Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1)
Read Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) Online
Authors: Andrea Simonne
Tags: #Year of Living Blonde (Sweet LIfe in Seattle #1)
Return of the Jerk ~ Coming Sept 17, 2015
Year of Living Blonde
Copyright © 2015 Andrea Simonne
All rights reserved.
Published by Liebe Publishing
Second Electronic Edition, April 2015
Edited by Hot Tree Editing
Interior Design and Formatting by:
Christine Borgford, Perfectly Publishable
Cover Copyright © Xsandra istockphoto.com
© CURAphotography Fotolia.com
Cover Design © by
LBC Graphics
Chapter Nine—
As the Clock Ticks
appears permission of
In Spite of Cupid
by Haley Burke
Chapter Eighteen—Phoenix Scorpions appear permission of
Goal Mates
by Tami Raymen
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the author.
Publisher’s Note:
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Liebe Publishing
“I WANT A
divorce.”
“One second,” Natalie calls out. The smell of citrus and sugar wafts around her as she pulls out two dozen lemon ricotta muffins from the oven and places them on a rack to cool. The convection fan buzzes loudly before she closes the oven door.
“Did you hear what I said?”
Natalie sets the timer for three minutes so she won’t forget to remove the cooling muffins from their pans before they turn rubbery. “Would you like one of these before you go? There are some cinnamon scones as well, though I haven’t frosted them yet.”
“No, I don’t want a muffin or a scone! Are you even listening to me?”
Natalie turns toward Peter. “What are you doing up so early?” She grabs the powdered sugar. It’s five in the morning, her usual baking time, but normally he wouldn’t see his first dental patient until eight.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you.” He takes a deep breath. “I’m leaving you, Natalie. I want a divorce.”
The words stop her. She puts the powdered sugar down. “Is that a joke?” And then she laughs. “Oh, I get it, because it’s our wedding anniversary. Very funny.”
Peter shakes his head. “I’m not joking.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying it’s no good between us anymore. You’re never around.” He turns his head to the side, avoiding her eyes. His skin flushes the way it does when he’s nervous. “The truth is I’ve met someone. I figure there’s no point hiding it anymore. Maybe you even suspected?”
Natalie blinks, staring at him as all the blood rushes from her head. “My God, did you just say you’re cheating on me?” The oven timer starts beeping, but she doesn’t move.
Peter shifts uncomfortably. “Aren’t you going to turn that off?”
“Answer me.”
“It’s not like that. I’m in love with her.”
Natalie reaches out to steady herself. There’s a metallic taste in her mouth, as if she’s eaten the baking powder sitting on her counter. “I can’t believe this. You bastard!” The oven timer beeps in the background with the pulse of an alarm.
Peter seems surprised by her fury. “I was hoping we could be civil,” he mumbles.
“Civil? You announce that you’re cheating on me on our fourteenth wedding anniversary and you want me to be civil?”
“Come on, Natalie, the fact that you’re surprised by any of this just shows how dead our marriage really is. It sounds like you had no idea I was even unhappy.”
“You never told me you were unhappy! I know things aren’t perfect, but—”
“Well, I am unhappy!” he snaps. “I have been for a long time.”
Natalie goes quiet, the awful taste still in her mouth. “What about Chloe? She’ll be devastated. Don’t you care about her?”
“Chloe isn’t a baby anymore. She’s eleven years old now and besides, I’m not leaving her. I’m leaving
you.
”
Natalie studies Peter. She realizes it’s been a while since she’s really looked at him—his tall, lanky frame, his pale-blue eyes, all of it so endearing and familiar. He’s still a handsome man. She used to worry that she wasn’t attractive enough for him, that he’d settled when he married her. But he’d always told her she was a diamond in the rough.
She swallows and asks softly, “Don’t you love me anymore?” It’s a hard question to have to put to her own husband.
Peter hesitates. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I think you deserve the truth. I’ve fallen in love with another woman. She makes me feel alive.”
“And I make you feel what—dead?” Natalie tries to catch her breath. “Who is she?”
“She’s someone I met. You don’t know her.”
“What does she look like?”
Peter shakes his head. “Let’s not go through this.”
“How
old
is she?” Natalie asks, a hard edge to her voice. She tries to imagine this other woman and it comes to her in a clear vision. Some hot young thing with a great body who figures she’s made a nice catch for herself, snagging a successful dentist, and doesn’t feel any guilt about breaking up a family. “Peter, you’re just having a midlife crisis, can’t you see that?”
“You’ve got it all wrong. It isn’t like that. It’s not about age.”
“Of course it is.”
“She’s not younger than me. She’s forty-eight.”
“
What?
” Natalie almost chokes. “You’re leaving me for a woman who’s,” she stumbles over the math, “thirteen years older than I am?”
“I keep telling you it’s not about age. It’s about the kind of life I want to live. Lena excites me.”
Lena. Natalie tries to absorb this, tries to absorb that her husband is in love with a forty-eight-year-old woman named Lena.
The oven alarm is still beeping and Natalie finally reaches over to shut it off. She glances down at the muffins. Ruined. She won’t be able to bring them into the bakery. After sitting in the pan so long, they’ll be too rubbery to sell.
Peter comes over, stands beside her and leans in close. For a surprising moment Natalie thinks he’s going to give her a hug. She softens—is he having second thoughts? But then he’s reaching past her. He isn’t trying to hug her. He’s helping himself to a muffin.
Natalie watches in amazement as Peter stands beside her, takes a large bite, and begins to chew. “These are fantastic. Is this a new flavor?”