The only thing that frightened her more than the thought of being someone’s wife was being someone’s mother.
* * *
“What are we doing today?” Kate asked as her client Karen settled herself in the salon chair.
“I don’t know. I think I need a change, but I don’t know what to do.”
Yeah, I hear ya, sister. Isn’t that the story of all of our lives?
Kate fluffed Karen’s dark brown, shoulder-length bob. The woman had worn it this way for as long as Kate had been doing her hair—actually, for as long as Kate had known her.
At every appointment, Karen said she wanted to try something different, but she ended up second-guessing herself and leaving with the same cut freshened up, saying she’d think about it next time. But not before they went through the very same song and dance they were starting right now.
“Can you help me, Kate? I’d love some advice on what to do with my hair. I feel like I’m stuck in a rut.”
Here we go again.
“How big a change were you thinking?” Kate asked. “Do you want a new style or a change of color? Or both?”
Karen’s pretty, round face flushed. “Oh dear, I don’t know. I’ve never colored my hair other than to touch up the gray. And you know that I do that myself at home. If I changed my color, like if I became a blonde or redhead, I probably won’t be able to maintain the color myself, will I? I know hair color can be very expensive and it might be too drastic a change. Don’t you think?”
Karen put her hands on either side of her face as if preparing herself for a mind-blowing answer.
Kate wanted to say, Honey, I am not the one to ask. I am all about drastic changes these days. Even though I’m your hairdresser, I’m not the person to ask right now.
But then again, this was about hair. Not life choices.
“It is true, color does require some upkeep. What about highlights? That would grow out more naturally.”
Karen studied herself in the ornate gold-framed mirror, turning her face this way and that. The salon was busy today. Every chair was occupied, and the stylists were at various stages of their appointments. The place was buzzing with the sound of chatter, hair dryers and running water. A few chairs down, a client was having an animated conversation with someone about her cat. Or at least that was what it sounded like to Kate. That was the only thing she could imagine would climb the woman’s curtains. Could be interesting if it was something—or someone—else.
“Oh, Kate.” Karen sighed. “You know me. I’m just not ready yet. I guess I’ll need to think about it for a little bit longer. For now, let’s just go with the usual haircut. Let’s bring it up an inch.” Karen tsked and raised her chin. “Wait. No, you know what? Let’s live dangerously and bring it up an inch and a half.”
“Are you sure? I could give you some layers. That would give your hair a little more lift.”
Karen snagged Kate’s gaze in the mirror. “I just—I don’t know, Kate. You know I don’t do much to maintain my hair. Do you think I should? Kate, tell me what I should do.”
Irritation snapped at Kate’s nerves, threatening to bite through her calm facade. How was she supposed to solve other people’s problems when she didn’t even know how to deal with her own?
Every time she and Karen did this beauty parlor two-step, Karen always decided to think about it. Kate never nudged her to try something different, because she was there to give her clients what they wanted, not to talk them into something they didn’t want.
But today felt different. Maybe all these years, she had been doing Karen a disservice by not giving her that little push that would take her outside of her comfort zone.
Kate frowned and bit her bottom lip at the thought. Actually, running away from commitment was Kate’s comfort zone.
“Okay, since you asked, yes. If I were you, I would go for it. You said you wanted a change. Right?”
Karen nodded, eyes large, as if Kate were talking her into jumping out of a plane. Then Riki Rollins, who had the chair next to Kate’s, fired up her blow-dryer and proceeded to talk to her client over it, the noise encroaching on the confidence to try something new that Kate had intended to infuse into Karen.
Kate reminded herself to exercise patience. Karen was somewhere between her mother’s and Gigi’s age. Kate would hope that if either of them were sidelined by indecision, the person they were dealing with would be good to them and not try to sell them on something they didn’t want.
She leaned in so Karen could hear her over the noise of the dryer. “I promise I won’t do anything too drastic. Remember, if you don’t like it, your hair will grow out.”
Karen tugged at a piece of hair as if testing its ability to grow. Then with a flick of her wrist, she tossed it away.
“Oh, what the heck,” she said with an adventurous glint in her eyes. “Let’s go for it. You only live once, right? And you’re going to come over every morning and fix it for me, right?”
Kate laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll show you how to style it. It won’t be hard. Come on, let’s get you back to the shampoo bowl so we can get this party started.”
As she led the way, a tall, familiar masculine frame caught her eye. She turned to see Aidan standing in the reception area.
Darned if her body didn’t override the common sense switch and experience that same visceral reaction she had every time she saw Aidan.
Heart pounding, she gestured to him that she would be there in a moment. She got Karen settled with one of the shampoo assistants and came back to meet Aidan.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “Is everything okay? Is Chloe okay?”
“Chloe’s fine,” he said. “I came to see if you could take a lunch break.”
Kate blinked as she realized that this was the first time since they had been dating that he had showed up unannounced at the salon to take her to lunch. And damned if it wasn’t kind of sexy. Aidan was always so proper and polite. He was the type to call to make sure that she didn’t already have plans or to ask what time was good for her so that he wouldn’t interrupt her with a client. He never did anything spontaneous like showing up unannounced.
