In all the time that we'd lived in our house, Elliot had never come down for Halloween, let alone for the party, and suddenly he was here tonight, right after our divorce was finalized? Seriously, what the fuck was he doing here?

But sure enough, there he was, standing in the kitchen with a drink in his hand while talking to Deb. Deb, like Larry, was decked out as a zombie with all the makeup, while Elliot was wearing a pair of pressed slacks and a golf shirt. I shuddered at the thought that I must have looked out of place like that in years past without a costume. But I couldn't dwell on it, as he saw us and walked our way, waving at the girls and visibly leering at me as he got closer.

"Hey, babe. I was hoping you might stop by." He was all puffed up as he stood in front of me, and all the other girls stood in a circle around me as if to protect me. Sorry, everyone but Raquel, who had already wandered off to get food.

"I'm not your babe," I reminded him. "The papers have all been signed and filed. You're nothing but a mistake at this point. Why are you even here?"

"I came to see my girls! And you, of course. I missed you." He was smiling like a used car dealer trying to make a sale, and none of us were buying it. Even worse, his eyes were moving up and down my body, and I didn't like it nearly as much as when Zee had done it. "Come on babe, don't tell me you haven't missed me."

"What happened, did your girls back home find out about the divorce? Are you back home to beg your mom for some money?" I wondered in a harsh whisper. My girls all knew what happened, and I didn't mind Zee finding out the truth, but I would save him the embarrassment of saying it too loudly. I wasn't too much of an asshole, I just wanted him to leave us alone. "Just stay away from us."

"Oh, come on! Can't we pretend we're a family for a night?"

"No," I replied quite clearly as I pointed to all the girls. "We're a family, and you're not a part of it. If the girls want to spend time with you tonight, that is their prerogative, but we want to enjoy our night, and no offence, but seeing you isn't helping that in the least."

"Dad, this isn't cool, at all!" Gracie told him darkly. "You should have at least called instead of making everyone uncomfortable."

"Seriously," agreed Hollie. "Wanting to pretend we're a family after ghosting us for most of our lives is a joke."

He opened his mouth to protest that, but I just shut him up. "They're right Elliot. They barely know you, and showing up unannounced like this to a party that you know they love isn't the way to do it. I have no idea what made you think this would be a good idea."

I detoured around him, heading into the main group of people at the party. There were a lot of neighbors, the majority in costume, all enjoying themselves. Some had brought kids, and others were anywhere from teens and college kids to some other people my age. All of the girls stuck with me, with Hollie and Zee staying between me and Elliot, even as Zee kept her promise of feeding Hollie some sweets.

There were a lot of happy people at the party, but I was no longer one of them. "I can't believe he's here," I muttered under my breath. "I didn't even realize he ever got an invitation."

"It's okay mom. We'll be by you all night," Hollie promised. "I'm just wishing I picked a different costume so I could hug you right now!"

"I'm your arms for the night," Zee reminded her. "I'll give her a hug for you." She wasted no time in hugging me, which was both wonderfully sneaky and exactly what I needed. Hollie even smiled at the sight, making me feel ten times better. "I got you," she added in a low whisper that only I could hear over the chatter of the party.

Yeah, she was going to get a nice reward tonight!

At least Gracie and Jashanna were having fun, having found several of their classmates to hang out with, while Zee and Hollie kept me company. I felt bad, because normally I would be talking to some of the other adults and catching up. I wasn't super friendly with them, but there were several neighbors that I recognized. I just didn't want to be alone and have Elliot confront me again. Granted, I'd love for Zee to stay by my side all night, and Hollie was really helping to be a barrier too. But it was a party, and not fair to the two of them to be stuck with me.

"Girls, go have a good time. I'll be fine, okay? Gracie and Jashanna are having fun, so you can too."

The pair shared a quick look, then Hollie nodded at Zee, who replied in a low voice. "We will, but you better come find us if you need us. Treat this like a high school or college party too, no taking drinks from anyone."

I almost protested, but then realized they had a point. Elliot showing up here with no warning after never attending before was a major red flag, and I couldn't dismiss that. "Point taken. I'm not having much tonight anyway. I have to make sure all my girls get home safe."

