Page 67 of A Montana Fake Marriage

The second he stepped through the door, his mother shoved a letter into his chest. Her utter delight had him wondering what on earth she could be so thrilled about.

Then he looked down at the envelope.

His patent.

He slipped his finger into the flap of paper and slid it across the top. Hands shaking, Caleb didn’t dare breathe. This could be one of those letters to inform him that the patent wasn’t going to be approved because he didn’t have anything unique to offer. He’d prepared himself for such a notice.

The slip of paper he unfolded said otherwise.

“What does it say?” his mother gushed.

Approved.

All that work. All his effort. He’d finally gotten something he’d wanted. He lifted his head, and a disbelieving smile crossed his face. “I did it.”

She let out a whoop and pulled him in for a hug.

This was the most exciting thing to happen to him since his graduation. And there was only one person he wanted to share his news with.

“I’m going to fix us a celebratory dinner!” His mother pulled back and patted his cheek with her hand. “And whatever dessert you want.” She hurried off to the kitchen, and Caleb cast a glance toward the stairs.

He hadn’t seen Sammie outside. She must have finished her work early.

His whole body warmed with the thought of sharing this part of his life with her. Wife or not, she was still his best friend, and he needed her to revel in his accomplishment with him.

“Sammie!” he called, taking the steps two at a time. His heart beat faster, and the desolation he’d felt upon coming home had faded to a dull ache. Right now, he could be happy. He could celebrate with the most important person in his life. “Sammie, guess what?—”

He burst into their old room and froze. The first thing he noticed was an obvious emptiness. It wasn’t just the fact that she wasn’t in the room itself. It was the lack of anything that belonged toher. The suitcase. The occasional article of clothing. Not even her phone or perfume lined the table beside the bed.

All that was left of her was a stack of paperwork on the bed.

Before he approached, he knew what it was. Caleb couldn’t bring himself to walk toward it—as if the stapled set of pages would strike out and bite him. He knew danger when he saw it.

Caleb eyed the pristine sheets of paper, more dread flooding his body than he was prepared to admit. He swallowed hard and took his first step, the letter in his fingers falling to the floor in an arcing swoop.

The divorce papers in all their ugly glory had been signed, left open on the final page where Sammie’s eloquent handwriting swooped over the last line. Hot tears burned behind his eyes. She’d actually signed them. Somehow, he’d actually held out hope that she wouldn’t do it, that she wouldn’t be brave enough to sever the ties between them.

But she had.

He couldn’t touch them, couldn’t look at them. Simply being in this room was making him feel suffocated and like he was going to lose his head. He turned on his heel and strode from the room, not looking back, that letter lying on the floor mocking him.

Sammie was gone.

She was actually gone, and he wasn’t going to win her back.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Stupid.

The word hovered and weighed down on Sammie’s mind as she drove through downtown Rocky Ridge. Last night’s events plagued her, blurring with all the furious emotions that came with the sour ache in her chest.

The second she’d walked into her room and found those ridiculous papers on her bed, she had wanted to charge into Caleb’s room and throw them right back into his face.

But she’d refrained.

Sheer will kept her tied to her place. She couldn’t go to him and demand that he take them back. She couldn’t tell him that they’d get signed over her dead body—because she’d brought this whole situation down on herself. She’d pushed him away. She’d practically thrown him from her heart and slammed the door in his face.

Caleb wanted out. He’d realized that they couldn’t trust each other like they’d thought they could, and she wasn’t going to trap him in a marriage no matter how much she wanted to.

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