Page 43 of Mr. Big Mistake
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Okay, then. What’s your version of marriage?”
I cocked myself to face Brenden while we sat in his car, waiting for the courthouse to open.
“Me, woman. Me drink wine you give me. Me say ‘no’ whenever I want. Me dress you. Me take your money. Me make your life hell so you stay at office, working hard.”
He nodded. “So, that’s why Zane is always working late.”
My jaw dropped open. “Hey! I bet Karina’s a wonderful partner.”
He chuckled. “Everyone has their moments.”
“Don’t I know it.”
His hand settled against my thigh. “You had every right to react the way you did.”
“But I didn’t have a right to use you as an emotional punching bag. I’m really sorry, Brenden.”
He squeezed my thigh. “I’m sorry too, Kelly.”
I laid my head against his shoulder and watched the doors of the courthouse. And once they opened for the public, we were out of his car and charging for the right office. We were the first in line to file for an annulment, and Brenden dumped all of the paperwork he had onto the desk for the woman.
“I’ll get this to your judge, and you should be in to see him within the next thirty minutes,” she said mindlessly.
“Thank you so much,” I said.
But, the woman didn’t even act like she heard me.
Brenden took my arm, and calmly led me out of the room. We headed into the waiting room, sitting in the unforgiving seats of the cold, hard courthouse. The walls were painted a nice cream color to brighten things up, but every piece of furniture was dark. The hunter green carpet was ugly. The fake mahogany wood the place was filled with had black streaks rushing through it, adding to the dark undertones. The chairs were black and silver, which contrasted everything around it, yet still added to the lonely ambiance. Even the file books on some of the shelves lining the walls were black and navy blue and olive green.
Everything was drab.
Everything was dreary.
And that didn’t help with my spirits.
“Mr. and Mrs. Hearthstone?”
My head jerked up. “Yes! Hi. Yes. That’s us.”
Brenden stood. “Where are we needed?”
The woman thumbed behind her. “Go in and have a seat. Judge Johnson will be with you shortly.”
He offered me his arm, and I took it. He led me into the courthouse, and we sat down at the table on the left, preparing ourselves for the embarrassment of the entire thing. I wasn’t sure what was about to happen, but I didn’t like the fact that we had to sit in front of a judge like we had a case to plead. All we did was sign our names to documents we weren’t aware of.
But we had to go through all of that to annul?
“I don’t like this,” I murmured.
Brenden leaned over. “Just let me do the talking, okay?”
I nodded. “I can do that.”
“All rise for the honorable Judge--.”
I saw the judge enter the room. “Let’s skip the formalities. My coffee hasn’t kicked in yet.”
