“That’s Ruby, my daughter. She’s eighteen months and that,” he explained as he pointed to a photo on the right. “That’s my girlfriend Sonya.” Julie looked up at him and shrugged.
“Okay, why are you showing me this?”
“Well, three months ago I asked her to marry me and as it turns out I can’t get a marriage license because I’m still married,” he told her. Julie raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, I’m not trying to be rude or anything. I’m just trying to find out where I come into play in all this,” she said.
“Well, as it turns out Julie, I am still married to you,” he answered. Julie looked at him surprised and lost for words. She looked at him and shook her head.
“I’m sorry…what?” she asked as she looked at him.
“We are still married, Julie,” Evan repeated. She shook her head and then looked at him again.
“What?” she cried, this time even louder. She was in a dream, a really bad dream and she had to wake up. This was not happening. She looked at him and then buried her face in her hands.
“Julie,” Evan said in a low voice. She looked up at him and put her hands up.
“When did we get married?”
“Well, I am not sure myself, but there was this one time we went to Vegas…remember?” he asked. Julie shook her head and groaned.
“Come on, we couldn’t have been that drunk,” she protested. He looked at her and frowned before he nodded. “No, no, no! This is not happening,” she cried.
“There’s more,” he sighed looking at her.
“You’re killing me here, Lockwood,” she said as she ran her fingers through her hair. “So, what is it? What could be more than the fact that I am married to my ex?”
“I wanted to get an annulment, but as it turns out, there are so many logistics involved,.” She shook her head and buried her face in her hands again.
“This is so not happening right now. Why to me?” she mumbled.
“I have hired a lawyer, he is the best at what he does,” Evan said. She looked at him and shrugged. “Here’s his card, but I’ll leave my number too, just in case…you know, if you need to talk to me about anything,” he offered as he put two business cards on the table. She looked at him and shrugged.
“Fine,” she whispered. Evan looked at her for a long minute before he stood up to leave.
“I’m really sorry to drop this on you especially today,” he apologized. Julie just shook her head as Evan walked towards the door.
“Hey Evan,” she said in a low voice. Evan stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at her.
“Yeah?” he asked as he looked at her.
“How long…how long have we been…married?” she stuttered, trying hard to force the last word out of her mouth.
“Seven years,” he said. Julie shook her head and banged her forehead against her desk several times before Evan stopped her. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. I am in the same boat and knowing me, I probably suggested the whole thing,” he added. Julie looked at him and smiled.
“Stop trying to make me feel better,” she said without looking up.
“Trust me, we’ll pull through, but right now I suggest you have a long talk with your fiancé. It’s best he hears this from you,” he said before he walked out. She shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair again. She looked at the cake and gobbled it up before she downed the punch.
“Doesn’t quite hit the spot like a good vodka or tequila, but right now, this will do,” she thought as she leaned her head against the chair’s head rest. Slowly, her trip with Evan to Vegas was starting to come back to her…
“Come on babe, it’s just alcohol,” Evan said as she looked at Julie whose eyes were wide.
“Well, it’s on fire,” she said, pointing to the shot glass.
“That’s because it makes it more fun. Come on…drink, drink, drink,” Evan began chanting as their friends urged her on.
“Wait the glass is hot by now,” Julie complained.
“Fine,” Evan said before he blew out the flame and lit another shot glass “Come on, you have to take it now,” he demanded as he handed her the glass. Julie smiled and then closed her eyes before she flashed down the contents of the shot glass.
“Oh my God!” she screamed as she felt the warm sensation burning its way down her throat. She looked at him and smiled. “That hits the spot,” she giggled excitedly. The group laughed. They had traveled with Barb and Ken, their closest friends from college. Julie looked at Evan and smiled. “This trip was a great idea,” she said. Evan smiled and took a long sip of his beer.
“Best road trip ever!” he and Ken toasted in unison before they clinked their bottles together. They did it so hard that Julie was actually scared that the bottles might break.
“So, what’s next?” Barb asked, looking at the three.
“I don’t know really? None of us can drive…how about we just turn in?” Julie suggested.
“Hell no! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Evan replied..
“Fine but where do we go? I’m not in the best state of mind to be thinking of anything,” Julie said. “Honestly I don’t even think I can,” she added.
“I got a crazy idea,” Barb volunteered.
“Okay,” Ken said as he draped an arm around her shoulders. “What is it?”
“Let’s go check out the crazy wedding chapels. Maybe we can find one with Elvis presiding and take a few photos,” she said. The four looked at each other and shrugged.
“Why the hell not? And it’s only a few blocks away. We don’t have to drive,” Ken agreed looking at Julie.
“He’s got a point there, babe,” Evan admitted looking at Julie.
“Fine, you guys win. Let’s do it,” Julie said. “But we can’t post anything on Facebook. My dad is on there. I’d hate for him to see me drunk,” she told them as they got out of the bar.
