by JN Welsh
Before We Say Goodbye
JN Welsh
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Untitled
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Epilogue
Sneak Peek of IN TUNE
Acknowledgments
About the Author
My Letter to You
Books by JN Welsh
Copyright
This ebook is licensed to you for your personal enjoyment only.
This ebook may not be sold, shared, or given away.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the writer’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Before We Say Goodbye
Copyright © 2018 by JN Welsh
Ebook ISBN: 9781641970426
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
No part of this work may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
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NYLA Publishing
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http://www.nyliterary.com
Dedication
For my heroines who are cultivating love, building friendships, nurturing marriages, families, and/or raising amazing little humans. Your strength and ability to reinvent your love astounds me. Your journeys are the true love stories.
Chapter One
When a pre-marital agreement bites you in the ass, it leaves a mark unlike any other. Olive Goodwin wanted out of her marriage and no agreement was going to stop her. She sat next to her husband Nigel, and in front of their friend and lawyer, Jim Aldridge, at the offices of Aldridge, Solomon & Associates. Olive’s fingernails dug into the armrest cushion on her chair and she stared down at the contrast of her dark brown dreadlocks against her peach-colored smock dress. Her hair draped over her shoulder and across her lap, adding to her rising temperature.
Now that she and Nigel had been separated for six months, their visit to Jim’s office was to discuss the next steps in the dissolution of their marriage. What Olive never expected was this particular nightmare that unfolded. She blinked several times to clear her eyes and focused on Jim’s mouth, reading his lips to support her hearing, because there was no way in hell she could have heard him correctly.
“I'm sorry, what?” Olive asked. “Are you saying we have a marital agreement, Jim?”
“A prenup?” Nigel roared, his blond hair moved with him and he combed the wayward stands back. He needed a haircut.
“Well, it’s not a prenuptial agreement exactly. You two had me draw up a non-monetary agreement that is witnessed and notarized.” Jim waved the agreement at them
“Well if it’s not a prenup, then what is it?”
“A prenup is a legal document that includes the divvying of property and monetary assets, as well as child custody, and the like. It’s a divorce companion of sorts to enforce decisions made without the added emotional element.”
Olive recoiled at the thought of child custody. Her children were everything to her. She and Nigel would have to discuss their plans for their kids but hearing Jim bring it up jolted her to the reality of it all.
Jim’s voice interrupted the darkness storming over her. “If you recall, you both vehemently rejected the prenuptial route. This, my dear friends, is a list of actions and conditions that your younger selves required you to do should you ever want to get divorced. Which apparently neither of you remembers.”
“Oh hell no,” Olive erupted.
“Why are we just hearing about this now?” Nigel added.
“Because you weren’t officially separated. Once Nigel moved out and there was no reconciliation within six months, those parameters activated your non-monetary agreement,” Jim explained.
A bead of sweat glistened on Nigel’s brow. He shifted in his seat and the scent of cardamom, citrus, and fir from his cologne intensified. At least she wasn’t the only one having an adverse reaction to the news.
“So you’re telling us that we have conditions that we have to satiate before we can divorce?” Olive asked.
“Yes.” Jim waved a sealed manila envelope at them.
“Let’s see it then.” Nigel hadn’t lived in England since his freshman year of high school but his bloody accent always touched his words when he was excited. The inflection embellishing his words still made her pulse race.
Nigel reached for the envelope but Jim dodged his hands. “You can’t see this. The agreement has to be executed by your witnesses.
“What is it? What do we have to do?” Olive’s façade cracked.
“Well,” Jim sighed as he evaluated her. “It’s a divorce list. Though the details of it are to be executed by your witnesses, what I can tell you is that it requires you to take a week-long trip up the California coast.”
Olive gasped as sadness gripped her heart and further tore it to shreds. Bits and pieces of their agreement floated through the cloud in her mind like sunlight beaming through parting clouds. Then the gloom of the situation swept over her, reminding her that she did this. She and Nigel created this scenario when they were young, idealistic and stupid. She was so pissed that her eyes watered. She had finally come to terms with letting Nigel and what they had as a family go. Now she had to go on a trip with him?
“Who are the witnesses?” she asked as if she didn’t already know.
“Florencia Diaz and Riley Walker,” Jim delivered formally, as if he hadn’t gone to Berkley with Flor, like Nigel, or met Riley at the very same wedding he was now entrusted to dissolve.
Of course she and Nigel dragged their best friends into this mess. They did little without their friends, that is, except destroy their marriage and separate. They’re going to kill us.
“There is a caveat,” Jim’s brows lifted. “If you both agree to dissolve the agreement then you may proceed to divorce without having to suffice the list.
