When Stars Collide (Light in the Dark #2) (32 page)

“The divorce papers are here,” I announce with glee.

Xander’s head snaps up from the kitchen table, where he was eating his breakfast, and says, “What?” His eyes are wide with horror and he looks torn between pissed off and hurt. He starts to slide the chair out from the table, no doubt ready to confront me. 

I smack him on the head with the padded envelope. “Not for us, you dipshit. For my mom.”

“Oh.” His body sags with relief and he gives me a boyish smile. “My mistake.”

“Now that you mention it, though …” I start, tossing the envelope on the kitchen counter. I saunter over to him and sink into his lap, straddling him. His hands fall to my thighs. “The summer is
dangerously
close to over. So, what do you say, Kincaid? You wanna be stuck with me forever? Sure you don’t want to take one of those pretty cheerleaders for a ride?”

He shakes his head, his brown eyes darkening. “You. I only want you.” He licks his lips. “How about you? You want to explore the party college life? A new guy every weekend?”

“Eh, I did that last year.” I wave a hand dismissively. He gives me a look of horror. “The
parties
, not the guys.” 

He chuckles and leans his forehead against mine so our noses touch. “So, we’re going to make this work?”

“Yep.” I pop the “p” driving home my point. Growing serious, I add, “I don’t want anyone else, and this may not be how I imagined us getting together, but I don’t regret it. It’s part of our story and that’s a beautiful thing.”

He cracks a grin and leans back. “Look at you being all poetic.”

I shrug and wrinkle my nose. “It happens every once in a blue moon.”

Cade’s footsteps sound into the room—I know it’s him, because he walks like an ogre—and he makes a gagging sound. “Do you guys have to be so lovey-dovey all the time? You’re making me sick with all this sweetness.”

I stick my tongue out at him. “It’s about time you got a taste of your own medicine. Deal with it.”

He shudders and opens the refrigerator, scanning the items inside. He grabs the orange juice and pulls it out, taking a swig straight from the bottle. 

I give Xander a horrified look. “Remind me to never
ever
drink the orange juice under any circumstances.”

Cade closes the bottle and wipes the back of his hand over his mouth. “You might want to avoid the milk too.” He winks before heading from the room.

“Ew,” I groan, and reach for the only thing on the table that’s acceptable for throwing; I toss the orange at him and it hits him square in the back.

He doesn’t even flinch.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t do that,” he calls back. 

I shake my head, laughing under my breath. “Maybe our own place wouldn’t be so bad.”

Xander smiles. “All you have to do is say the word.”

“Are you always going to put the ball in my court?” I ask him. 

“Well, yeah, you’re the bossy one in the relationship.”

I bust out laughing. “Is that so?” He nods, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “Eh, I guess you’re right,” I say after a moment. 

He chuckles. “I like that you know what you want. It makes things easier for me. There are no guessing games with you.”

I slide off his lap and pick up the envelope. “I better give this to her and make sure it gets signed and sent back. The sooner this divorce is final, the better off we’ll all be.”

My dad has been driving by more and more frequently, and he hasn’t even gotten the divorce papers yet. He’ll probably go ape-shit when that happens. 

I head upstairs with the envelope, surprised by how heavy and thick it is. Apparently, you need a lot of big fancy words to end a marriage. I always imagined it would simply read:

THE END.

I knock on her bedroom door and she calls out for me to come in. 

I hold up the envelope. “They’re here.” I watch surprise, pain, and finally happiness flicker in her eyes. “All you have to do is sign your name and then you’ll be free.”

“Free,” she repeats, padding across the room and taking the envelope from me. “I’d resigned myself to being stuck in my own personal hell for the rest of my life, it’s strange to realize I’m coming out of the hole on the other side.”

“Believe it.” I give her an encouraging smile. “Now, sign these papers and end it.” She opens the package and pulls out the papers. I grab a pen off the desk and hand it to her. “I feel like I should take a picture,” I joke. “This feels like a very important moment.”

She laughs, signing her name in the designated spots marked off with brightly colored sticky flags. “Maybe we should.”

“Hang on,” I tell her, and pull my phone from my pocket. “Smile,” I tell her. 

She does, and then I take another with her holding up the papers proudly. 