That was the last thing Julie remembered. The only other thing that came to her mind was waking up in the hotel room with Evan. Ken and Barb were on the floor…passed out or that is where they decided to have their escapade and Julie and Evan might have been too drunk to hear them. She didn’t really care. All that mattered was the fact that she had completely lost four hours of her life and she couldn’t account for them. The only thing that was sure was that in the four hours she couldn’t recall, she and Evan made vows to each other…
“I’m so fucked,” Julie thought as she looked at the two business cards on her desk. She took a long, deep breath just as Meg walked into her office.
“Hey, you’re missing out on your own party,” Meg said smiling at her. Julie looked up and gave her a tired smile. “What’s going on?” she asked. She knew that look all too well. Julie shrugged. “Come on, I know there is something bothering you. Out with it,” Meg pressed.
“Apparently Evan and I are married,” Julie confided as she leaned back in her seat. Meg’s eyes grew wide.
“What?” Meg asked surprised. Julie nodded.
“Oh yeah. Trust me I was more surprised than you are at this moment,” she said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Meg asked. Julie shrugged and shook her head.
“I just found out that I have been living the last seven years of my life as Mrs. Lockwood,” she explained.
“Seven years?!” Meg asked Julie could tell that the surprise was growing. “How the hell did this happen?”
“Vegas. One too many shots and a wedding chapel. Maybe some guy dressed up as Elvis Presley married us for all I know. The important thing is I have to take care of this ASAP,” she groaned. “And to think I didn’t even have any idea,” she added shaking her head.
“Are you saying that you didn’t even have a dream about it? Because I heard people dream about stuff like that, you know, because of your subconscious or something of the sort,” Meg said. Julie laughed and shook her head.
“Nothing,” she answered. “I would have probably taken care of it a
long time ago if I knew…damn it, this sucks. I have to tell Steven,” she added as she rested her chin on her desk. She looked like a sad dog whose owner had just left her. Meg looked at her and gave her a sad smile,
“I think this is the best thing for him and you. For both of you,” she said. Julie sat up and then rest her chin on her hand.
“I know. I just don’t know how he’ll take it,” she confessed.
“Come on. Steven is a sensible person. He’s probably the most sensible person I have ever met,” Meg reassured her. “There is no reason why he wouldn’t understand this,” she added. Julie’s eyes were suddenly full of hope.
“You think so?” she asked.
“Well, yes. But then again, I am your best friend. It is my job to always tell you what you want to hear,” Meg said with a smile. Julie wanted to throw something at her. But everything on her desk was a potential homicidal weapon. “You have crazy eyes right now Juelz,” she teased.
“That’s because I want to kill you right now,” Julie joked. Meg smiled.
“I’m just trying to lighten the mood,” she said.
“You are failing miserably at that,” Julie grumbled. “You should never ever be a motivational speaker. Stick to your day job,” she added. Meg laughed and pushed her cake slice to Julie. “Now you are trying to make me pissed off and fat, aren’t you?”
“No, sweetie. It’s your party and you should have fun. Everything that happened today doesn’t change the fact that you love Steven and that you guys are going to get married soon. It’s not like you lied or anything,” Meg said. Julie looked at her and shrugged.
“I know you’re trying to cheer me up, but all I can think of right now is the fact that I am Julie fucking Lockwood,” she cursed. Meg stood up and walked round the desk to where Julie was.
“You are going to be Julie fucking dead person if you keep on talking about this shit. And that’s not a threat, it’s a guarantee,” she argued as she gave Julie one of those looks that made her best friend realize that she meant business. Julie closed her eyes and rested her head on her desk again. Somehow, this seemed to be the worst thing that could possibly happen for so many reasons. She didn’t have a clue why the hell things had turned out the way they did. If it were any other ex, it would have been okay but not Evan. She raised her head from the desk and looked at Meg.
“I want to assume all this, but we all know what people say about assuming,” she said. Meg smiled.
“You are making an ass of you and me?” she questioned. Julie nodded. “What really did happen between you and this Lockwood guy? Why is this so bad for you? I mean, it’s not like you knew it all this time and decided to carefully select the truth or something,” she said. Julie shrugged. “I know there is something. I can see it all over your face,” she added. Julie looked at her and shook her head.
“You know how people talk about the one who got away and stuff like that?” she asked. Meg nodded. “Well, until I met Steven, Evan had always been the one who got away for me. I was…smitten. I saw myself in the family home with two point five kids and a white picket fence…you know, the whole shebang,” she explained. Meg raised an eyebrow.
“You in a white picket fence? That I do not see,” she laughed.
“I know right? But Evan was able to make me have that mindset and I swear it could have worked too. At least I thought it was,” Julie sighed. She smiled. “You know I actually considered having the whole thing in play…like quit my job and everything. That is how much he got to me,” she added as she looked at a confused Meg. In all the years they had known each other, Meg had never known Julie to be anything more than a career woman. It was just hard to imagine her as a domestic wife. It was too Mary Poppins for her.
“So what happened?” Meg asked.
“One day he told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me,” Julie told her. Meg raised an eyebrow.