Olive’s heart lifted. “Why didn’t you say that in the beginning, Jim? Of course we’ll dissolve the agreement, right Nigel?” She looked over at her husband and the relief she hoped would be on his face was nowhere in sight.
“Right Nigel?” Olive persisted.
“We put that agreement in place for a reason. We should follow through with whatever it entails,” Nigel’s even tone tap-danced on her very last nerve.
“Are you fucking kidding me? We’re separated. All we have to do now is discuss our terms and we can move forward.
Nigel shrugged.
“Did you forget that we have three children to consider and make good decisions for? We’ve tried therapy, that is, during those rare moments you were actually home. We’ve talked about this until we were both as blue as Smurfs. What else is there to try?”
“We’ve never tried this. I’ve often suggested we do a trip up the coast.” Nigel’s hands rested on his kneecaps.
“You’re doing this to spite me, aren’t you?” Olive raged. “Of course you’d bring that up. Married couples can’t take spontaneous trips when they have three kids.”
“
What about planned trips? Can married couples do those?” Nigel asked.
Olive wanted to pinch him. “Don’t even talk to me about planning a trip because we fail at that, too. Work calls and you run to whoever it is that calls.”
Nigel’s head whizzed to stare at her so fast that air fanned her cheeks. He straightened, towering over her even in his seated position. “What are you getting at? You keep making these little remarks with no added explanation.”
Olive shut her mouth so fast her jaw ached.
“You’ve done nothing but argue with me every chance you get but on this you bite your tongue? What?” Nigel persisted.
Jim interrupted their argument with a strong clearing of his throat. This wasn’t the first time Jim witnessed her and Nigel go at it. In the beginning he’d been a sympathetic friend, now he plowed through as if ignoring a set of brats. “Since you are both not in agreement, you still need to complete the list. I’ll contact your witnesses and they’ll be in touch to organize your departure.”
Nigel hesitated. “I'm on an assignment in a few weeks and—”
Olive crossed her arms. “Nothing new there. He’s always on top of the assignment.” She air quoted her last words. “And this, coming from a man who says we should actually do this? You’re never here!”
“See? You’re doing it again,” Nigel pointed at her. “What are you insinuating, Olive? That I'm doing something other than my fucking job?”
All she had were suspicions and their lack of intimacy, which was evidence enough, especially given Nigel’s sex drive. If he wasn’t sinking his dick into her, he had to be giving it to someone else.
“It’d be nice for your kids to see you sometime. Now that you’re almost an hour away in Fresno, between that and your work, when is it their turn?” Olive tried. She really did. The last thing she wanted to do was argue with Nigel. She just wanted this over with so she could create a new life for her and her kids, and Nigel could go fuck his assignment or whomever it was he was fucking.
“For the love of—What do you want, Olive?” he yelled. “My job supports our family. When I’m home all I do is spend time with the kids.”
What he didn’t say hit another sore spot. Their relationship hadn’t always been this hostile. The last year had been, in a word, traumatic, as she watched their relationship deteriorate. Nigel had been the love of her life since they’d met seventeen years ago.
Now they were worse than roommates and the last time they had sex had been the catalyst that pushed her to let him go. She’d given him her body, soul and spirit, and had sacrificed her career and lifestyle to love him and their kids. Olive wasn’t going to sacrifice any longer.
“I’ve given everything to this marriage. I want out.”
Nigel became more agitated in his seat.
“Olive.” Jim gave her a sympathetic look. ‘The only way out of your marriage is through this agreement.”
“This is so fucked up.” She turned her body to Nigel, her lip quivering. “Please, Nigel. Agree to dissolve this agreement. If not for me, then for the kids.”
Nigel’s clean-shaven cheeks were red with…anger, embarrassment? She couldn’t tell because he refused to meet her eyes.
“No,” was all he offered.
Olive bit her bottom lip so hard the metallic taste of blood coated her tongue. She wasn’t going to let him see her tears.
Jim sighed. “The timing of this is critical. You have thirty days to take this weeklong trip, and complete all the conditions and items on the list.
“Thirty days!” Both she and Nigel howled followed by more griping about work and childcare.
“Yes, so, I suggest you both clear your schedules and get a giddy-up on your itinerary,” Jim said.
“Giddy-up? Is that your legal opinion, Jim?” Olive grumbled.
“You are both my friends. I know none of this is easy but I do wish you two the best. Time is ticking. Good luck.”
Olive stood up and grabbed her bag. “I hope you’re happy, Nigel.”
Nigel paced in the corporate apartments, courtesy of Aldridge, Solomon, & Associates, as he spoke to his mother.
