Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [91]
“I just wanted to get your attention,” Jane said in a trembling voice.
“Well, you got it. What’s going on? I was in a meeting with a client, Jane. I told you not to call me at work.”
“I guess that’s because you don’t want me to know you’re never there. I don’t care, Bob. I’m leaving.”
“You called me home to tell me you’re leaving. Where are you going? I hope you’re taking the kid with you. I’m not doing that baby-sitter shit. When will you be back?”
“Daisy is going with me. I’m not coming back. I’m leaving you. I’m filing for divorce.”
“What the hell’s gotten into you?”
“What part of what I just said don’t you understand, Bob?”
“The part about why your friend is here and all of a sudden you’re getting a divorce. I always thought there was something fishy about the relationship between the two of you.”
Annie’s insides turned to Jell-O. She saw Jane raise her arm, heard the slap she rendered high on her husband’s cheek and the tirade that followed. Her stomach started to quiver at the ugly words being uttered.
“Stupid, ugly bitch! Who the hell would want you? Look at you. You’re nothing but skin and bones. I can see through you, for Christ’s sake. That hair of yours is like a wild mop and your face is. bony and long and those freckles are not the least bit attractive. You sound like a horse when you laugh, and I’m ashamed to be seen with you. The kid looks just like you. Go. Who gives a shit. We’ll divide everything evenly.”
Annie was off the chair like a bullet. She pushed Jane out of the way. She jabbed her index finger in the middle of Bob’s neck. “You miserable, stinking bastard! You say one more word about my friend, and I’ll lay you out cold right here in this kitchen. You get nothing but this house and whatever bills you’ve run up. Jane signed over the Daisy Shop to me, so you can forget that. It’s time now for your wife to live like the queen she is, and your daughter—my godchild—will be a princess. You, you son of a bitch, are the ugly frog in your custom-made Armani suit. Read my lips, Mr. Granger. You fuck with me, and it will be the last thing you ever do. Don’t sneer, don’t snarl, don’t try to bluff me with indignation because I’m capable of wiping up the floor with you. Oh, by the way, you can have this house and that car in the driveway, you know the one, the junk pile Jane drives. She’ll be driving a Mercedes from now on. You can keep your leased vehicle. Jane doesn’t want it. We will be asking for those two Rolex watches for Daisy. Child support is going to come high.”
“Get the hell out of my house,” Granger sneered.
“It will be my pleasure to leave this house,” Annie snarled in return.
Annie had to prod Jane to get her to move. “They were just ugly words, Jane. That’s all they were. Ugly people say ugly things. It’s behind you now. Don’t let what he said blind you. .You are just the opposite of everything he said. Except for that wild bush of hair. Come hell or high water, you’re getting it cut. That’s my only stipulation to this whole deal.”
Jane smiled. “I never, in all the years I’ve known you, heard you talk like that. He was afraid of you. I didn’t think he was afraid of anything. I usually tie it back. You’re right, it needs to be cut. I’m okay. Thanks for standing up for me back there. I just froze. Bob never talked to me like that before. I guess that’s how he felt all along. God, how could I have been so blind?”
“Your eyes are wide-open now. Let’s get this show on the road. We have to pick up Daisy Jane Granger. I’d give some thought to taking back my maiden name if I were you. I like the way Daisy Jane Abbott sounds.”
“I do, too. Thanks for being my friend, Annie.”
“Thank you for being mine, too, Jane.”
Annie walked through the big house, aware of the silence. She looked down at Rosie and Harry, who were always at her side. “We have a child in the house. I would think there would be noise. Maybe Daisy and her mother went out.” Harry stopped in his tracks and whimpered as he nudged his mistresses