by K. A. Linde
About fifteen minutes later, they pulled up in front of Morelli’s, and Lexi laughed.
“Ice cream?” she asked.
“You looked like you needed some,” he responded before getting out of his car.
Morelli’s was a local Atlanta ice cream shop that had opened relatively recently and won the hearts of everyone around. With an old-school style walk-up menu and over thirty flavors that changed daily, Morelli’s was the best place in town, and it had been rated best ice cream in Atlanta almost since its inception.
Even in the chilly October weather, the place was still packed, and they filed into line. Once they reached the front, Ramsey ordered a scoop of the butter pecan with a cone, and Lexi chose the coffee fudge almond.
Cones in hand, they walked over to a bench and sat down.
“So…what do you think?” Ramsey asked after a minute.
“I like her,” she admitted.
“You do?” He didn’t seem convinced.
She took a deep breath and stared down at her ice cream. Seriously, it was heavenly. “She seems nice and put-together. She knows what she’s doing, and she I think she’s genuinely interested in what I want…what we want. You’re very comfortable with her, and that means a lot, too.”
“I am. She’s very professional.”
“I know. I can tell. I was very worried that she would expect me to be Bekah, but she didn’t treat me that way at all. I won’t have time for everything she mentioned, and I don’t know two things about putting a wedding together,” she told him, finally looking up at him. “Plus, I don’t really want to sit through another one of those meetings again.”
Ramsey burst out laughing. “That’s my Alexa right there,” he said, leaning forward and kissing her lips. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too,” she murmured softly.
“And you’re sure you want to hire her? I only want what’s best for you.”
“Yes,” she said, nodding slowly. “Let’s do it.”
Lexi yanked the door open to the courthouse and strode through the double doors. She had just gotten out of work, so she fit the lawyer profile that afternoon in a gray pencil skirt suit and cream blouse. She had left her jacket in the car, but her dark brown leather messenger bag was slung over her shoulder. The only thing that would identify her as out of sorts was she had pulled most of her dark brown hair into a messy bun at the back of her head earlier that day, and it had fallen out with loose tendrils framing her face.
She didn’t think anyone would recognize her where she was headed anyway. Her office worked on corporate matters, not family law.
Jack had frantically called the day of her meeting with the wedding planner to let her know that a temporary hearing had been set up to decide immediate circumstances before an official court date could be held. The court had expedited the case to be heard only three days from then. Lexi had been shocked that they had moved it up so quickly. That typically only happened in extreme cases when children or money were involved.
Lexi wondered if Bekah had bought off the judge. If that had happened already, this really wasn’t going to go well.
Jack had spoken to the attorney she had gotten for him, but Jack hadn’t called Lexi for advice. She had given him everything that she had on that front and then some. But the way he had spoken to her…the need in his voice…it had pierced her heart.
“I wasn’t lying when I said that I didn’t have anyone else. I’m living with Seth right now, but I can’t talk to him about this. What would he understand about a broken marriage? He and Sandy are the picture-perfect couple,” Jack had said.
“I’m just trying to stay out of it, Jack,” Lexi had tried to tell him.
She hadn’t told him that she was keeping a promise to Ramsey. Sure, she had never actually told Ramsey that she would stay out of it, but she had felt obligated to do so. It had been an unspoken agreement of sorts.
“I know. It’s just that this is the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through, and it feels like I have a transmittable disease or something. None of my friends want to get caught up in this, and I still have to go into work every day at Bridges. I don’t know why I thought you would understand that, Lex. You’ve just always understood me,” he had said softly.
“Jack,” she had groaned, “it’s not that I don’t understand.”
He had sighed heavily on the other end. “Forget I asked, all right? I know you have your own life. I doubt Ramsey wants you involved in this. If I know him, I’d bet he asked you to stay out of it.”
Lexi had remained silent.
“I see. And here I thought, we were past all of that.” He had sounded defeated…like he had hit rock bottom.
“Jack,” she had whispered. She had hated the desperation in his voice.
“I mean, I was there for you this summer when you had nowhere else to go. Chyna was in her own state of bliss and a thousand miles away. That’s what friends do for each other.”
She had swallowed at the memory that sometimes hit her again like a sucker punch. Just when she had grown complacent—no, not a good idea to think about that.
“All I’m asking is for you to be my friend now…when I need you,” he had said softly.
She had felt glad that she couldn’t see those pleading blue eyes again. She had almost told herself that she had imagined the way he had talked to her in her office when he had told her about the divorce. He hadn’t wanted her. He had only been relying on a friend—a friend he needed again now.
“They won’t let me in the courthouse, and it’s a terrible idea for me to be there anyway,” she had told him.
“Meet me after?”
So, that was how she had ended up walking into the courthouse directly after work. She turned down the hallway toward the family court area and took a seat outside. Jack should be out any minute. She was a bit surprised they weren’t already done. These things didn’t take that long. It was usually the mediation and actual trial that took the most time.
