Chapter 3

I figured my time with Renee would decrease since we no longer had a common set of adversaries. Shortly after the divorce I was proven right.

I still watched Eve a couple of nights per week while Renee went to work out at the Y or for an evening meeting with colleagues.

I stopped bringing work home with me and started to spend more evenings at the office. I had less than five months left on my five-year contract with the firm and I had decided to move out on my own in the summer.

A few days after the court hearing, Det. Jason Mangrove appeared in my office.

"She lied, you know," he said without preamble and I knew he was talking about his ex-wife, not mine.

"I know," I said.

He glared at me.

"I didn't find out until about a year ago," I said. "She really pulled me into her web."

I saw the man smile for the first time.

"She has that way about her," he said. "How'd you find out?"

I sighed.

"You know she remarried, right?" I said and he nodded. "Well, she tried the same shit with her next victim. I did a routine check on him. He was almost 70 years old. There was no way in hell he had abused her."

"There was no way in hell I abused her, either," he said harshly. "That didn't stop you."

I nodded.

"Your service record," I said simply. "That was the confidential file the judge looked at in chambers. You had three complaints about excessive abuse."

Mangrove frowned.

"I have come to realize that most good cops have at least five or six complaints in their jacket," I said. "When I found out the age of her new husband I told her I would take the case but she had to pay upfront.

"Let's just say she didn't have the money and offered the barter system."

Mangrove laughed.

"I can only imagine," he said. "You should have fucked her and then refused her case."

"I called my paralegal in under the pretense of getting everything in writing," I said. "She didn't seem to know that sex in exchange for legal services was wrong.

"Or if she knew she should have been an actress. Hell, maybe she should be anyway. Look at how she played the two of us."

"She'd be a porn star," he said then he chuckled.

"You know she has a Web site, right?" he asked. "Anytime you want you can see my ex-wife naked for the low fee of $12.99 per month."

It was my turn to laugh.

"Hell, you think that's good," I said. "All you had to do was open your safe and you could have seen my ex-wife fucking."

His eyes got big.

"I wondered what was on that disc," he said. "If I would have known we could have opened a Web site for her, too. I guess Marcie makes quite a living from fingering her box on screen."

I shook my head sadly but I could see where Marcie could make some cash that way. She was a fine-looking woman.

"Why did you pick me?" he said. "I thought about just tossing the fucking thing in the trash but I couldn't do it. I just couldn't bring myself to do it in case it was evidence."

"That's the reason," I said. "Even when I was trying to prove that you were the biggest asshole on the planet everyone told me that you were a top-notch cop. I knew that you were someone for whom the rule of law was absolute."

He looked pleased.

"I sent a letter," I said as an afterthought because it just occurred to me. "As soon as I found out about your ex-wife's deceit I sent a letter to the police commissioner and your captain."

He eyed me carefully.

"When did you do that?" he asked.

"I don't know, February or March of last year," I said. "I assumed they told you."

"They didn't say anything about it," he said. "But I got promoted to lieutenant in April without even taking the exam. I passed it twice before but got passed over. I figured it was never going to happen."

"I'm sorry, Detective," I said. "I really thought she was telling the truth. Of course, I missed my wife fucking around me for almost a year."

"One thing's for damned sure," he said. "If I ever get divorced again I want you on my side."

Renee called my office at 8 p.m. one evening in late March.

"What in the hell are you doing at work?" she asked. "What did we talk about?"

I thought she was joking so I made a smart-assed comment. I was wrong.

"You haven't been over for dinner in a week," she said. "When you watch Evie you bolt as soon as I'm in the door. Did you learn nothing from that wreckage of a marriage?"

"I'm sorry," I said somewhat flustered. "I'm just trying to get things tied up here. I only have a couple of weeks to get things wrapped up here. My contract is up in June and I have seven weeks of unused vacation I'm taking."

"Good," she said. "I officially claim at least a week of your vacation time."

I smiled.

"What do you need painted this time?" I said trying to lighten the mood. If anything I made it worse.

"Nothing," she said crisply. "If you don't want to see us, that's fine."

And she hung up on me.

I showed up sheepishly two evenings later to watch Eve while Renee hit the Y for her workouts. In truth I should have been the one going to the gym. My bachelor lifestyle had produced some pretty poor eating habits since I was no longer dining with Renee and Eve every evening.

To look at Renee there would be no way for you to guess she had been pregnant just nine months earlier. She greeted me at the door.

"I wasn't sure you'd show up so I made other arrangements," she said.

