Page 93 of The Best Bad Decision

The rest of the neighbors were smarter than this and his family were the most stupid people I’d ever met. They were also the most entitled and ridiculous. I was betting they’d finally realized he’d gotten a new lawyer and were ready to go insane.

That didn’t mean I had to rush, though, so I finished adding some subtle makeup around my eyes and a bit of lip gloss that Atlee seemed to love before heading to the front door. A quick glance at my phone said Atlee hadn’t noticed the chaos because the last message from him had been about picking shoes.

After sending him a quick reply about which black shoes to pick…because the man had three pairs that were basically the same…I plastered on a confused face and finally answered the door.

Yep.

A hurricane of stupid had landed on my front porch, but Atlee’s father at least had the good graces to look worried. He was also the only one who was standing at the bottom of the steps like he was ready to run.

He was definitely smarter than his wife.

“What are you doing?” She’d worked herself into a tizzy and I actually winced at the pitch she managed to hit. That didn’t stop her, though. “Are you trying to ruin his future? You’re the reason he got that new lawyer. You’re lying to him too. What were you thinking?”

About Atlee.

Duh.

That was too obvious to point out, though, so I cocked my head and frowned at her. “Hello, what can I do for you?”

His mother just stood there blinking so it was Valerie’s turn. She sighed and did her signature belly rub, which really didn’t work on me the way she seemed to think it would. “Seducing a married man is reprehensible behavior, especially for someone who works with at-risk individuals. You’ve got to stop trying to get back at me.”

Oh, this was a new one.

Leaning against the doorframe, I didn’t bother hiding my delight. “This is fun. What did you do to me to make me want to get back at you?”

I’d already told my boss and his supervisor everything including how crazy the family was and all the good gossip, so there was nothing she could do to me.

Had she expected to be able to threaten me with lying to my boss?

Valerie was better at holding back her frustration and ignoring my reactions, but Atlee’s mother went full-blown drama queen with her sound effects. It wasn’t helpful, so I stayed focused on Valerie. She’d taken the time to plan out a better tactic this time around.

I approved of hard work.

She sighed again, shaking her head and probably playing up for the audience. It was possible she thought I had a camera or something, though, because she wasn’t breaking character. “I can give him the family you’ll never be able to. The one he’s always wanted.”

Oh, that’d play well online.

She was definitely the smarter of the two crazy bitches.

“I know you’ve been watching him since we moved in and through the struggles to fix our marriage, but this isn’t right.” Her frown wasn’t quite perfect enough, so I watched as she adjusted it slightly like she’d been practicing in the mirror. “You took advantage of a confused man and tempted him with things to betray his family.”

Things?

Butt things?

BDSM things?

“I’m not sure how to respond to that. It’s a bit too vague. You need to give me more information about my background as a character for me to be able to understand my motivation. And things? What things did I tempt him with? This play is really half-assed.” They had no idea how to respond to that with both women going still and looking like confused, angry puppies.

Atlee’s father proved how smart he was by rolling his eyes and stepping in to save the women from looking like idiots. “This is his future we’re talking about, not a play or a game.”

That had the women coming back to life, but I ignored them. “No, this is your future we’re talking about. Atlee is doing very well for himself.”

My adorable oversharer had made sure I knew that before he’d talked about it with his new lawyer. In his head that seemed to be something he needed me to know before he talked to a stranger about it…especially since he was planning on taking me to every appointment with the lawyer.

We still weren’t sure what had gone wrong with the other one but the new guy had raised his eyebrows a few times before he’d politely explained she might’ve had a strategy he wasn’t aware of. I liked him…and the way he hadn’t told Atlee to be nice to his ex and the way he hadn’t blinked an eye about me being there.

Unflappable people were fun sometimes but practical to have in our corner.