She tapped her foot on the tile floor and looked down at her watch. Any second now.
As if on cue, the door opened, and Bekah walked out. Lexi scrambled to her feet. She didn’t want to be sitting if Bekah said anything to her. Lexi didn’t want Bekah to be able to look down at her at least.
Bekah’s lawyer followed. He looked familiar. He was probably one of the attorneys Lexi had investigated when searching out one for Jack. The lawyer nodded at Lexi and urged Bekah to keep walking, like he knew it was in her best interest not to stop.
Bekah didn’t listen.
“What a surprise!” Bekah said. She looked at Lexi smugly as if she had expected her to be here.
Lexi didn’t like falling into Bekah’s plans in any way. “Bekah,” she said curtly.
“Do you really think this is the best place for you right now?”
“Around you? No, not particularly,” Lexi responded dryly.
Bekah bristled, which was highly entertaining. Lexi liked to see her uncomfortable. She was just a little too perfect with her long blonde hair, perfect chunky bangs, and baby blues. She had on a rather innocent-looking pink dress and modest heels. Lexi assumed Bekah was playing the victim card just by her appearance.
“Let me just give you some friendly advice,” Bekah said, stepping forward toward her.
“Just what I always wanted.”
“If I were you, I’d stay away from Jack.”
“Is that so?” Lexi asked, arching an eyebrow.
“You shouldn’t even be here right now. What does Ramsey think about all this?”
“The best part about all of this, Bekah, is that it’s none of your business,” Lexi said. She shot her a big fake smile before turning her back and walking away.
Jack appeared in the entranceway a minute later. He didn’t look happy. Things must not have gone well. Lexi hadn’t thought they would.
“What happened?” she asked, concerned.
“She won.”
“It’s not
over.”
Jack pulled out a paper. “I don’t even know where to start—exclusive use of the marital home, exclusive use of the motor vehicle, freeze on all joint accounts, payment of her attorney’s fees. Christ, her fucking attorney fees—when she’s a fucking vice president of Bridges,” he growled. “Plus, I still have to pay my half of the house and utilities—the house I can’t live in.”
Lexi knew that wasn’t the worst they could have done. Every single day, she was thankful that kids weren’t involved. Money could be spent and earned. It was just a piece of paper that people valued. What really mattered, money could never touch. It could make things easier, but it was such a fragile aspect of life. It was something that people so easily allowed to make or break their happiness.
“It’s okay. It’s not the worst it could be, and you’ll have time to plan a defense before you go to a full trial, if it comes to that.” When it comes to that.
Jack shook his head. “My attorney is talking to the judge. He wants to meet with me after this to discuss the impact and strategy going forward. So, I guess I can’t even see you, but thanks for showing up.”
“Of course,” she said softly.
She stared up into those blue eyes and just saw defeat. How had Bekah done this? She was destructive. Lexi wanted to go back outside now and beat her to a bloody pulp for every person she had hurt from her games and manipulation. That kind of person did not deserve to walk around the world with a chip on her shoulder as a vice president of a huge company. She deserved nothing less than to be buried six feet under—in the same way she was doing to Jack.
“Maybe I’ll see you soon,” Jack said.
It was the first optimistic thing he had said since she had arrived.
“Sounds good,” she said and then turned to go.
“Lexi, what’s that?” Jack asked, sounding shocked.
“What is, what?” She crinkled her eyebrows together.
Jack stalked forward, closing the short distance between them, and grabbed her left hand. “This. What is this?”
Lexi’s mouth went dry. No. He wasn’t supposed to find out this way. He couldn’t know now, not when he was so beat-up already.
She shook her head, not able to form the words.
“Lex, tell me,” he demanded, his eyes like ice as they stared into her.
She just shook her head more furiously. “I can’t.”
His grip on her hand tightened imperceptibly, and she winced. When she tensed, he dropped her hand like she had burned him.
“When were you going to tell me?”
“Soon,” she whispered. “Every time I wanted to, I couldn’t. The divorce—”
“Every time?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “How long have you been…how long ago did this happen?”
He couldn’t even say it. She couldn’t either.
“About a month.”
Jack staggered back a step. His face was a mask, and if she hadn’t known him so well, she wouldn’t have seen the hurt flashing in his blue eyes.
“A month…”
“I’m sorry, Jack.”
“That you’re…” He shook his head. “Or that I found out this way?”
She took a breath before answering. “That you found out this way.”
“You always were a fucking terrible liar, Lex.”
Tears sprang to her eyes, and she shook her head. She hated hurting him. After all the fucking bullshit they had gone through, she still fucking hated this so fucking much. It made her chest ache, and her ears were ringing.
“I’m not lying,” she said. She had to stand by it. She loved Ramsey. She wanted to marry him.
“You can’t even say it. You haven’t even told me. I’ve known you for years, longer than everyone else you still talk to. I know you, Lex,” he said, still standing at his safe distance. “Don’t ever forget that I know who you are as much as you know who I am.”