Until now.
“I’m getting ready to cut my client Karen’s hair, but that should only take twenty minutes or so. She’s back getting a shampoo right now. After Karen, my next appointment isn’t until two o’clock. Do you want to wait?”
Kate motioned to one of the free seats next to the reception desk. “There’s a Keurig over there in the corner. You can have a cup of coffee while you wait.”
He glanced in the direction she was pointing.
“I have some things I need to do,” he said. “I’ll come back in a half hour.”
“Oh, right. That sounds good.”
She waited for him to lean in and kiss her, but he just smiled and said, “See you in a bit.”
As she watched him walk out the salon doors and past the large picture window, a pang gripped her heart. Something felt different. Of course, it did. And it was all of her making. How was a man supposed to act when his new wife asked for an annulment? Aidan was being his normal, kind, classy self, with a little added distance.
Kate had to own it, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.
Less than a half hour later, Kate had finished with Karen. She had just enough time to tidy up her station before Tasha, the receptionist, appeared and said, “That gorgeous hunk of yours asked me to tell you he is here.”
On the few occasions that Aidan had stopped by the salon, he had just walked back to Kate’s station. He hadn’t waited for Tasha to announce him.
He was being formal. The pang that had previously made a guest appearance and quietly faded, morphed into a full-blown ache that took up residence under her rib cage.
She had really screwed up. Hadn’t she?
If they could only go back to how it was before Vegas. If they could go back, she would keep a clear head and steer clear of all the cute little wedding chapels.
Maybe it wasn’t as bad as she feared. After all, he had come to see her. He wanted to have lunch with her. It couldn’t be all bad, could it?
Kate glanced at herself in the mirror. She fluffed her long, copper curls, swiped on some lip gloss and blush because she looked so pale. She still wasn’t feeling like herself. Because of that, she hadn’t been able to eat breakfast. The thought of food first thing in the morning turned her inside out. Maybe she was hungry. More likely, it was the stress of sorting out this mess with Aidan.
But he was the one who’d suggested lunch. So it couldn’t be all bad, could it? She slung her purse onto her shoulder, checked her posture and went out into the reception area to meet Aidan.
“Hi, Kate.” He smiled when he saw her. It was the same smile he always had for her. It reached all the way to his eyes, which lingered on her eyes in a way that made her feel special, as if he reserved that look just for her.
But once again, there was no kiss. He walked straight to the door and held it open for her.
“I thought we’d go to The Pig and Whistle.” The Pig was a great little sandwich spot just around the corner from the salon, which was located on Abercorn Street.
It was early, just after 11:00 a.m. The place hadn’t filled up. The hostess led them to a marble-topped table for two and handed them menus. “Jesse will be your server. He’ll be right with you.”
The smell of something frying hit her like a boat tossing on a rough sea, upending her stomach, making her glad it was empty. Her hand flew to her mouth.
“What’s wrong?” Aidan asked.
Kate shook her head, drawing in a deep breath through her nose before she answered. “I don’t know. I’m still not feeling one hundred percent. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I might have a mild bug or something. Just when I think I’ve kicked it, it sneaks up on me again.”
“Can I get you something?” he asked, all chivalrous, gentlemanly concern. “Some water, maybe?”
“Thanks, Aidan, but our server will be here any second now.”
“And that would be me,” said a tall, skinny guy who looked like he might’ve still been in high school. “I’m Jesse. Is everything okay?”
“Can you bring us some water right away?” Aidan asked. “She might be dehydrated. So, water first and then we’ll decide what we want to eat.”
“And some hot tea,” Kate added. “Black tea, please. No sugar or lemon.”
“Coming right up,” Jesse said. In less than thirty seconds he was setting two glasses of iced water in front of them.
After sipping the water a couple of times and holding the ice cubes in her mouth, she felt the wave of nausea ease up a bit. They placed their orders and sat in silence for a few beats.
“Feeling better?” Aidan asked.
“I am,” she said. Although she found the silence uncomfortable. “It is so strange. It comes and goes. Just when I think I’ve locked it. It rears its ugly head again. It is probably a bug. I probably picked it up on the flight out to Vegas. I’m sure it will pass.”
“Since it is lingering, maybe you should go to the doctor,” Aidan said. “You could mention the blackout.”
Kate bristled. “It wasn’t a blackout. I don’t black out when I drink. Especially when I only have two sips.”
“Okay, you had two sips of a strong drink and didn’t remember marrying me. But it wasn’t a blackout.”
“Shhh!” Kate glanced around the restaurant. “The last thing we need right now is for someone to overhear us talking about it and for word to get back to Mom and Gigi.”
“I’m just saying, if you’re still feeling bad it would not hurt to get checked by a doctor. Why suffer if it is something that can be fixed?”
She made a face at him. “Yeah, maybe there’s a problem with my brain. That would explain why my equilibrium is off and why I blacked out, as you put it.”
