Page 107 of Wild Ever After
“You’re misunderstanding me.”
“Maybe, but it still fucking hurts.” He starts walking. I’m not sure where he’s going, but I follow him to the front door. Panic washes over me. I have royally fucked this up.
Stopping, hand on the doorknob, he looks back at me. “I asked you to figure out what you want. You want to get divorced? That’s your answer.”
“Yes, but please don’t go. I’m doing this because I care about you. It’s the only way I can think to move forward without destroying both of us. It frees us to figure things out in our own time without all the pressure.”
He nods. “There’s another envelope on the counter for you. Sign the papers and I’ll take care of everything.”
With that, he turns and walks out the door.
38
CAN’T A GIRL WALLOW IN PRIVATE?
JADE
“A million dollars?”Scarlett’s eyes bug out of her head.
“Yep.”
That’s how much he’s giving me in the divorce papers he left. I’m entitled to nothing according to the prenup. A million freaking dollars. All I have to do is sign.
Piper, Scarlett, and Dakota sit in the living room. I don’t know how they knew, but thirty minutes after Declan walked out, the three of them showed up with hugs and wine.
“I’m not taking it,” I clarify. “He’s already done enough. I don’t want his money. I never wanted his money.”
“We know that,” Piper says.
“Did he say when he was coming back?” Scarlett asks.
I hold out my empty wine glass. “No, but I don’t think it’ll be tonight. He probably wants to wait until I move out. I should probably start packing.”
Dakota fills my glass but shakes her head. “I don’t think he expects you to move out. He said he wants to have a kid with you.”
I swallow a large gulp of wine. “I can’t stay here. Not now. It doesn’t feel right.”
I glance around the house. I’ve never thought of it as mine, but it is my home, nonetheless. It has little touches of me everywhere. The green chair, the red mugs and plates, a collection of my scarves and hats by the front door. But it’s the reminders of Declan everywhere I look that make it hard to breathe.
“Do you know where he is?” I finally ask them.
“He was at Ash’s,” Piper says. “They were talking about heading to the lake for the weekend to cheer him up, but they were still there when I left.”
The thought of him being hours away makes my chest tighten. I lie back on the floor and stare up at the ceiling.
“What do I do?”
“We can’t answer that, honey,” Scarlett says, coming to lie next to me.
“What do you want to do?” Dakota asks.
“Right now, I want to find him and climb into his arms. Even when we’re fighting, I just want him. Is that weird?”
“No, that’s something else,” Piper says.
“It’s love. You love him.” Scarlett threads her fingers through mine. “He’s your person.”
“Was my person. Now he’s my ex-husband.”
