His eyes grew wide when he said, “Yeah,” as if my question was the most absurd thing he’d ever been asked. “Ever since Stacey moved home with her husband and kids, your mom has been hosting weekly Sunday gatherings. Everyone attends.”
Stacey was my second-oldest sister, and she’d moved back home a little over two years ago when her husband had been laid off. Dad had offered him a job to help them get back on their feet, but they never left. I was the last child to come home, and even though I had my reasons for staying away, I couldn’t help but feel slightly rejected after hearing how they were all so tight and close in my absence.
“How cozy of you to welcome yourself into my family.”
“Oh, Janelle.” He shook his head and tsked. “I’ve always been a part of your family. I was included a very long time ago. Don’t take your anger out on me—I’m not the one who kept you away. If you want to be mad at someone for being left out of the family circle, I have a mirror hanging in the bathroom, and you’re more than welcome to look in it.”
“What reason would I have to be mad?” I prayed I was able to mask the hurt I felt, because I really didn’t want him privy to my inner emotions. “Clearly, it doesn’t bother me that you and everyone else gets together every weekend behind my back, and this is the first I’ve heard about it.” I jutted my chin out as if I’d proven a point. Then I replayed my words—and noticed the smug look on his gorgeous face—and realized I hadn’t effectively hidden anything.
“What’s going on, Janelle?” Once again, he sat with his elbow on the armrest, his thumb beneath his chin, his forefinger along his cheekbone, and the others draped beneath his mouth…like the arrogant ass he seemed to have become. “Are you really getting married? And if so, where did this guy come from? Why does no one in your family know about him?”
I almost turned away. Almost. But a split second before I did that, I happened to see the shade of his greenish-grey eyes shift the slightest bit. It was a small shadow, so easy to miss. And for reasons my heart refused to explain, the emotion I caught filled me with excitement. Concern was what I’d seen. And not just any concern, but deep, passionate trepidation. It was unexpected, but so worth seeing.
“No one knows because I haven’t said anything. It’s all happened so fast, and I didn’t want to chance anyone scaring him away.”
“How fast? Wait—” He held out his hand and narrowed his gaze. “How long have you known him?”
“Almost two months.”
As if he hadn’t already shown signs of worry, my confession seemed to shock him into a state of panic, bordering on complete outrage. “Are you kidding me right now?” He shot out of the recliner and leaned over the coffee table between us, hovering over me. “You just met this kid two months ago, and you’re already getting married?”
“Yes. The sooner the better. So I need you to sign these divorce papers, please.” I turned to my purse on the couch next to me and pulled out an envelope. With a smug grin, I stood up and held it out to him.
He stared at it, then at me, then back at the offending manila envelope. “No.”
“Excuse me?”
“No. I’m not signing those. I’m not giving you a divorce.”
3
Holden
I stared at her, attempting to take everything in, because I couldn’t believe she was here. In my house. Even more disbelieving was that she’d come to ask me for a divorce…so she could marry someone else.
The thought made me sick. My stomach did flip-flops while I regarded her, taking note of her honey-colored hair, so much longer than it used to be. I could still remember how it smelled when she’d leaned against my shoulder while watching a movie together. The more I observed her, the more lost I became in her presence. Even though the sight of her made my stomach ache less, it made my chest ache even more.
She wore her hair styled in loose curls, pinned away from her face. I always loved her hair pulled back because her eyes seemed so much bigger when they weren’t hidden. The dark kohl lining the edges brought attention to the subtle explosions of caramel in the vibrant blue. The golden webs stretching toward the dark rims of the irises nearly hypnotized me. It was hard to take my attention off the eyes I’d spent so many years looking into, but the splatter of freckles along the bridge of her nose and across her cheeks brought my focus to her fiery complexion, which reminded me that the woman in front of me was fuming.
“You can’t deny me a divorce.” Her cheeks flamed with the same anger lighting her wide eyes and causing her pink bottom lip to tremble. Janelle had always been so transparent—well, most of the time. Turned out that wasn’t the case when she had too much to drink. “You can’t force me to stay married to you—especially when I didn’t even know we were married in the first place.”
I struggled against the grin threatening to split my lips. I had no idea where this need to fight came from, but it was a powerful one. It wasn’t like I had some sort of vendetta against her for anything, or a desire to piss her off, but for some reason, I couldn’t seem to stop. Probably because she came here and demanded I give her what she wanted. And had it been anything other than a divorce…I probably would’ve done it.
“I may not be able to force you to stay with me, but I can certainly drag this process out for years and exhaust a good portion of your twenties, as well as your bank account.”
“You wouldn’t do that,” she argued, though her voice sounded more like begging.
And that’s when I knew I had her. I confidently reclaimed my seat across from her and stated smugly, “Watch me.”
With a renewed sense of defiance, she crossed her arms over her chest, bringing my attention to her perfect breasts, the same ones I found myself still dreaming of years later. “Oh, yeah? And how do you plan on explaining this to Matthew? Huh? I’m sure he and the rest of my family won’t be too pleased to find out you married me five years ago, after getting me drunk, and now you’re refusing to grant me a divorce despite the strained relationship we’ve had since the night in question.”
Giving in, I laughed. I tilted my head back and released a hearty chuckle, deep, from the pit of my stomach. Janelle had always been the baby. She always seemed to get whatever she wanted from anyone, which was why when Matt and I wanted something from his parents, we’d always send in Janelle to ask. And as much as it pained me to admit it, she always got what she wanted from me, as well. This may have been the first time she didn’t bat her long, dark eyelashes and walk away the victor.