Chapter 0082
He closed out of the app and opened his messages. He saw Natalie’s last all–caps message at the top and winced. Then he saw Hazel’s name a couple messages down and opened the thread between them. He smiled as he scrolled back through. He had a hard time believing she was related to Natalie. She seemed like the polar opposite.
He backed out of the messages and opened his list of contacts. He typed in “wife” and pushed the call button.
“What?” Natalie said when she finally answered.
“Hello to you too,” he said. “Listen. We both know this marriage is not going to work. Can we meet up tonight so we can try to come to some sort of agreement? Maybe we can make this super easy on both
of us.”
There was a pause on the other end. Logan held his breath.
“Okay, fine,” Natalie said after a moment. “Come over to the house.” She hung up. A few seconds later, a text with an address popped up on the screen.
Logan suddenly felt much lighter. Maybe they could sort this out and be done with it tonight.
He tried to ignore the nagging thought in the back of his mind, the one that wondered why she had agreed to meet so quickly and easily.
Fifteen minutes later, Logan was pulling into Natalie’s driveway. He walked up to the door and rang the bell, then took a step back to look at the house. He wasn’t sure what he expected it to look like, but it didn’t scream “Natalie” to him.
She opened the door a moment later. “Come in,” she said solemnly.
He stepped inside. “Nice place,” he said.
“Thank you,” she said, then pointed to the living room. Shall we sit in here?”
He nodded. He looked around the living room. He was surprised by the aged feel of the decorations and furniture. “Do you live alone?” He asked.
“I do, yes,” she said. “Would you like something to drink?”
“I’ll take some wine if you’ve got it,” he answered.
Natalie disappeared into the kitchen. Logan walked around the living room. He stopped at a bookshelf and read the spines of a few of the books at eye level. Most of them were World War II history books. He knelt down to look at the books near the bottom of the shelf. There were a few classic novels mixed in with more history books. He was even more confused by these.
He realized Natalie was taking awhile in the kitchen. “Do you need help?” He called out to her.
“No!” She said sharply. “I mean…no, thank you, almost done!”
“I saw your collection of works by Poe. I didn’t realize you were a fan?” He said loudly, picking the book
Chapter 0087
off the shelf and flipping through the pages.
“Oh, uh…yeah,” she yelled back. “Huge.”
+25 BONUS
She walked through the living room doorway a few minutes later, a glass of red and a glass of white in her hands. Logan placed the book back on the shelf and stood. She handed the red wine to Logan.
I
“A nice merlot for you, I know you love it,” she said with a smile.
“I do, thank you,” Logan said, taking the glass. Was the glass smudged? He wondered. It was looking a little foggy to him.
“Well, cheers!” Natalie said.
They clinked their glasses together, Natalie watching Logan sip from his glass while she drank from hers. She lifted up the bottom of his glass to make him drink faster.
Logan drank about half of his glass before removing it from his lips. He coughed. “Um…what year is this? It tastes å little bitter,” he said.
“Oh, I’m not sure,” Natalie shrugged and sat on the couch. She patted the spot next to her.
He moved to the couch and sat. He grabbed his stomach as soon as he was seated.
“Nat…I’m not feeling so good.”
