Come Together (37 page)

Panic settled in my chest, and my eyes grew big. Her hand that had been rubbing my shoulder stopped.

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Are you pregnant?”

“No!” I exclaimed.

“Then what . . . ?”

I waited until I had resumed air intake. “Bill wanted children. I didn’t.”

“Oh,” she exhaled. “Are you saying you still don’t? Even with David?”

“I – I don’t know. It seems early to even think about.”

“Yes, but – ”

“Did you have doubts before you had Alex?”

She shook her head. “No, sorry. I always knew I wanted kids, and if I ever marry again, I’ll have more.”

“Oh.”

“You should be having this conversation with him.”

“I know,” I said, looking away. “Things are still so new though. I mean, in a way, we’re still getting to know each other. It seems too soon.”

“Honey,” she said, “my brother is crazy about you. It’s definitely not too soon to bring it up.”

“It’s not?”

“No. If you’re as serious about him as he is about you, then you need to have that talk.”

“I am,” I told her, and my heart squeezed. Kids? Already? When I’d just, not weeks ago, been having that dreadful conversation with Bill? Didn’t I get some time to adjust, to enjoy what we were doing?

“You know, some women don’t feel maternal at your age,” she pointed out. “You might feel differently after you and David have been together a while.”

I nodded. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

She opened her mouth and paused before speaking. “Raising a child is not easy though. Don’t . . . do it for the wrong reasons.”

I swallowed dryly. “I agree.”

With Bill, I guessed that I would’ve eventually caved on having children, whether or not that was what I wanted. I guessed that because I thought I owed it to him, and because I knew, in the end, how hard he would’ve pushed. But David would never push me. And I could only be completely honest with him.

“For your own peace of mind, you should talk to him soon,” Jessa said, breaking into my thoughts. “He needs to know if that’s not something you want.”

“Yes,” I rasped.

“Either way,” she continued, “your secret is safe with me.”

I mumbled my thanks.

It was a laidback Thanksgiving during which I got to better know a piece of David: his family. That made me happy. On the drive home though, I turned up the music to a deafening level so I wouldn’t have to hear my own thoughts.

CHAPTER 24

I WOULD NEVER HAVE THOUGHT that spending a couple days without my boyfriend would be so hard. Even though Bill had traveled frequently for work, and at times was gone for up to two weeks, I’d always managed fine. By Friday I felt frustrated, restless and lonely. That was when I realized that not only was David my boyfriend and my exceptional love, but he had also become my best friend.

Something had been weighing heavily on my mind though, and I wanted to take care of it before I saw him next. Something that I knew he wouldn’t be happy about but that I wanted to do for him most of all.

On my way to the airport, I stopped by Bill’s office. The elevator ride up was strange; I hadn’t made an appointment so I wasn’t even sure that he was there. But from past experience, I knew he often worked the day after Thanksgiving, even though half the office didn’t.

The first thing I noticed about his office from the doorway was that our photo on the lake was gone. His head snapped up, but he didn’t look surprised. “What can I do for you, Olivia?” he asked, standing and straightening his tie.

“A very friendly gentleman delivered divorce papers to me at work earlier this week.”

He nodded. “I’m aware.”

“I was hoping we could go about this differently.”

“Why’s that?”

“I know that filing on the grounds of adultery won’t affect how much you get in the divorce. I also know that you might still have to pay alimony.”

“You’ve done your homework. Or maybe you have a lawyer already?”

“All I can think is that your intent is to embarrass me with a trial.”

“It’s not.”

I titled my head at him.

“My intent is to embarrass you both. The truth should be exposed.”

I sighed. “Bill, I’m not denying that what I did was awful, but it doesn’t make sense for you to waste money on this. Trust me, David has no problem shelling out whatever he has to. You’re smart about money. Don’t burn it just to watch me suffer.”

“Well, shouldn’t I get something out of all this? Chicago has him on a goddamn pedestal. If I don’t get a trial, then I’m going to the press. He deserves to be outed as the home wrecker he is.”

“
You
wrecked this,” I snapped. “You weren’t taking care of what you had, so he took it.”