I was a tad bit pissed.

"When have I ever not shown up?" I asked in a louder voice than I intended. "When have I told you no when you asked me to watch Eve?"

"That's not it, Eric," Renee said. "I was a bitch the other night. I'm sorry I hung up on you."

I shrugged.

"I made a smart-assed remark and it backfired," I said.

"The good news is that Eve has a play date this evening," she said. "If it works out I'll host the little girl on Thursday night. This means you can go to the gym with me."

I shook my head.

"I'm finely honing this body," I said. "Greasy cheeseburgers, greasy French fries, greasy burritos. It is a work in progress and I don't want to ruin perfect roundness with exercise."

"I'll drive," was all she replied.

Our schedule became somewhat similar to what it had been during our divorces.

We went back to having dinner at one another's houses five nights a week. I would watch Eve at least once a week to give Renee some mental health time.

Every week after our workout we'd stop at the grocery store on the way home to restock our pantries — and so Renee could make sure that I had something more than cereal and Pop Tarts at my house.

During my vacation weeks I would spend the days keeping Eve entertained while Renee worked. As the little girl's first birthday approached so did the first anniversary of one of the worst days in the adults' lives.

Renee was resilient. I expected anger and sadness. It was what I was feeling.

But if she was feeling either it didn't show.

"My life is better now than it was before," she told me as we split a bottle of wine on June 3rd. "I don't miss him."

I sat silent for a moment.

"I don't miss her either," I said. "I miss parts of the relationship but I don't really miss her."

Renee patted my hand.

"We're both better off," she said.

As I started my solo practice I pondered the transformation my relationship with Renee had taken.

I still wasn't sure what sort of relationship we had. A couple of times in the past couple of weeks she had fallen asleep on my shoulder while we watched a movie after Eve was asleep.

I kept wondering if the feelings I had toward her were proper. I also wondered if they were reciprocated. But I didn't see any signs that they were.

Renee seemed to view me as a safety blanket. I was part brother and part protector. But she had given no indication that she had romantic leanings toward me.

My feelings seemed to fluctuate. Renee certainly was an attractive woman. I truly enjoyed watching her on the treadmill and I almost always made sure I could check out her butt while she ran.

She had a beautiful smile and she looked as cute as hell when she would tilt her head playfully when she told a joke or make a funny observation.

But I also looked at her as a friend. We had spent hours upon hours sitting around sharing our pasts and talking about our goals and dreams. Never in our conversation did a mention of our goals and dreams include the other.

Mary and Jeffrey had lived together for a while after the divorce but then split. The last either of us heard from them they were engaged but that was a month or two before.

Renee and Eve were waiting outside my new office the day I opened my solo practice. They had been out of town most of the weekend before so I hadn't seen them in a couple of days.

I was in for a shock when I opened the door.

The furnishings I had selected hadn't been delivered. Instead things I had never seen adorned the outer office where my paralegal would be stationed.

The story was the same in my office. The functional desk and faux leather chairs I'd picked out at IKEA were nowhere to be seen.

Instead a beautiful walnut desk and real leather chairs were in their place.

"Surprise!" Renee said as I looked around.

"It's an office-warming present," she said as she gave me a hug, "from Evie and me. I saw the crap you picked out. I couldn't let that happen."

I kept my arm around her. It just felt right.

"Thank you," I said. "But you really shouldn't have spent so much."

She waved a hand dismissively.

"It's money," she said. "I'll make more. So will you. In fact, I'm here to be your first official client."

I eyed her strangely.

"I want you to prepare a will for me," she said. "And an order of guardianship for Evie if something should happen to me. I'm going to file for child support from Jeffrey and offer to drop it if he'll sign away his parental rights. Can you draft that for me?"

"I would have done that for you anyway," I said. I didn't relish the thought of her being a client. That would certainly preclude any romance between us if that ever developed.

"You didn't have to bribe me with office supplies," I joked. "How did you get this in here?"

"JoAnne," she said. JoAnne was my paralegal. I should have guessed she was an accomplice.

"I told the salesman at IKEA to upgrade everything," she said. "JoAnne gave me her key this weekend. I had to dodge you a couple of times, you bastard."

I raised my eyebrows. Eve was at the age where she was starting to pick up words.

"It's OK if she calls you bastard," Renee joked. "You can be Bastard and I'll be Bitch. It'll give her practice for when she's a teenager."

I shook my head.

"Let's talk about your will," I said.

"Simple," she said. "Everything goes in trust to Eve. Her guardian will be the trustee."