"Mom, I think we're safer than you. Dad is just being weird," Hollie snorted.

"Please be safe?" Zee added, placing her hand on my arm as she looked in my eyes. "We'll keep an eye on you."

I looked between the pair of them, then scooped them both into a hug. "Thank you both. I'll be safe. Try to have a little fun though."

"We'll be fine," Hollie assured me. "I'll just keep eating."

I wandered towards the kitchen, since I didn't see Elliot there anymore, and I wanted to thank Deb for hosting the party once more. I grabbed a cup of the punch that she'd made, her normal mix of fruit juices and rum with peeled grapes added to make them feel like squishy eyeballs, and then found her chatting with one of the neighbors from down the street. I was regretting that Quinn had a date tonight, because she would have been great to have here as another friend to lean on with Elliot being here to make me constantly look over my shoulder.

"Hey Deb," I nudged her once she was free. "You killed it again. Great party."

Deb turned to me with a smile, then gave me a little high five to make sure she didn't get her zombie makeup all over me. "Demi! It's so good to see you. You brought a whole team with you today."

"We did, yeah," I replied with a chuckle. "Hollie brought home some college roomies, and we just adopted Jashanna, so she's my newest baby."

"And you even got your husband here!" she pointed out. "I don't think we've seen him around here for a few years now."

"That's right!" Elliot chimed in as he materialized behind me like a fucking ghost and wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me into him. "I couldn't stay away when Demi told me about the party. Here hon, I brought you a refill." He held out a cup of the punch with a big smile, and I wanted to scream. But fuck it, if he wanted to play with fire, then he could easily get singed. Or perhaps burned to a crisp.

"We're divorced actually," I said clearly while prying his hand from my waist. "I have no idea what he's doing here, I was shocked to see him." I took the glass of punch he handed me and reached over to the sink, pouring it down while looking him in the eyes. "I wouldn't expect to see him around much going forward though."

Deb's eyes shifted between us as she just stood there uncomfortably. I didn't really mean for her to be caught in the middle, but I wanted Elliot to understand that whatever the fuck he was doing wasn't going to work. "I'm... I'm sorry," she stammered. "I better go check on Larry." She wandered away quickly, leaving me stuck with Elliot.

"What the fuck was that?" snarled Elliot. "Why do you have to be such a bitch, Demi?"

"Why are you calling mom a bitch, dad?" Hollie asked as she appeared on one side of me, with Zee sliding into the other. They'd evidently headed right over when he approached me.

"She's treating me like a stranger! Telling everyone we're divorced! Humiliating me!"

"We are divorced," I reminded him in a snarling whisper. "The papers have been signed, sealed, and delivered. If I wanted to sleep with someone tonight, I could. I'm a single woman. I have no fucking idea why you showed up here, or what you hoped to get out of it besides antagonizing me and the girls, but I don't appreciate it. You know what the visitation conditions are, and you have zero reason to be near me otherwise, so just stop this bullshit charade."

"Fine. I just figured we could still be friendly after all this time. You didn't have to act like you barely knew me."

"We do barely know you, dad!" Hollie told him sadly. "We've barely seen you! Gracie only knows that you're her father because mom told her that, you sure never treated her like your kid, and I'm not much better. You may not like the divorce, but it's going to let us start over."

Elliot narrowed his eyes, pointing at me. "You're not taking my family away from me!"

"You've never even treated them like family," Zee chimed in. "Hell, I just got here, and I can tell you have no clue what any of them want or you wouldn't be acting like this."

I tried not to snicker, but she was absolutely correct, and that wasn't even counting her knowing how to please me a hell of a lot better than he ever did.

"Who the fuck are you?" Elliot just shook his head and backed up. "This is unbelievable. Fine. I'll leave, but this isn't over."

"Yes, it is. You already agreed to everything, so now you need to live with it." I wasn't going to be intimidated by his crap. He just whirled and stomped away, leaving through the front door in a huff. Zee walked over, watching through the small window next to the door before she came back and told me that he'd driven away. I pulled both of them into another hug, doing my best not to let my hands linger on Zee too much, and then we got back to enjoying the rest of the party.