“Goodbye, Mark!” Charlotte leaned against Summer’s shoulder and waved her hand with a big smile on her face as Mark was leaving for work. The curvature of the corners of his lips increased again as Mark looked at Summer and Charlotte for a while before leaving the apartment with a gentle smile on his face. Summer accompanied Charlotte to practice writing when she fell asleep halfway. By the time she woke up, it was 1:00 pm. Charlotte was also taking a nap. Thinking of Sherman’s abnormal behavior yesterday, Summer was worried for her, and planned to see her at her house. She had few friends, of which Sherman and Grace were the closest. She would not hesitate to give her their support and company whenever they were in trouble. She told Maria to look after Charlotte before leaving. Summer took a taxi to Sherman’s place. After paying the driver, she went upstairs and knocked on the door. Sherman answered the door. She looked horrible with her hair sticking out at all angles, da
“But it really is brazen of her. Doesn’t she have a cell phone or a computer, that she had to use letter paper? Does this make her look more innocent?” Summer shrugged with a sneer. While the two were talking, footsteps approached. Billy walked in with a smile on his handsome face. “Have you had lunch, honey?” Sherman got up and threw the stack of letters and the printed bank statement in front of him. Her body trembled uncontrollably. “Give me an explanation, Billy!” Billy glanced down and his face changed, but it was not obvious. “You searched my belongings?” “Yes.” Sherman stared at him with a sneer. “You are angry that I searched your precious belongings without your permission?” “Of course, not. Why would I be angry? You have every right to do that as my wife.” Billy quickly restrained his reaction and chuckled, walking over to put his hand around Sherman’s shoulder affectionately. Sherman was disgusted and flung his arm away. “What is the bank record all about? Why di
A 30% chance was indeed low. It was 5:00 pm when Summer left the coffee shop. She felt down upon learning how slim her chance of winning the case was. It was lower than what she expected. She hurried back to the apartment, where Charlotte was sitting on the settee watching TV. Charlotte put away the remote control, scurried back into the room, and slammed the door shut. Maria was cleaning the living room when she saw what happened. “Little Miss Valentine was not too happy when she woke up and found that you had gone out without bringing her along. She is still angry now.” “She is irascible indeed.” Summer let out a smile. “Children are like that. When she woke up without seeing you, she cried the entire time, looking for you. At least, the cartoon could divert her attention.” Maria also let out a smile. “Let me go in and coax Charlotte. I will leave you to it, Maria.” Summer stood outside the door and knocked on the door, making a voice that imitated Barney. “Hey, Baby Bop.
Summer’s eyebrows moved slightly when she heard Mark’s voice coming beside her, but she did not look up and continued to do what she was doing. When the basin of grapes was almost washed, she looked up and inadvertently saw that many of the grapes in the bunches in Mark’s and Charlotte’s hands had the skins broken, and grape juice was flowing out. Charlotte must think that it was not fun enough; she picked up the grapes oozing with juice and rolled them up and down Mark’s face. “Mark, don’t move. I am giving you a massage.” Mark raised his brows, his face darkening. Charlotte saw his expression and stopped the dido because she was scared. The next second, Mark’s lips curled up as he picked a grape from the bunch of washed grapes, peeled the skin, and then shoved it under Charlotte’s short sleeves. The wet grape slid down Charlotte’s clothes and she writhed and giggled. Likewise, she grabbed a handful of grapes from the water and stuffed them all in Mark’s black silk shirt.
Maria came into the kitchen and saw Summer squatting there to clean up the floor. “Let me do this, Ms. Hart.”“It is okay. I got this. My hands are dirty anyway.”Maria knew she should not ask, but she could not help herself. “If you don’t mind me asking, why did you and Mr. Valentine divorce, Ms. Hart?”The two of them seemed to be a good match. Besides, they had Charlotte between them. They should be a happy family. So why did they get divorced?Summer’s hands froze for a second. But she quickly regained her composure. “We just divorced like that.”Maria did not ask any further, just feeling sorry for the two of them.Here, in the living room, Charlotte could not seem to calm down. As Mark leaned back and looked at his documents, she straddled his chest, wriggling left and right and feeding him grapes.Summer saw this when she emerged from the kitchen. Mark’s face sank as he read the files, as if he found something amiss in the contract document. He put Charlotte on the settee
“You haven’t changed a bit after four years. You are meaner than ever,” Yvette said with a bitter expression. “Do you really think I am going to believe a scheming woman like you?” “It is okay if you don’t believe me. How about we make an agreement?” A dim light flashed in Summer’s eyes. “What are you trying to pull here?” Summer snickered. “What can I do under your nose when you are so influential in Santabaca? You will find what I am going to propose irresistible.” “I am all ears.” Yvette looked at her warily. “If you can convince your son to give up Charlotte’s custody, I will bring Charlotte to leave Santabaca for good, and I will never appear in front of the Valentine family again. What do you say?” Summers’ calculation was that Yvette could be a strategic piece of chess. Yvette looked at Summer for several seconds. “Why should I trust you? I will trust anyone but you,” she said coldly. She could not agree to Summer’s proposal for two reasons. The first was that sh
Old Hag… Yvette put her hand to her forehead, looking at Charlotte with anger. “How could you be so rude?” “You called my mommy a mistress first. That was you are the Old Hag. You were being rude first, not me.” Charlotte knew who was first at fault. Like mother, like daughter; Charlotte was rancorous and mean, Yvette thought. Mark should see the true faces of this mother and daughter. “Where is Mark?” Yvette was boiling with anger. She looked over at Maria, who was standing nearby. “Mr. Valentine has just gone out for work.” Maria did not like Yvette either, as Yvette was mean. Yvette sat down on the settee, looked at Maria, and spelled out her words. “Kick her out.” She was referring to Summer. Maria was in a pickle. She glanced at Summer and then at Yvette again, then stood still. Yvette picked up the coffee on the table and took a sip. “Aren’t you listening to me now? She is no longer my daughter-in-law, but a stranger. It is getting late now. How can you let
Even if she could not agree with Yvette and Yvette was at fault, Yvette was still Mark’s mother. She could not badmouth the mother in front of the son. No one would like to hear that. Mark’s voice deepened as he asked Maria to call Summer. He wanted Summer to send Charlotte back to the apartment, or he would pick them up from the hotel tomorrow afternoon. Maria heard voices in the background, as if Mark was in an important meeting. The line went dead after that. It was 10:00 pm by the time Summer reached the hotel. She carried Charlotte and used the elevator to return to her room. Charlotte was sleeping the whole time. The screen of her cell phone lit up as soon as she placed Charlotte on the bed. It was Sherman calling. She picked up the phone and walked away from the bed. “How are you and Billy doing? Have you two talked it over?” “He said that Natalie was ill in the past few years, and she had no family or friends. He felt guilty for what happened between Natalie and h