“Of course we’d be happy to care for the kids. They’re our grandchildren,” his mother paused. “What you’re doing is risky, dearest. I know you love Olive but poking the bear with this trip may not be a good idea.”
His parents had been expatriates in England since he was five. He’d spent most of his younger years in the country and, like him, his mother had moments where her accent sprinkled her words.
“I’m out of ideas, Mom. I have to do this. I have to make her see that we have a relationship worth going to extremes for,” he said into the phone. “I know you and Olive chat regularly, but I’m counting on you to keep this under wraps.”
“Mums the word, dearest,” she said.
“Thanks again, Mom. I have to go but either Olive or I will give you more details about the trip as they come.”
“All right. And Nigel, I’m proud of you for trying.”
“I love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too.” They hung up.
Nigel surveyed his surroundings. Jim had been kind enough to offer the accommodations when Olive suggested he move out, but with traffic, he was almost an hour’s drive from his kids and Olive. For the past six months, he’d been living a miserable existence only satiated by visits with his kids and his mistress. Work.
He’d picked food up on his way back to Fresno and set a place for one. Even now, he still gathered at the table, around 6:30pm, for dinner. Unless he had a meeting or a significant time difference, no matter where he was in the world, he made sure to symbolically have dinner with his family.
The harsh, setting sunlight streaming into the apartment did nothing to help brighten the lonely, beige, and modern décor. He missed his home, the one he’d built with Olive. Even during the past year, when their relationship had been its rockiest, he still loved the home cooked smell when he’d walk through the front door, the music playing, and his children’s laughter. Most of all he missed the sight of his wife, her long locks swinging around her voluptuous ass and the floral scent on her skin. The long chats they’d have before bed and how she’d weave her body into his before they slept were distant memories.
Today, Olive had made it clear that she wanted out of their marriage but he wanted in. The only reason he’d agreed to a separation was because he remembered the non-monetary agreement. He knew he was taking a chance but Olive refused to listen to his suggestions a long time ago. No amount of flowers sent in his absence, spontaneous trip planning or kind words could get Olive to plug back into their marriage. He thought that perhaps having a trip forced upon her would get her to focus on their marriage, instead of the kids, long enough to make things work. He had to keep up the charade of ignorance until then.
He snapped the cardboard food container open and dug into his grilled Jamaican escovitch red snapper, rice and peas, and sautéed vegetables that he’d bought from a Caribbean place.
“I know you’re not going to like this, cookie, but it’s our last chance,” he said as he ate his food. The vinegar sautéed onions and spice burst in his mouth.
His phone buzzed interrupting his thoughts. A reminder from Olive, that he was taking his kids to the beach this weekend, displayed. Since he and his wife rarely spoke anymore, they relied on technology, which ticked him off. Not only because he had to rely on technology for his work but also because he wanted to hear her voice, even if she yelled at him.
A call came through from his boss and Nigel tensed. He’d been working his ass off the past two years to move from Sustainability Engineering and get this promotion as a Senior Field Project Manager. He hadn’t moved fast enough into a new position that would reduce or eliminate his travel, and show Olive that he was serious about making the change.
He wiped his mouth with a napkin and took the call.
“Winston,” Nigel said into the phone. He’d been working for Winton Noble
for the past eight years. Though technically his boss, Nigel and Winston worked closely together on engineering projects.
“Are you on you way to Nevada?” Winston asked.
“Not yet, I leave tomorrow morning.” Nigel had a short trip to assist another team near Galena Creek. He’d be back in time to take his kids to the beach.
“Good, good. I know you want to know what is happening with your promotion and I promised I’d let you know as soon as I heard anything.” Winston purposely let dead air hang.
“Well, what is the decision?”
“You got the promotion. Congratulations, man. You’ve killed yourself to get this. I know it means a lot to you, so celebrate with your family,” Winston said.
Celebrate with the family he was on the verge of losing. Nigel’s food wasn’t as appetizing as it was a few moments ago. “Thanks Winston. I appreciate you making the call.
“I’ll buy you a drink in Singapore next week. Actually, you can buy me a drink now that you have a senior position that outranks me,” Winston teased, but Nigel knew his promotion was bittersweet for his boss. Nigel had been Winton’s right hand man for years even though he should have advanced to a more senior position years ago.
Nigel gave him a light chuckle. “You got it.”
They hung up and once Nigel finished his food he packed for his two-day trip to Nevada. He’d have to schedule his trip with Olive after his Singapore assignment, which was cutting it close. He had to finish out his scheduled work contracts before he could ease into his promotion and make permanent changes. He hoped that all the work he’d put in, and the suffering it had caused him and his family, would all have been worth it.