I sometimes forget he is my boss and I still have to follow his rules. “I’m sorry.”
“I know you’re worked up, but we’re doing it for a good reason. We can’t have everyone relying on just one person. What if I need you to head to California to handle something and your team goes out? Or what if Quinn is unable to go or Ben gets sick? This company is only as good as our weakest team, and that’s all of us if we can’t work as a unit. We want our people to be just as good as they always are, no matter who they are working with, and rotating everyone is the only way to do that. Plus, I don’t know how you and the first Oliver are going to manage now that you married a different Oliver with, like, a day’s notice.”
He’s right, and at some point, I’ll need to talk to that Oliver and get this figured out.
“Is he here?”
“No, he’s still out of the country.”
So much for that idea. “Speaking of getting married, where is my signed marriage license?” I need to do some shredding.
I may be falling for Oliver, but we need to start things off right if we can. Meaning, not married and in the position to decide what we want going forward. If we try and fail, then at least the split will be as easy as possible for both of us.
“About that . . .”
Oh God. “You didn’t.” My head falls in my hands as I prepare for the worst.
“In my defense—”
“No, you are defenseless. You have no defense for filing it!”
“I didn’t file it. Charlie did.”
I blink a few times, jaw slack and can’t speak.
“According to her, she thought you wanted her to file it. She said if you really hadn’t wanted to be married, then you wouldn’t have signed it.”
“She knew!” I yell.
“I’m going to agree with you on that, but we know my devious wife likes to think she knows better than anyone. Charlie said you’re free to call her, and she’ll give you some bullshit about mistakenly doing it, but the fact remains, it’s been filed and you’re legally married.”
This is a problem. A big one.
Oliver doesn’t want to be married—at least not like this.
“Mark, this is not okay.”
“I’m sorry. I know that woman heard you and Oliver say not to file it, and I . . . I underestimated her and left it out. Really, I never thought she would do paperwork, she never does.”
“I’ll . . . find a way to fix this.”
He gets to his feet. “I think Natalie knows a great divorce attorney.”
“Yeah. Thanks. Listen, I need to take a week or two off again. I know the timing sucks, but my father . . .”
“Take whatever you need. We’ve got your back.”
Mark winks and then walks out, closing the door behind him.
I lean back in my chair, letting out a heavy breath. This is not good.
The worst part is that now I have to figure out a new way to show him that he’s not my second choice. I want to be with him. I want to build a life with him in whatever way we can. None of that is achievable unless I can first prove to him that, if I had the freedom to choose, I would choose him every time.
My phone rings, and it’s Linda’s number.
“Hi, Linda.”
“Are you on your way yet?”
“Is he okay?”
“Yes,” she says clipped. “He’s doing the salsa now. No, he’s not okay, Maren. He’s exhausted after all the excitement from the wedding. He’s having a hard time waking up to take his medication, and he is refusing to eat. I am beside myself, which you’d know if you were here. There are a lot of things I need to handle, and it would be wonderful if anyone from the McVee family decided to be here for Patrick.”
Deep breaths, Maren. I can either lose it on her or I can remember that she’s probably saying this from a place of fear and anger.
“I’m booking my flight today, and I’ll be there. Oliver will probably come in tomorrow.”
“You’re both coming?”
“Yes.”
She clears her throat. “That’s . . . nice.”
“We will help however we can so you can get a break. I’ll call the family and see who else can come.”
“We don’t need a houseful of people,” she bristles.
She wants help, but she only wants it if it’s on her terms and never with us all in a group. However, this is about my dad. He loves his sisters and brothers. He loves his daughter, and for some reason, he loves her. So, for him, we are all going to be there and hold his hand. That’s it.
“I’ll arrange hotels and a rotation, but you’ll have help around the clock, and we’ll all be there for Daddy. In the end, I think what we all want is for him to feel loved and know that you also have support.”
I hear her hiccup before she steels her voice. “Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow.”
I hang up and then immediately call Natalie to ask for help.
Twenty-Four
OLIVER
I have small amounts of pain, nothing I can’t handle, but this bulge isn’t going down, and I woke up last night in a pool of sweat. If I hadn’t already promised Maren I would go to the doctor, last night would have convinced me to get checked out. Also, I want to have sex again. The mistake I made was calling to make an appointment while Josh and I were out running errands. My choices were an immediate slot or having to wait a week. That is how I ended up sitting in a packed waiting room with Josh, who is the last person anyone wants around for embarrassing problems.
“So, you pulled a muscle during sex?”
“Can you maybe not say that loud enough that Mrs. Villafane hears?”
“She can’t hear anything.” He waves to her, and she waves back.
“You know they hear everything. Even the things no one actually says.”
“Ehh, they’re harmless.”
“I don’t remember you saying that a few months ago.”
Josh waves to her again. “That was when she was meddling in my life.”
“Right.”
“Back to the issue, you were banging Maren and, what? You twisted wrong?”
“No, it wasn’t like that. It just . . . happened. I don’t know.”
The weird thing is that I have minimal pain so maybe this is some overuse issue. Like, I haven’t had all that much sex since Devney, so maybe my body is expelling a lot of backed up jizz. It could be a thing.
Mrs. Villafane smiles at me and then looks down at my waist. “My husband did that once too,” she informs me.
So much for not hearing. I force a smile. “Good to know.”
“We used to have a lot of sex back then. Wasn’t much else to do. This town was even smaller fifty years ago, you know?”
Kill me now.
I glare at Josh. It’s his fault I’m now stuck in this conversation. “I’m sure he was grateful for the lack of entertainment.”
Mrs. Villafane moves to sit next to me. “I was quite good at role play to keep it fresh. It’s important to do that in a marriage.”
I sputter as my brother chokes on his laugh. “I hear Josh and Delia like to get kinky with handcuffs and things.”
Her eyes widen, and she looks at him. “Joshua!”
“I don’t!” he defends. “I would never.”