He reeled back, and his eyes narrowed on me. “If you want something from me, this isn’t the way to get it.”

“I’m sick of both of you acting like little boys fighting over a toy. It was my decision to make, not his, not yours. If you make one slanderous move against him, I will spend all of David’s money making your life a living hell.”

He scoffed. “You can’t do anything.”

“Can’t I? Did you withhold evidence in Alvarez’s case so he’d get more time?”

“What the hell, Olivia?” he hissed, bolting toward me from around his desk. He looked into the hallway, shut the door and leaned toward me. “Where’d you hear that?” he whispered.

“Is it true?”

He looked me up and down. For all his lack of expression, he wasn’t hard to read. He was frightened. “Whatever I did, it was to keep a criminal off the streets,” he said quietly. “I’ve never done it before, but you have to understand, Lou Alvarez deserved the maximum sentence.”

“I know you’re an honest lawyer and that you must’ve had a good reason. But it’s still wrong.”

“So what’re you saying? You’d rat me out?”

“No. I don’t want to hurt you anymore. But if you go to the press to tarnish David’s name, I won’t hesitate.”

His jaw set, and he cursed. “Throwing a drink in Dani’s face, blackmailing me. I don’t even feel like I know you anymore.”

“I want you to drop the adultery charge. And I want the divorce in six months instead of two years.”

“Why would I agree to that? So you can run off and marry him?”

“No. I don’t want to drag this out. I want us all to move on.”

“Move on? It’s only been weeks. Well, weeks for me, but I guess you’ve been planning this for a while.”

“You know that’s not true. This is all new to me too.”

“What’s messed up is that even with what you did, I could still get stuck paying alimony.”

I sighed deeply. David’s love was doing something to me. In the little time we’d spent together, I was realizing his love was real and that I not only had it . . . I deserved it. It was a small bud blossoming inside me, but it was there. It made me realize that there was no victim, no villain here; Bill and I had both made mistakes, and we were bother suffering for them.

“I’ve put you through a lot,” I said, “and I’m sorry. I really am. But I think one day you’ll see that this isn’t all my fault.”

“I don’t think – ”

“If you agree to the six months, I will waive the right to alimony. Not only that, but you can keep the car and everything you didn’t throw in those boxes. The only thing I want is what I contributed to the savings account.”

“Are you crazy?” he asked. “Why would you do that?”

“I have my reasons.”

“He put you up to this?”

“It’s my decision.”

“Your share of the savings isn’t much. Not enough for legal fees or anything really.”

“I know.”

“So I get everything?” he asked warily.

“Yes.”

I read the pity in his eyes clearly. He was thinking that David would leave me with nothing. He knew, as a lawyer, the risk I was taking, and I’d figured he’d try to talk me out of it. But he didn’t.

“All right,” he said slowly. “If I am completely exempt from alimony, I will agree to six months.”

I nodded.

“And I have one more condition.”

“Okay,” I prompted.

Hesitation crossed his face, but it was fleeting. “Beyond the divorce proceedings, you and I no longer have any contact whatsoever.”

And just like that, in a matter of weeks, our relationship had come to its abrupt end. It had never occurred to me that Bill would one day be just a memory. Something that had happened but was no longer. And one day, these years with him would seem like so little time.

I knew it was Bill’s anger speaking, but, regardless, he was right. I looked at him with sadness and regret; not for losing him but for the pain I’d caused him. I now knew that we were wrong for each other, but it didn’t change the fact that we had loved each other. And I didn’t want to hurt him anymore. For that, I knew the only way to make things right was to cut him free. So I said, “Agreed.”

~

Everybody else had been in Florida since the day before, so they were settled by the time I arrived. Brian’s parents’ house was just outside Miami, a four-bedroom place on the water that comfortably fit the group of us. Brian showed me to a room upstairs. We had plans for a sunset dinner, so I dropped my things and changed into a navy shift dress and knee-high brown boots. I was curling my hair when someone knocked at the door.

“Ready yet?” Gretchen asked, poking her head in.

