Wilfred let out a long breath, a confident smile returning to his face. "I promise, if I have time, I'll go visit Professor Finch."
"Alright. I'll let my grandmother know so she can make your favorite—sweet and sour ribs."
Margery smiled.
For a moment, Wilfred found himself staring, caught off guard by that smile. When he snapped out of it, he quickly looked away.
"Miss Finch, I'm heading to Family Court now. If everything goes smoothly, the divorce should be finalized today, so I probably won't need to trouble you with the lawsuit after all. But if something unexpected comes up, I'll give you a call."
"Okay, no problem. I'll get going then. See you around."
Sliding her sunglasses on and tossing her long golden hair, Margery returned to her sports car.
A smile slowly curved at the corner of her lips.
Ever since she'd heard from friends that Wilfred and Hildegarde were getting divorced, Margery had been quietly keeping tabs on him.
Seeing the man she'd secretly admired since childhood finally pulling himself together again—
It made her genuinely happy.
Wilfred, I can't wait to see you become that genius again. That boy who used to tug on my ponytail... My boy, put on your armor and rise again!
In the end, Hildegarde never showed up at Family Court.
Wilfred waited there all afternoon for nothing.
When pickup time at the preschool approached, he had no choice but to drive over and get Penelope.
"Daddy, Daddy, guess what?"
"Uncle Patrick got beat up!"
"A bunch of moms held him down and hit him!"
The moment she got in the car, Penelope launched into an animated retelling of the afternoon's events.
It turned out that after Patrick learned the honey bread Hilary brought had become a huge hit among the preschoolers, he rushed over with several more bags. The result?
The parents discovered he was behind the tainted treats and immediately tore into him.
They demanded compensation.
Patrick, unaccustomed to such treatment, started arguing back.
The argument escalated, and several parents gave him a thorough beating.
"Were you and Hilary okay?"
Wilfred didn't care what shape Patrick was in. Frankly, after he'd called Marjorie, he'd expected something like this.
"We're fine. I protected Hilary. I didn't let her get hurt."
Penelope said it matter-of-factly.
"Good girl."
He reached over and ruffled her hair, then drove her to get fried chicken.
Kids loved fried food—though of course, not too much of it.