“And, soon, you’ll be my ex-wife.”
“How can you be so uncaring?” she asked. “How can you just throw me aside like this? Is there someone else?”
My face pinched at just the wrong moment, projecting that I was seeing someone else…Heidi. And Miranda knew me too well not to judge my facial expressions, my annoyance with her question, as anything else but the truth.
She gasped. “Who is it? Are you cheating on me?”
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “I have never cheated on you. And I can’t currently be cheating on you because we’re separated. And, if you’d just sign the paperwork, we’d be divorced.”
“So, you are seeing someone then?”
“This conversation has no purpose. If you’re here to annoy me, then congratulations. You’ve succeeded.” I held my hands up in frustration.
There was no way in hell I was going to tell her about Heidi. No way that I would ever mention dating someone else until the divorce was completely final. Nothing would make Miranda drag her feet more than knowing I had already moved on. No matter that I had checked out of my headspace with Miranda a year ago. I did not want this to last any longer than it had to.
“Is that what you think? That I’m here to annoy you?” She sank into her hip, and her nostrils flared. “I think this entire thing is fucking insane, Landon. I’m your fucking wife. There has to be a reason for this motherfucking madness. Either you’ve found someone else or you’ve gone clinically insane.”
I huffed. “Really sweet. Now, I’m clinically insane?”
“No,” she grumbled. “I think you’re with someone else.”
“What is it going to take for you to sign the papers?” I demanded to change the subject.
She bit her cherry-red lip and looked at me as if this were the first time she had thought of the question. I knew by her eyes that it was not. “Nothing.”
“I don’t believe you. You’re already getting half of everything that’s not covered in the prenup. What more could you want from me?”
“Everything.”
“Well, you can’t have everything.”
“Then, just you.”
“No. You know what? I’m not having this conversation with you any longer. I’ll have my lawyer contact you, and if we can’t settle this in a reasonable way, then we’ll go to mediation, or we’ll go to court. Your choice, Miranda.”
Her eyes were wide with alarm, as if she had finally realized that I was serious.
“Take me to dinner tonight. Have one more night with me.”
“No,” I said at once. I didn’t want to spend any more time with her than I had to.
“And I’ll sign.”
I paused. Was she serious? One dinner, and she’d end all of this? It seemed too good to be true. And you know what they said about things that were too good to be true.
“I don’t believe you.”
“I swear it.”
Just then the door crashed inward, and Morgan’s face appeared in the door.
Oh, man, how I loved my sister for her impeccable timing.
“Heyyyyy!”
“Oh, Morgan,” Miranda said deprecatingly. She raised her chin a notch and flashed her a fierce smile that could only be seen as a threat. “How good to see you. As always.”
“Same, Miranda. What are you doing here? Just took a wrong turn and ended up in Lubbock, huh?” she asked in the slow voice usually reserved for misbehaving toddlers.
“I’m here to see my husband. You don’t have to be so patronizing.”
“Oh, big words. So adorable,” Morgan said.
I tried not to laugh. “Morgan.”
“Are you going to let her talk to me like this?” Miranda asked, whirling on me.
“You think I have any control over her?” I asked.
“He doesn’t,” Morgan confirmed.
“How did you even know she was here?”
Morgan shrugged. “Gossip travels quick.” She whirled back on Miranda. “Ready to go home now? Buh-bye!”
“You can’t make me leave.”
Morgan touched her hand to her chin and contemplatively gazed up in the air. “Hmm…last I checked…I was the vice president of this company. That kind of makes me…in charge around here. I know that must be hard for you to comprehend since you don’t have a job. Your idea of work is being a stay-at-home wife, which means spending all of my brother’s money and generally being a bimbo.”
“Fuck you, Morgan.”
“So, as you can see, I can make you leave.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Morgan had been waiting for this moment for too long. She was enjoying herself way too much.
“It’s okay. She’s going to go. Aren’t you, Miranda?” I asked.
“What about dinner?” she asked.
I knew she had asked on purpose, right in front of Morgan. Not her smartest move though because there was no way that Morgan would think that was a good idea. I was still on the fence and leaning toward holding on strong and not giving in. Seemed the smartest option. But, still…if there were a chance.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Don’t think about anything,” Miranda said. She eyed Morgan disdainfully. “Just text me.”
“It’s time for you to go!” Morgan interrupted. “You’re trespassing on private property, and if you don’t get out of here, I’ll call security.”
Miranda shot her a vicious glare. “You’re such a bitch, Morgan.”
“Fine by me!” Morgan shot back. “Now, out!”
Miranda gave Morgan one more angry glare before sending me a simpering look and stomping out of my office. I was glad to have her gone, but I knew we had made a spectacle of the whole ordeal. That meant, Heidi had probably heard some of it, which was probably not that great. I needed to talk to her and clear the air.
“You are not seriously considering going to dinner with her?” Morgan said, rounding on me. “What the hell did she say before I showed up that would make you consider that?”
I shrugged. This was a conversation I didn’t want to have with Morgan either.
“Oh my God, you’re not getting back together.” She reached out and grabbed my arm. “Please, for the love of all things holy, tell me you are not getting back together with her!”
“We’re not getting back together. Calm down,” I said with a laugh.
“Oh, thank God. I thought I was going to have to stage an intervention. I would get the entire family together. We’d meet at Jensen’s place. It would probably involve a PowerPoint presentation and lots of whiskey.”
I held my hand up to stop her from continuing, but I was grinning. “I get it. No one in the family likes her.”
“Understatement.”
“And you’re all thrilled that my marriage is dissolving, and we’re divorcing.”
“Very.”
“And you don’t care how it happens as long as it’s done.”
“Well, more or less. I mean, I want you to be happy. And I’m certain you’ll come out of this happier than you were before. I don’t know how you lived with her this long.”
“You know, she wasn’t always like that with me.”
“Or you were just banging and didn’t care.” Morgan put her hands over her eyes. “Horrible mental image.”