Aidan shrugged. “Sorry. I don’t know what else to call it. I’m concerned. I don’t want it to be something serious.”
He had a point. It wasn’t normal. Feeling intermittently sick wasn’t normal, either. Not remembering her own wedding was a real sore spot, and that certainly wasn’t normal. What would it hurt to get checked out? If she had another wave of nausea between today and tomorrow, it might be a good idea to see a doctor. Maybe she was fighting off something that could be fixed.
Or maybe she was pregnant.
No!
Her mind replayed the conversation she had had with Elle yesterday.
There was no way she could be pregnant, because she and Aidan were careful. They used condoms. She was fanatical about it because she wasn’t ready to be a mother.
No. There was no way.
No. Way.
Jesse brought their food and they made pleasant conversation while they ate. Kate polished off the bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich she had ordered—the only thing on the menu that sounded good. She ate it ravenously, as if she hadn’t eaten in days. It tasted better than anything she had ever eaten, filling her empty stomach in a gentle, soothing way.
Even though the bacon was a little greasy, it didn’t bother her. It settled well.
After the bill was paid, Kate was still lingering over her tea, in no hurry to get back to the salon since it was still a while before her appointment.
Aidan didn’t seem to be in a rush to leave, either. So it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when he cleared his throat and said, “I need to talk to you about something.”
Conversation during lunch had been a little strained, but when they reached the end of the meal without any major disputes or bombshells or mention of the annulment, Kate had started to believe that Aidan had asked her to lunch because he wanted her company. Even though Aidan had not been acting like his usual self since the time he’d appeared at the salon, in the back of her mind, Kate had let herself hope that maybe they could find their way back to good once the dust had settled.
But she’d thought too soon.
“I talked to a lawyer about our situation,” Aidan said. Judging by the look on his face, he didn’t have good news. “You’re not going to like what I have to tell you.”
“Oh. And what did the attorney have to say? Aidan, we haven’t even had our hearing yet. I thought he said we’d have to wait a month before we could even request a hearing.”
“He did say that. He also said that annulments in Georgia are very difficult to win. He consulted some of his colleagues on the matter and their opinion is that our case doesn’t look promising. Of course, we can go ahead with the petition, but the attorney thinks the only chance we might have to win is by claiming that you were mentally incompetent the night we got married.”
Wait. Hold on there. Mentally incompetent?
Kate made a face. “Mentally incompetent?”
“Yes. Even that’s a long shot. The fact that we spent our honeymoon night together makes it even tougher to plead our case, and of course, our prior relationship doesn’t help matters,” Aidan continued. “He said if we really want to get out of this marriage, we should strongly consider divorce. Or at least start preparing ourselves for divorce being the only way to end the marriage, because it will likely be our only option.”
Aidan stared at the table and traced a silver vein in the marble on the tabletop with his finger. He was already divorced from Chloe’s mother, who had decided, right after giving birth, that she did not want to be tied down to a husband and child. She had left Aidan with a tiny newborn to care for on his own.
Aidan had confided in Kate that if he ever got married again—and it was a solid if because he didn’t want to put himself and his daughter through that heartbreak again—the marriage would be forever.
&nb
sp; While he sometimes talked like getting married again was not very high on his list, he had not solidly ruled out the possibility.
But then why—Why, if he had been in his right mind, had he married her in Vegas under those circumstances? Of course, he had said that she had seemed to know what she was doing. Still, she longed to press the issue and ask him that question again, but right now, she couldn’t move the words from her brain to her lips.
She didn’t want to get a divorce. She wanted an annulment because it shouldn’t have happened like that.
But even more, she didn’t want to get the annulment by claiming mental instability. It wasn’t true, and it felt like fraud. It felt disrespectful to those who did battle a condition. Something like that shouldn’t be trifled with and certainly should not be used to get out of a sticky situation. She couldn’t live with herself if she played that card. Surely, blacking out—er—not remembering one night wasn’t the same as being mentally incompetent. Mentally incapacitated, sure. But not mentally incompetent. Saying she was would be a lie.
“If mental incompetency is our only way out, I have a feeling the judge isn’t simply going to take my word for it. Wouldn’t I have to see a doctor? Wait, don’t even answer that. We both know it is not true and I don’t think it is right to use something so serious to clean up the mess we made.”
The moment the words fell out of her mouth, she regretted them. The look on Aidan’s face was soul crushing. She wished she could reel them back in.
Aidan stood. “I wasn’t suggesting that you lie or misrepresent a condition—because you’re right, it should not be taken lightly.” His voice was level and low as he bit off the words. “Then it looks like a divorce will be the only way to clean up our mess, as you put it. Though I never considered being married to you a mess or a mistake, Kate. I’ll call him and have him get started on the divorce papers.”
As he turned to leave, Kate felt as if he was walking out of her life forever. Her heart ached. “Aidan, don’t go—”
“Yeah, I need to go. I’ll talk to you later, Kate.” He waked away and didn’t look back.
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