Just One Kiss, before divorcing me

CH 10

Calvin

He stayed away from Rin after Wil’s engagement party. It seemed he couldn’t be trusted to not touch the woman. Knew he should not have that night, but she’d just voice she wasn’t his anymore, and he’d not liked hearing those words. This, being divorced from her, was way more difficult than he had thought it would be.

Twice in the last week, he’d found himself on the highway heading for her place, and had to turn himself around and go back to his apartment. He’d called Wil at one point to go out for a drink, needing the distraction from his own thoughts. Six weeks was going to be harder than he could possibly imagine.

She’d also been upset in that stairwell after Wil's party. She couldn’t even look at him. She’d often lain in their bed and watched him, and sometimes he pretended not to notice; Other times he'd just tell her to go to sleep. She liked looking at him when she thought he didn’t notice.

Wil had shaken his head. “I told you not to do it this way.”

“It has to be,” he muttered as he stared at his whiskey at the bar. “I need to go to the house, but I don’t think it’s wise to go alone. I’m likely to seduce her into our bed.” He sighed.

“So, if she’s willing,” Wil shrugged it off.

That was the problem. She likely would be, but then afterwards he would have to see that look on her face, that one he’d seen in the stairwell. The way she’d turned away from his touch, something she'd never done before, and told him to just go. He'd sprung that divorce on her, and then the day she’d signed it, he'd seduced her in a bloody stairwell for anyone to see.

“No, she was upset the other night afterwards.”

“Huh?” Wil sounded confused.

“I’m not proud of it, Wil. But at your engagement party,” he swirled that whiskey in the glass. “I had my wife in the emergency stairwell.” He sighed and downed the entire drink. “Twice.” He muttered. Looked at the bar tender and tapped his glass to indicate he wanted another.

It was an exclusive bar, and only the super wealthy came in here. It was his choice because it was always quiet and calm. The atmosphere was a little on the dark side, but it matched his mood. There was never any drunken rowdiness of an everyday bar. No loud annoying music, something gentle and classical playing in the background. And all he had to do was tap his glass to get a refill.

Wil sighed and shook his head. “I wondered where you got to?”

“Hm she opted to take the stairs. I used the elevator and then just sat in my car until she came out of the building." He looked at his new drink. “It took her over an hour to come outside, and she was carrying her heels. I think she walked the full 20 flights down.”

“That’s just crazy.” Wil frowned at him. “I could have Anabell call her, have lunch, though you’re aware she didn’t put your name on that gift, right?”

“Mm,” he nodded, “she likely wrote that card the day.”

“I told you she was ticked off. You didn’t listen to me,” Wil stated and motioned for another beer. It came in a fancy ass bottle, that in his current mood he couldn’t even appreciate.

“So, I need to go to the house, but I can't go on my own, so guess who’s coming with me?”

“Your lawyer.” Wil chuckled.

“Yes, and I want you to distract her.”

“I don’t think she’s interested in talking to the man that served her those papers.”

“I don’t really care, I just need to collect a few things from my office and pick up a suit or two from the bedroom. One visit, then I’ll leave her alone until the day I have to pick her up and take her to the airport.”

“You really don’t trust yourself?” Wil sighed. “Normally you're quite level-headed.”

“This is very different. I didn’t expect to feel this way, at all,” he muttered and downed that drink. “Pick me up in the morning.” He held his card out to the bartender, “both of us,” he stated to the bartender.

He dressed nicely in the morning but didn’t overdo it, and he let himself into the house at Cliffside, only to find Rin was standing right there in the foyer, a large vase on the table, and she was making a flower arrangement for those flowers. Her eyes moved to him and then Wil “What can I do for you?” she asked, and then turned back to placing flowers into the vase.

“I’m just here to pick up a few things from the office, and a couple of suits,” he told her.

“Alright.” She shrugged. “I won’t bother you.”

He looked at her and wanted to ask if she was alright, but he knew she wasn’t, not really. She was normally one to always smile at seeing him. She’d not done so today. He looked at Wil and nodded towards her before walking away.

He heard Wil state “Anabell really liked the gift you got her.”

“I’m glad,” was all she stated in return, and it didn't sound like she was interested in making small talk.

“I was curious about how you know Marilyn Riddley. No one seems to know who she is. A pen name is what Anabell told me.”

“I went to college with her. It’s how I have all her books,” Rin answered him.

That surprised Calvin. He’d not known that, that she had all of that author's books. It seems she had some secrets he didn’t know about. He retrieved a few files from his office. Things he worked on when he was here overnight. Sometimes sleep didn’t happen and he would work while Rin slept.

He headed upstairs and looked about and, yes, there on her dressing table were two books that had Marilyn Riddley's name on them. Nothing else in here had changed, everything was as it had always been, neat and tidy, the bed made and the windows open to let the summer breeze in, something she always did. He knew that was to do with her past. One of the foster homes hadn’t been so good, and she’d been locked up in a room with no windows on more than one occasion, and now couldn’t stand to be in a dark confined space.

It was also the reason he’d bought this house. Their bedroom was very large and spacious, and had large windows to let the light in. And all that open space out there behind the house and out to the ocean, she had all the light and space she could ever possibly want. Nothing in this house was dark or claustrophobic in any way.

He walked over and pulled out the suits he needed to take with him and lay them on the bed before walking into the bathroom and opening the bathroom cabinet. He picked up her birth control and looked at it. She’d stopped taking it, and by the look of it, the day they’d signed their divorce papers.

He smiled a little, he’d thought she would, that would go in his benefit for his plans, as well. Everything was going to be just fine, he reminded himself. She would understand, and he thought tear up a little, hug him, maybe pummel him when she realised what he’d done, but she loved him. He knew that.

That love would win out over any anger, and she would be happy, they would be happy, and he could give her that baby she wanted, the right way. They would come home from Italy happy and with a baby on the way he was hoping. He just had to contain himself until that divorce was finalized, and then he could give her everything she wanted. She would understand him.

He put it back in the cabinet right where she always kept it, and collected his suits and files and headed back downstairs. He didn’t really need any of these suits, just the files from his office, but collecting them was a good excuse to check her birth control was all.

She wasn’t in the foyer, but the flowers were there, a lovely bunch of Calla Lilly’s with Orchids, and he looked at Wil questioningly, and he shrugged and stated “She finished the flowers and then just left the house, went for a walk. It looked to me like she was heading to the cliff,” Wil stated.

Cal nodded, it was one of her favourite places to be up there. She'd bought that bench seat herself and had it moved up there to sit on, liked the ocean breeze she'd told him once. He glanced in the direction of it as he headed for the car, and she was walking in that direction at a casual stroll.