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business.” Detective Duncan planted his hands on his lean hips, revealing his police badge attached to his belt.
    Austin smiled. “Aren’t you a conscientious civil servant? I think I’m quite finished here, Detective…?”
    “Duncan,” he responded. “Detective Blake Duncan.”
    “Jules.” Marie was tugging her backwards. “Let’s go to my office.”
    Julie’s heart was pounding. She wanted to cheer. Austin’s face was tight with fury. Not once in the three plus years she had been married to him had he been publicly humiliated this way.
    One of the bar’s three hundred pound, muscle-bound bouncers appeared next to Austin. “Let me show you the way out, sir.”
    Austin turned his glare toward Julie for a moment before he relented and walked away with Barbie curled around him like a snake.
    As soon as he was out the door, the crowd resumed their conversations. Julie’s head was still spinning.
    “Thank you,” she said to the detective. There were no words to adequately convey how good it had felt to watch Austin get his for once.
    “Just doing my job, ma’am.” He flashed a smile and returned to his table.
    “Come on, Jules,” Marie urged. “Hang out in my office and have a glass of wine.”
    Unable to stop staring at the detective, Julie felt herself being pulled toward the kitchen and the office beyond it.
    As soon as she could no longer see Detective Duncan, the adrenaline receded and she drooped with emotion. “Why is Austin doing this?” She couldn’t think, couldn’t slow her mind’s sudden, frantic whirling. “Why did he come here?”
    For that matter, why was the detective here? She didn’t remember ever seeing him here before. Maybe he’d hunted her down when she hadn’t returned his call.
    Marie ushered her into the chair at her desk. “Skip’s bringing you a glass of wine. Stay right here, drink the wine and calm down. Everything is going to be okay.”
    Julie nodded, knowing Marie needed to get back to the bar. She didn’t have time for this. Tears welled in Julie’s eyes. She did not want to cry. Austin wasn’t worth it. She braced her face in her hands and fought the urge. Her shoulders shook with the effort. Why didn’t he just settle as he’d promised he would in the prenuptial agreement? The one dollar he’d offered in his petition for divorce was ridiculous. It wasn’t as if she was asking for the moon. The amount was paltry compared to his net worth.
    “Hey, Jules.” Blond and tanned, Skip breezed into the office; glass in hand, along with a full bottle of Chardonnay. “I figured a glass would never do it.”
    She had to smile. “Thanks.” Skip was such a nice guy. A great guy and a super waiter.
    He left the bottle of wine on the desk and patted her on the back. “He’ll get his.”
    Julie sighed. “You know what, you’re right. He will get his.”
    Skip winked and left her to the task of calming her nerves. She filled her glass and downed it, scarcely pausing for a breath. Her feet and legs ached. She’d really tried to make this job work. It wasn’t fair that Austin had invaded her new reality to taunt her.
    It just wasn’t fair.
    But then, life wasn’t always fair.
    She shuddered as she remembered his threatening words. He was wrong. She wasn’t
going
to regret it... she already did.

 
     

Chapter Five
    Saturday, June 27, 2:00 a.m.
    Julie had one glass of wine too many and ended up asleep on Marie’s desk. By the time her friend woke her, the bar was closed and Julie had arm prints on her forehead.
    “I’m so sorry, Marie,” she offered as her friend drove her home. Julie didn’t even have her car back. The last two nights her neighbor had let her borrow the Buick, but tonight she’d had plans. It was pitiful. Even a seventy-two-year-old woman had plans on Friday night.
    “Don’t worry about it,” Marie assured her. “It wasn’t the first time my customers witnessed a domestic dispute. I doubt it’ll be the last.”
    Thank God for