I think this is the happiest I’ve ever seen her. In fact, I can’t recall a time when I’ve seen a smile this genuine on her face, and maybe it’s strange to say, but I’m proud of her. She left a bad situation and she’s gaining back her life. Some might argue that she should’ve done it sooner, but I don’t see it that way. She
did
it and that’s what matters, not the when.

 “Well,” she says once she’s done signing everything, “this will all be over soon.”

I hug her. “And your life can finally begin.”

She hugs me back. “It already began, it just took a detour and I hit a few pot holes along the way, but I’m finally on the right route again.” She lets go and holds me by my shoulders, looking me over. “I don’t tell you enough, but I’m proud of the woman you’ve become. You’re strong and caring and funny and
amazing
. I’m lucky to be your mom.”

I sniffle. “Don’t make me cry.”

It’s too late, though. The tears begin to fall and I’m helpless to stop them, but instead of sad tears, these are happy ones, and they cleanse my soul. 

Practice kicked my ass. Each one gets more and more intense as we grow closer to the game season. I feel ready to fall over as I head to my truck. All I want to do is get home and fall into bed. 

“See you tomorrow,” one of the guys calls after me.

I stifle a yawn. “Yeah, see you,” I say back, not even paying attention to whom I’m speaking too.

It’s late, we practiced all day, and the sun has almost completely set. 

I reach my truck and climb inside the cab. I pull my phone from my pocket and check for messages. I smile when I see a text from Thea. I open it and laugh. She sent a picture of herself holding Prue. I text back:
Cute
and seconds later my phone rings, and it’s Thea calling. “Are you on your way home?”

“Yeah,” I answer, stifling another yawn. “I’m really tired so I think I’m going to head straight to bed.”

“Okay …” There’s a long pause on her end, and then, “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“What?” I ask, starting the truck and heading toward the exit.

“My stupid dad is parked out front. Can’t he catch a hint and disappear? No one wants him around.”

I instantly tense. “Is Cade home?”

“No,” she answers. “He took Rae out to dinner. It’s just Mom and me.”

Should’ve gotten that security system
.

“Whatever you do, don’t let him in.”

I instinctively know, rather than see, that she rolls her eyes. “Yeah, he might be my sperm donor but I’m not letting him in the house. He can rot and die for all I care. Don’t worry, okay? When it comes down to it, the man’s a big chicken. He won’t do anything.”

“Thea—” I warn.

“Iloveyoubye,” she slurs and hangs up.

I sigh. “I love you too,” I say to the empty line, and toss my now silent phone on the passenger seat. 

 I try not to worry on my drive home, but it’s hard not to. Thea might not think that her father’s capable of anything, but I saw the look in his eye that night in the basement, and the man is unstable.

A person who has lost it all is the scariest kind out there, because they have nothing left to lose. There’s nothing holding them back from going off the deep end.

When I’m about twenty minutes from the house, I call Cade.

“What? This better be important?” he says when he answers.

“Are you home?”

“
No
, I’m out with Rae. We’ll be home soon.”

“How soon?”

“What the fuck is going on, Xander? You sound weird.”

I’m sweating now. It’s like a sixth sense has come over me that something bad has happened or is going to happen, and I’m powerless to stop it.

“Thea called me when I was leaving practice and she said your dad was parked out front. I have a bad feeling about this.”

Cade grows silent on the other end. “Shit,” he breathes out after a moment. “I’ll be home as soon as I can, but I don’t think I’ll be there for at least thirty minutes.”

“Fuck,” I curse. “I’ll be there before you. Hopefully, I’m freaking out for no reason.”

But my gut says I’m not
.

“Drive faster,” Cade says and hangs up. 

His parting words are enough to tell me he doesn’t think I’m crazy.

I just have to hope I can get there in time. 

“Sorry, Prue, but you’re going to have to wait until Daddy gets home to go for your walk. He might be tired, but I’m not going out there with that psycho sitting in his car.”

I peer out the window for the hundredth time and sure enough my dad’s car is still parked by the curb right by our mailbox. I called the cops, but they were extremely unhelpful and said that as long as he was parked there and not disturbing anything then they couldn’t help me. If that isn’t insane then I don’t know what is.