Even her last words are unoriginal. What was I thinking when I married her? I can’t even blame my mistake on a spur-of-the-moment bad decision. We dated for three years before I proposed. She’s a very attractive woman; I can’t deny that. The brunette version of Jessica Rabbit, I couldn’t resist her voluptuous curves. But it was Nadine’s drive to succeed that made me fall for her in the end.
Since there’s no chance I’ll be able to rescue my mood from the sour pit now, I turn my phone back on. Might as well deal with all my problems since I won’t have any peace of mind tonight anyway.
I have ten missed calls from Enzo—no surprise there—plus a bunch of text messages. He left only one voice mail, which I don’t bother listening to. I call him back instead. He answers on the first ring.
“About fucking time. Why don’t you answer your damn phone?”
“I was working. What’s so urgent?”
“Did Nadine contribute anything to the purchase of the vineyard?”
“Hell no. I paid for it with my money.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m fucking sure.”
What is that viper playing at now?
“Well, her lawyer is claiming she paid for part of it. If that’s the case, then she would be entitled to half according to your prenup contract.”
“That’s complete BS.”
“I’ll have to look at your bank statements. If her lawyer can prove you used money from your joint bank account to purchase the vineyard, he might have a case.”
“You’d better make sure that doesn’t happen, Enzo. That’s why I pay you so much.” I pinch the bridge of my nose because I can’t remember if I used money from our joint account or not. Fuck. “Nadine was waiting for me in front of my house.”
“Why?” I notice the change in Enzo’s voice.
“What do you think? She wanted money, said she was broke.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I refused.”
“Listen, be careful with Nadine. I know the type. She’s a snake, and she’ll go to any lengths to get what she wants.”
I scoff. Enzo is preaching to the choir. It might have taken me a while to figure that out, but now I know what kind of woman Nadine is, which brings my current situation to the forefront of my mind.
“I have to tell you something not related to Nadine.”
“Do you want me to listen as your lawyer or as your friend?”
“Both.”
“Ah shit. What did you do now, Alistair?”
I let out a long sigh, thrusting my hand in my hair. Shit, I can’t believe Chiara is my student. My fucking student. I’m so screwed.
When I don’t answer Enzo right away, he continues. “Your silence is making the lawyer side of me very nervous.”
Not wanting him to start charging me for this call, I blurt, “I slept with one of my students.”
“You did what?” Enzo screams so loudly, I have to pull the cell phone away from my ear.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds. I met her in Tuscany. We spent the weekend together. She wasn’t a student when we hooked up.”
“But let me guess, she’s a student now? In what class?”
I hesitate again. Shit, Enzo is going to love this. “Writer’s room.”
There’s a moment of silence before he bursts out laughing. I wait a few seconds before I cut him off. “Are you done?”
“Sorry, man. But you have to see the irony in this.”
“Yes, the irony is killing me. What the fuck do I do?”
“First, let’s clear something up. How old was she when you fucked her?”
I sigh loudly. “I didn’t know then. We didn’t exchange personal information save for our names, but that was the first thing I checked after she walked into my classroom. She was legal.”
“Thank fuck. But hell, Alistair. How can you be so fucking stupid?”
Enzo is not wrong. I wasn’t thinking and completely let my attraction to Chiara take over everything. I had gone to Italy to forget all my problems, after all.
“She looked and acted older,” I reply defensively. “I thought she was in her twenties.”
“Well, technically, you did nothing wrong. You didn’t break any rules. Can the girl keep her mouth shut?”