“He proposed?” she asked. Julie shook her head.
“No, he literally told me that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and instead of a ring, he had just started a company. Security logistics and he said in six months, whether the company will have grown or not, he was going to begin the new life with me. And I was ecstatic,” Julie explained with a smile.
“What happened?” Meg asked.
“One day he just stopped picking my calls and he disappeared, without a trace,” Julie admitted. Meg frowned. She now understood why Julie had such a hard time trusting men. Why her dating life had been such a roller coaster. Why she had walked out of relationships for the simplest reasons. “And of all my exes, it turns out that he was the one I married in a drunken stupor,” Julie added with a smile. Meg looked at her and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.
“Listen, there is so much more to you and you have a lot that defines you rather than some dead beat ex,” she promised.
“I know,” Julie said. “It’s just…the memories and…” her voice trailed off. Meg squeezed her shoulder again and then sat on the edge of the desk looking down at Julie.
“Honey, Ethan is…” she started saying before Julie looked up and shook her head.
“Evan,” she corrected her.
“Same difference,” Mg said. “Evan is just a nasty memory. He doesn’t define you and he never will. What’s important is the woman you’ve become and I am proud of you for that,” she added. Julie smiled. “All you need to do is just get it together and tell Steven, hey you know what babe, turns out I married a douche back when I was in college and laugh about it,” she said smiling. Julie looked up at her a small smile playing on her lips. “Steven’s a great sport. He’ll understand.”
Chapter Four
Julie was a mess when she got home. She had thought of all the ways she could break the news to Steven but nothing seemed perfect. She had made him his favorite: mashed potatoes and fried chicken. She had never understood why something so plain happened to be his favorite. Every so often she spruced it up with some vegetables on the side, but like a child, he was not so big on eating his veggies. She had even gone as far as Googling ‘How To Break Bad News To Someone You Love’. As she looked through the web pages, she could not decide whether this was a bad idea or downright dumb. She looked at the screen and shook her head as she read through.
Step One: Work out your own feedback to the news before you tell anyone.
She shook her head and shrugged.
“I think I have pretty much worked out what I feel. Resentment, contempt, disgust,” she thought as she looked at the computer screen. “Let’s see what the next thing is,” she thought as she scrolled down the page.
Step two: Are you the right person to break the news?
She scoffed. “Of course I am the right person for the job. Who else would do it?” she thought. A sad smile played on her lips. “Maybe I should get Steven’s ex to do the dirty work for me. Level the playing field.” She laughed at her thoughts and shook her head. “Get yourself together, Julie. This is serious,” she scolded herself.
Stet three: Practice makes perfect.
Julie leaned back. The word practice echoed in her head. She cleared her throat and made a fist before relaxing it.
“Steven, I have something to tell you. I’m married,” she said to no one in particular. She shook her head. That was too direct. “Babe, I can’t marry you because…” Wait a minute. She couldn’t just start her news with the words ‘I can’t marry you’. The words just couldn’t come to her. She picked the rubber band she had put on the table earlier and held her hair back in a ponytail. She reached for the glass of wine on the table and took a long sip. She noticed that the level in her glass was getting low. And this was her second glass from one of the bottles Steven had brought over. The thousand year old bottles. She wanted another glass so bad but if she kept chugging the happy juice like this, there was no way she was going to be able to stand up straight. She took another sip and looked at the computer screen again.
Step four: Make sure yo
u are in a comfortable and private place.
She looked around and shrugged. It didn’t get more private than this, her apartment. She felt comfortable. She was comfortable. There was no reason why she wouldn’t be able to break the bad news here. It was better than…hell, it was the best place for such news. She scrolled down the computer screen and looked at the next step.
Step five: Choose the right time.
Julie shook her head. There was never a right time for this kind of stuff. It always seemed to be a bad time, every time. She took the last sip of her wine and the looked at the bottle. She needed more liquid courage but even in the state she was in, she was sure she shouldn’t get any more alcohol in her than she did.
Step six: Gauge the recipient of the news before breaking it to them
It is important to make sure that the person you are breaking the news to is in a good mood or not otherwise rattled. The last thing you want is to add insult to injury.
Julie shook her head. This was almost as helpful as a double sided arrow giving direction. She shut down her computer and leaned back feeling defeated. She took a series of long deep breaths as she leaned back on the couch. She looked at her phone and sighed. It had been almost two hours since she sent Steven a text telling him she needed to see him. Any time now, he would be walking into the house and she still had not made up her mind on how she was supposed to say it. She had just poured herself another glass when she heard the front door open and close. She put the glass down and looked up and smiled as Steven walked in.
“I’m so sorry I took so long to get here,” he apologized as he walked in. “I had two back to back meetings and I couldn’t call because my battery was flat,” he explained as he walked towards her. She smiled up at him as he came to sit next to her. “And my assistant took off early. Some kind of home emergency. I had no way of reaching you,” he said before he leaned in and kissed her.
A Billionaire BWWM Romance 5: The Other Man Page 3