“Almost, but can you curl the back of my hair?”

She assumed position behind me to fix the pieces I’d missed. “So,” she started, “I have something to tell you that you’re not going to like.”

“Already?”

“You know Greg is still close with your ex, Jordan.”

“Of course, he introduced us freshman year.”

“And you know Jordan lives in Miami.”

My eyes cut to her in the mirror. “He didn’t invite him tonight,” I stated.

She cringed. “I’m sorry.”

“Gretchen!” I squealed. “David
won’t
like me having dinner with my ex-boyfriend.”

“I know. I tried to tell Greg, but he’s like making up for lost time or something. He thinks us hanging out will be like ‘the good old days,’ which, by the way, is his favorite phrase and I swear if I hear it one more time, I’m going to strangle him.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“I just found out. He knew we’d make him cancel.”

“Well, he can cancel now,” I said resolutely.

“Jordan’s already on his way,” she informed me. “Sorry, girl. I won’t tell David if you won’t.”

I scoffed. “You’re delusional if you think he won’t find out. He knows everything.”

“Deal with it tomorrow?” she suggested.

I rolled my eyes. “I guess. If I were still with Bill, I wouldn’t even think twice about it.”

“Seriously. It’s been years,” she said. “So did you meet Brian’s new girlfriend or whatever?”

“No, how is she?”

“I haven’t met her either. We haven’t exactly been chumming it up, the group of us.”

“Oh.”

“Whoa. I’ve never seen these before,” she said, touching my new earrings.

“A gift,” I replied giddily.

“So let me get this straight . . . David is gorgeous, sexy, romantic . . .
and
he buys you expensive things? You must be a tiger in the sack.”

I laughed. “I am.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“Well, he can’t really cook,” I offered. “And he can be a little controlling.”

“So I noticed. Is it something I should be worried about?”

“No,” I said honestly. “I’ll take him being controlling when he makes me this sublimely happy.”

She giggled. “Bitch.”

“Greg made you that happy once. Doesn’t he still?”

She set the curler down and plucked at my hair. “Sure. I think this weekend away will be good for us though.”

“How come?”

“You know how it is in the city. It gets stressful.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, of course. I’m finally getting what I wanted. All this time I never stopped thinking about him. So, yeah, I’m glad he came around.”

“Good.”

I grabbed my purse, and we went downstairs. Brian introduced us to his girlfriend, Kat, who squeaked like a mouse when I shook her hand.

It was a temperate night and the restaurant was close, so we walked. The moment we entered, Greg yelled across the restaurant to Jordan, who was seated at the bar. I hadn’t given Greg a thorough lashing yet, mainly because I hadn’t had a chance.

“Hey, you,” Jordan said when his eyes locked on me. He stood and wrapped me in a hug.

“Hi, Jordan.” Jordan and I had dated my first two years of college. After he’d dumped me, we remained distant friends because of Greg. Even though it’d been seven or so years since then, I still got a few butterflies when I saw him because he was the first boy I’d loved. He had dark blond hair and green eyes, solid and tall, but nowhere near David’s towering frame. He was good-looking, he’d always been, but he knew it in a bad way.

“That’s new,” I said, glancing at the tattoo peeking out from his sleeve.

“Yeah.” He placed his hand on my shoulder and guided me over to the table where everyone else was being seated. “You look great, Livvy,” he whispered as he pulled out my chair and then sat down next to me.

“I don’t think we’ve met,” Brian quipped from the other end of the table.

“Jordan,” Greg said as an explanation. “An old friend of ours from college.”

“Aha,” Brian said. His eyes darted between Jordan and me, and an anxious look overcame his handsome face. “I didn’t know we had a sixth.”

“Greg’s fault,” I said, shooting Greg a daggered look.

We promptly ordered a few bottles of wine. As Brian lamented about the day’s poor surf conditions, Jordan leaned over to me. “Greg told me about Bill. Sorry to hear it,” he said, but he was smirking.

“Are you?” I asked.

He grabbed a bottle of white wine from the center of the table and poured me a glass. “You got me. Not really.”