Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 63862 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63862 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
“I wish it was that simple. But he didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed. If anything, he was just very calm and composed and, I don’t know, certain. Like he fully accepted this marriage.”
“Hmm. Well, did he say anything on the flight?”
“Not really. Just telling me that he ordered me food and a car when we got there. I slept, though.”
Or pretended to sleep.
“Maybe you should just give it a couple of days, then go back to see him when you’re calm and he’s had time to really think about the situation. And maybe get reamed out by his lawyers.”
“It’s an idea,” I agreed.
I was already feeling less crazed about the whole situation, and I hadn’t even fully recovered from the hangover yet.
“Well, I think if I can recover here for a few days, you know, with that adjustable bed, and the soaking tub, and the steam room…”
“Of course you can stay here,” Willa said. She waved an arm out at the sprawling, empty space. “It’s not like I don’t have room.”
“What’s that look for?” I asked when a little smirk toyed with her lips.
“Just an idea to try out if Harrison still says no to the annulment.”
“What is it? I’m open to all ideas at this point.”
“Well, if he doesn’t want an ex-wife, you could… become his wife. His very present, very annoying, very nagging, very messy wife. And we both know the last part won’t be hard.”
Okay.
So I wasn’t a neat freak.
Living out of suitcases often meant my stuff got strewn around hotel rooms. It was a habit I sometimes continued as a house guest at my family’s places.
I tried to keep an eye on the habit.
But if I wanted to really annoy Harrison—who seemed like a tidy kind of guy—I would ramp it up.
“That would require living with him,” I said, zeroing in on the only flaw in the plan.
“In his multi-million-dollar penthouse. You poor, poor thing,” Willa teased.
“Fair,” I agreed. “I think I could be good at making a man’s life a living hell.”
“It’s definitely an option if he doubles down. Also, as his wife who didn’t sign a prenup…”
“You’re evil. I love it.”
“You can only push someone so far until they bend or break. Just make sure you have the paperwork handy when he gets to that point. But I hope he will be reasonable about this and you can just… talk him into signing the papers.”
“It’s good to have a backup plan, though. You’re home late. Did you eat?”
“If by ‘eat’ you mean scarf down a bag of chips at lunch, then yes.”
“Okay, it’s not usually my place in our friend group to act like the mom, but you need to be taking better care of yourself now.” My gaze slipped to her still-flat tummy. But we both knew it wouldn’t be that way for long.
“Don’t worry,” she said when my gaze slid from her stomach to her latte, “this is decaf. All my coffee is decaf now. I hate it. I’m exhausted all the time.”
“You could, and I’m just spitballing here, work less now.”
“I could. But the company is already a little… antsy about me needing maternity leave eventually. I’m trying to keep things calm.”
“We both know you are going to be working remote from the damn hospital bed,” I said. “And you’re allowed to be gentle with yourself. You have a lot going on.”
I couldn’t imagine going through first-time motherhood completely alone. I mean, Willa would never be alone with our giant family. But that was different from having a partner.
“So, what I’m hearing is you will go get food while I take a bath,” she said, reaching to twist up her hair.
“I can do that. Do you have any cravings?”
“Anything bad for me. I’ve been eating super clean since… well… since,” she said, gesturing down at her stomach. “I think we could both go for comfort food.”
That was exactly what the night called for.
Willa took a bath while I ordered several different kinds of junk food. Then we binged it while watching old comedies that did not involve romance of any kind, with both of us being a little sensitive about that, given our current circumstances.
Once Willa dragged herself to bed, I made myself sweat any lingering tequila out in the sauna before taking a bath and dropping into the spare bed.
As exhausted as I felt, though, sleep refused to come.
I got up, checked the doors and windows, unloaded the dishwasher, made Willa a lunch bag full of leftovers for the next day, then finally started to unpack my belongings.
That’s when I found it.
Not just my missing black dress, the one I assumed Harrison meant when talking about me spilling butter all over myself. But that one didn’t seem laundered. The one that did have a fresh laundromat bag around it, though? The wedding gown from the chapel images.