it said Helena Donovan.I sat up slowly. I paused the television. I let it ring a second time before I picked up.“Hello?”“Estelle. It’s Helena.”“Yes. Hi.”“I was hoping you and I could have coffee tomorrow morning. Somewhere quiet. I won’t keep you long. It’s about Saturday.”Harrison had warned me she had gone to Claire’s. He had told me about the four rows and the don’t-turn-around. He had not warned me she might call.“Of course,” I said.“There is a coffee shop on Blackwell Road near the roundabout. I can be there at nine.”“I’ll be there at nine.”“Thank

Estelle’s POVI was downstairs before the birds.Five forty-seven on the kitchen clock, which I noted because the clock was the first thing I could focus on after the light switch. I filled the kettle and got to the table before I remembered what day it was.I sat with the mug in both hands.Chloe came down at eight twenty-five in the dress.The dress was yellow. Nobody in the store had sold it to her as aggressive. Chloe had made it aggressive by force of will. It was the color of a highway sign. She walked into the kitchen with her hands on her hips.“Well.”“Chloe, you look—”“Don’t.”“—extraordinary.”“Thank you.”Daisy laughed wetly into her coffee.Lucas came down four minutes later in the bowtie and a plastic shark. I raised my brow, pointing at the shark. He shrugged and walked to the couch. He sat down very straight to wait to be useful.I went back upstairs at nine. Harrison was in the bathroom with the shower running.I put on the dress, zipping it myself. I checked the hem