“I know. God, I know, okay?” She swiped at her eyes as her vision got blurry.
“Are you happy?”
“Yes.”
“No, are you really, really happy? Like, you’ll never really be sad again because you have everything you want. Are you happy like that, Lex?” he asked.
Those blue eyes stared straight through her. They demanded she think and feel and remember.
She hesitated. “Yes.”
He shook his head and looked away from her. “Then, what are you doing here?”
“What?”
“If it’s him, Lex, and you’re really happy, then what are you doing here?”
“Don’t ask me stupid questions. I came because you asked me to,” she whispered.
He smirked at her. It was a knowing look. She had seen it a million times. How he managed it through the pain that was clear across his entire face at this point was beyond her.
“Exactly.”
Lexi just stared at him. How was she supposed to respond to that?
“And it’s why you should leave now because I’m asking you to.”
“Jack…”
“I told you once that all I wanted was for you to be happy. If you are, then that’s all that matters. That’s it,” Jack said before turning and walking back into the courtroom.
Lexi stood there, stock-still, for longer than she wanted to admit.
What had just happened?
Lexi might as well have been in a nightmare.
She stood at the center of a large group of people. Photographers were all around. A podium had been constructed off to the side. A shovel sat in the freshly tilled earth, and before her was the completely cleared land where the new Bridges medical wing was going to sit. Even though breaking ground had officially begun two months ago with the underground garage that was going in, they were having the public ceremony on this perfect sunny Saturday morning in front of the press.
The press made Lexi nervous.
They made her even more nervous when three guys who she had slept with were in close proximity. Not to mention, Bekah and Parker and Ramsey’s parents were also present!
She had never been with all of them in one place. Last year, the rehearsal dinner and wedding had been close, but John hadn’t been factored into the equation. Now, he was here, standing smugly next to Jessica. When he caught Lexi’s eye, he stared at her like he knew all of her secrets. It was completely disconcerting. She had never found out where he was getting his information from, but damn it, he seemed to know so much about her every time she saw him. He was civil and hadn’t pushed his luck with her or anything, but he was never far out of the loop.
And she just wanted to know—how?
But he wouldn’t tell her.
She couldn’t badger him about it without raising questions as to why she would be talking to him so much. So, she tried to avoid it. But she would be lying if she said the temptation to gather as much information from him as possible wasn’t there.
Lexi averted her attention from John as he started up a conversation with Jessica. Lexi surveyed the rest of the crowd. Bekah wasn’t even standing with Jack. He was talking to some business associates that Lexi had never seen before. Bekah was at her father’s right side, a position of power. Even though Bekah wasn’t working on the medical wing, she was sure to put herself in the spotlight, regarding the development.
Everyone was dressed in suits, and for a brief moment, she mourned the loss of Jack’s Chuck Taylors. She hadn’t seen him in them since the day of the concert. That could also be because she hadn’t seen him outside of work.
Something had shifted that night after the concert. Lexi hadn’t known what to say to Stella after her announcement. Jack had said no. Stella had pushed her luck. Still, they had slept together. But Lexi didn’t know why Jack had never given her the details. She remembered her interaction with Jack in New York clear as day. He had said that he didn’t have an excuse, it was his fault, and that he had to tell her…get it out in the open. Why would he say that when in reality he’d had an excuse?
She probably would have still been pissed that he had gone through with it. But some part of her brain kept whispering that maybe things could have been salvaged.
Yet, she hadn’t been able to bring it up with him.
She just couldn’t do it.
She had walked out of that restroom and stared into those big blue eyes with a wave of memories crashing down all around her—the way he had looked at her on the beach, the first time he had told her loved her, the whispered sweet-nothings before falling asleep together, the depth of emotion in his eyes when he had produced that ring in her ratty New York apartment. She had seen all of that and thousands and thousands more moments all in a second. She had seen her Jack standing before her, wanting to do nothing more than to make her happy, when all he’d had to do was make an excuse for his behavior.
But he’d never had.
He had never once made an excuse for who he was.
He was just Jack—the blue-eyed, smirking, beautiful man she had loved for far too long.
Something had clicked in that moment. She wasn’t mad at him anymore.
She’d had every reason to be mad at him. He had fucked her over ten-thousandfold over the years. She’d had her heart ripped out of her chest more times than she could count. He had slept with someone else when they had finally had a shot at working it out. He’d had sex with Lexi before proposing to Bekah. He had put a duplicate of her ring on the Bitch’s finger. And then, he had fucking married the Bitch.
And still, she couldn’t be angry with him even when she wanted to be. So, she had let it go. Because the only way that she could keep going was to move on.
As his blue eyes found her in the crowd, she knew that there would forever be a pull between them—a magnetic, inexplicable pull. If she kept fighting it, then she would only be putting all of her energy into pushing something away that kept crashing into her life and not focusing on the life she was currently living.
So, she lived her life with Ramsey. Jack just happened to be there—not like he had always been but more like…a friend.
“Lexi,” Ramsey whispered.