She barely resisted smacking that smug smile off his face. “Do you have the papers with you?”
“Nah. They’re in L.A. with Paulie D.”
That was his lawyer. That meant he wouldn’t sign them until after he left. She’d have to take his word for it that he would. But what choice did she have? She needed to move on with her life.
“Fine,” she snapped. She reached for her purse on the floor, pulled out her cell, and dialed Dave. Thankfully she got him and not his voicemail. She spoke fast. “Hi, it's Steph. Don't be mad, but Griffin showed up today. I had no idea he was coming.”
“Hi, Dave,” Griff called cheerfully.
Steph covered Griff’s mouth with her hand, and he flicked his tongue rapidly over her palm. She quickly dropped her hand and gave him a death stare. “He says he wants to meet you before he signs the divorce papers. Could you please come over? I would really, really appreciate it.” She held her breath. “Okay. Bye.”
“What did he say?” Griff asked.
“He's coming right over.”
Griff rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “Good. So now what?”
“What do you mean?”
“What should we do until he gets here?” He gave her a slow, sexy smile that infuriated her.
“You should just sit there and think about how you're going to treat Dave with the respect he deserves. I'm going to call a friend. And don't answer the buzzer. I'll do it.” She headed for her bedroom.
“Love it when you’re bossy, wife,” he called.
She looked over her shoulder to find him texting. Probably to one of his harem. She slammed the bedroom door behind her. She heard his low laugh and groaned in aggravation. This might all be a game to him, but she was serious, and damn if she was going to let him turn her life upside-down.
She was about to call Amber—Jaz would still be teaching dance class—when her eye caught on the framed picture of her and her younger brother, Joey, on the nightstand. She grabbed the picture, sank to the bed, and stared at her cheerful brother. Joey was twenty-eight and had Down syndrome. He lived at Horizon Village, a private community for adults with Down syndrome. He loved it there and often spoke with pride of his job cleaning hotel rooms and the nights he was in charge of dinner at his group home (with the help of the house mother).
Griff was the one that paid the tuition.
Joey was the only reason she’d held out hope for so long that Griff might still love her, might still come back to her. Not only did Griff pay the tuition, every celebrity charity event he did, he sent all the proceeds to Horizon Village. She’d never asked him to do any of that.
Shortly after she married Griff, her mother had lost a long battle with breast cancer. She suspected her mom had held on just long enough to see her daughter married. Her dad had left right after Joey’s birth, unable to handle having a son with special needs. So that left Steph to care for Joey. Her mom had spoken often of Horizon Village as a way for Joey to live as an independent adult and for Steph to live her own life. When her mom got sick, her mom put Joey on a long waiting list for scholarship residents.
In the meantime, Joey had lived with her and Griff for the first few months of their marriage at her mom’s house. Then Griff got that big recording contract, and the first thing he did was hand her a check for the first year of Joey’s tuition. They’d moved her brother into his new home, and Steph had spent the next three months by Griff’s side as he toured. Then his music video went viral, his popularity exploded, and he sent Steph home to wait as his tour went global. He’d said it would be a grueling pace, and he wanted her to relax at home. He wanted her to go back to her job before she lost it, in case this rock ’n’ roll gig didn’t pan out. And he’d promised regular visits.
That was the beginning of the end.
She had to tread carefully with Griff. She knew he’d prepaid the next two years of Joey’s tuition with the winnings from his last celebrity poker tournament. Would he keep paying the tuition out of consideration for her? Would Joey be upset if he had to move in with her and leave the people he felt so comfortable with? He had friends there. Would she be able to handle a life spent caring for her brother and still live her own life? Would Dave want any part of that?