Yeah, well. They can all mind their own business. I flip the volume button on my phone. “Put your phone on silent. We have a lot to deal with this morning, we don’t need them shouting at us.”
I get out of bed and pull on the jeans laying close to the bed. I head to the kitchen, to put on a pot of coffee. I turn to Angela. “Just take deep breaths, we’ll work something out.”
I’m not sure exactly what we’re going to do. We could get an annulment. I’ll get a lawyer to find out about that. Of course, a divorce would be less hassle. For a fleeting moment the idea of doing nothing crosses my mind. It’s not that I never considered marriage. There was always a plan to settle down and have a family one day. Not like this though. Not because we were both drunk and daring.
Angela walks into the kitchen wearing only my T-shirt. The sight of her takes my breath away. “I’m really sorry. Last night was all my idea.”
“I was there too.” I’m not going to let her feel bad about how things had turned out. “I agreed to everything. And I do believe I led you into that chapel.”
She smiles as she sits at the dining table. “You did. What do you want to do now?”
“I was just thinking about that.” I pick up my phone and check the time. “I need to cancel my flight.”
“No.” Angela holds her hand up. “You’re not going to upturn your life because we made one mistake. I’m the reckless one, remember. If there is anything we can do from here, I’ll handle it.”
“I can get my lawyers looking into what options we have.” I pull her from the chair and hold her close to me. “I don’t want to leave you. Not like this. I was going —”
She looks up and places her finger on my lips. “You get your lawyers on it. If there is anything that needs to be done here, let me know. We just need to decide if we want an annulment or a divorce.”
I feel my shoulders sag. Why am I disappointed at her suggestion? “I don’t want an annulment. I don’t want anything about our time here nullified.”
“Then we get a divorce.” Angela burrows her face into my chest. “It will be the best mistake I’ve made.”
Mistake. “I don’t want it to be a mistake.” I take a deep breath and speak before I have a chance to think everything through. “I’d rather get divorced because we can’t see ourselves married to each other.”
She pushes away from me. “What are you saying? Justin, staying married is… well, we hardly know each other.”
I type out a quick text to my lawyer. “I know. I just… I don’t know. Let’s see what my lawyer says and go from there.”
“In the meantime, you’re going home. I’ll be there in a week and we can clear up this mess.”
With a heavy heart, I start packing my bag. Angela packs her things as well. Once the room is empty, I arrange for my driver to take her home. She’s meant to meet her girlfriends for a farewell of sorts.
There were no sad goodbyes. I didn’t expect there to be. We’ll see each other in another week. Things will be different, of course.
A few hours later I'm on my way to the airport with Lia and Wyatt. I push my AirPods into my ears and lower my sunglasses.
“Feeling a little worse for wear?” Wyatt shoots me a wry smile.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” The last thing I want is to explain my quickie wedding to anyone. Thankfully, Angela hadn’t sent any photos to her parents. Knowing our siblings, no one will mention anything until they’ve all chewed us out. Oh, good. I cannot wait.
Before long we’ve landed in Seattle. As we’re heading for the airport parking, Lia takes a call and excuses herself.
Wyatt turns to me. “You know, there’s nothing stopping you from dating her while she’s here. Not everything that happens in Vegas needs to stay in Vegas.”
“That wasn’t our arrangement.” I scrub a hand over my face. “And I’m not sure where she stands.”
“Justin, I must admit that it’s good to see you so tied up like this.”
“What’s that supposed to mean.”
“You overthink everything. When you go into a situation, you know everything there is to know. You don’t allow yourself to get blindsided. And here you are in a situation that you have no idea how to handle. It’s nice to know you’re human, too.”
“It sucks,” I say, offering him a chuckle. “But it’s more complicated than that.”
“It always is. You think Lia and I just fell in love and found our happily ever after. She wasn’t divorced yet for fuck’s sakes.”
I didn’t know that. Cheating was something Wyatt took very personally. There was no way he would’ve willingly got involved with a married woman. “But you wouldn’t—”
“Yeah, you’d think I would come out of that argument in the right. But I was an asshole, because it’s never simple.”
Just then Lia joined us.
“Is everything okay?” Wyatt asked her.
“Yeah, my assistant has a family emergency.” She looks a little harried as she scrolls through her phone.
“Is there anything I can do?” I don’t know how I can help, but it feels right to offer.
“Oh, no thanks. I think I have a plan.” She gives me a hug “Thanks for letting me join you guys this week”
As Lia heads to her car, Wyatt claps my shoulder. “Remember what I said. Nothing worthwhile is ever simple.”
The two of them head in one direction to their car and I head to mine. Maybe Wyatt’s right. Maybe I’m trying to oversimplify things. I should just wait until she’s back next week and deal with it then.
Angela
Lilly and Cassie showed up at my apartment
