Just One Kiss, before divorcing me

CH 4

Rin

She was out the back of the house, sitting in the shade of a large tree on a blanket. The morning was sunny, but cool, and the breeze coming off the ocean was gentle. She was working outside this morning, being cooped up in that big house for the past two days without so much as a single word from Cal, had kind of felt suffocating.

She understood he was mad at her, and that those words he’d spoken were in fact the truth. The manuscript she was working on had turned dark and emotional, to match her mood. Though she had used those feelings she’d had of heartache and loneliness to add a new twist to the tale she was weaving.

Even now she was typing away out here, she’d not really slept all that much last night, she had tossed and turned and, in the end gotten herself up to write, because it was the one thing that could shut her own emotions off or pour them into her writing. She turned her head at the sound of a car coming up the driveway and frowned instantly.

Cal never came home at this time of the day. She wasn’t even dressed appropriately, she was just sitting out here in an old pair of shorts and a tee-shirt. She did always try to dress nicely when he was around. These were clothes from her old days. She’d been feeling nostalgic and so had rummaged through her old clothes, to be her old self. She had a feeling she was about to be shoved back into her old life, and so she was dressed to match her mood.

She turned back to her work. It was unlikely he was there to see her. At this time of the day, he likely needed something from his office; he did have one here, though she never went in there. He’d told her once not to, and had also pointed out the camera that was in there. It was motion activated and would alert his phone if she did go in there.

She’d not really cared about it, didn’t work in his industry, though she knew a fair few of those that worked in his tech department. She had a computer science degree and could, if she so chose to, could go and sit in her office inside his building in the city and work all day long. She and the team she worked for, had been absorbed by C.R. Technology just before he and she had gotten into the marriage contract; that was how he’d come across her. She was the one that checked for bugs and glitches in the gaming programmes they made.

She was smart technology-wise, just not so smart in the emotional department. She had given her heart to the man she was married to, and she shouldn't have. She caught movement in her peripheral vision and turned to look, to see not only Cal coming this way but his friend and lawyer, Wil, as well. Her eyes moved to the envelope in Wil's hand; It was large. Denoting a contract of some sort.

Here it comes she told herself, and wondered how she was going to explain herself to the team, that she’d gotten divorced, when everything in her life looked wonderful, and that she had an amazing husband. They were a team of girls, and they all thought she was so very lucky to have the love of a man like Calvin Reeves.

Little did they know she did not have his heart, and as she watched him walk towards her, Rin finally realised it was true. He may have hers, but she would never have his. It was all just a show for the public, something to keep his public image clean and family-orientated.

She closed her laptop so that no prying eyes would see what she was working on. It was nothing to do with his company. Not even Cal knew she had a second career. She'd needed to keep that part of her life solely for herself, for the day she got divorced and she was once again all alone.

She’d never told anyone, she'd always worried it would be a complete and utter failure. Though it was not, it had taken off really well a year and a half ago, and if she was completely honest with herself, she’d kept it from Cal on purpose, because she knew this day would come, and she needed something to fall back on.

She had a secret career under her pen name Marilyn Riddley. Her romance novels sold quite well, and she now had two books in print. The rest were all online, but she had made it, and could actually earn a living from it. Not be super wealthy, but enough to sit at home and work on the next one, instead of having to go into the office and work in the computer lab.

When their divorce was finalised, she would leave her life as Marrin Reeves and become Marilyn Riddley, move away from this city, where everyone would know her as the ex-wife of Calvin Reeves. She would move to some place where no one would know her and she could live her life small and peacefully, and never have to hear his name or see him with another woman on his arm, because she knew that would just be painful for her to look at, read about in the papers or see online.

She was going to have to leave his company, it was part of the marriage contract. When they divorced, she would move on from the company so as not to cause gossip or awkwardness for him. Though he had told her he’d personally write her a glowing reference for the work she’d participated in within his company. So it would be easy for her to get another job in her field.

He might be able to see her in her field at those conferences without issue, but she doubted she’d be able to look at him with some other woman on his arm, and not feel uncomfortable inside her chest. If he had the audacity to kiss another woman in front of her, she’d likely lose it completely, even though those lips of his were never to be hers, not for a single second. That didn’t mean she didn’t think about how it would feel to have him kiss her.

Would it be all soft and sensual? Or would it be all hard and demanding? Or would it be light and playful even? She wanted to experience it all, but would never get to. No, that was only for the woman he would love, Mrs Right.

Her heart ached as she looked at him. He was dressed as immaculately as always; a dark blue suit, white dress shirt and a blue and gold tie. He had a hand in his pants' pocket as he walked across the lawn towards hers with Wil next to him. She saw him chuckle softly and even Wil chuckled right after him.

A small part of her clung to the hope that she was wrong. This was not about them getting divorced at all, because how could he be smiling and laughing with Wil? If they were here to serve her with divorce papers. That was not a funny matter, but a serious matter.

She stood up to greet them, and she saw his eyes look over her outfit, and a frown marred his handsome face; he didn’t like her wearing this type of clothing. It was not something he’d bought for her or approved of her wearing. She smiled at him like she always did. “Cal, you’re not normally here at this time of the day.” She stated.

“Is that why you’re dressed like that?” he asked right back, and she could hear the disapproval in his voice. “Didn’t I purchase you proper summer clothing?”

She looked down at her old clothes and half smiled. “I’m going to do some gardening. These are appropriate wear for that.” She looked back to him.

“Hmm, I suppose they are only good for getting dirty.” He nodded and looked right at her. “It’s time to get divorced, Rin,” he told her. There was no hesitation in his words. “If you could sign the papers today, I’d appreciate it. It will take six weeks for the finality of it to come through.”

And there it was. She’d not been wrong, and she just knew that one question she’d stupidly asked him had brought this about. Why oh why couldn’t she have kept it to herself? Said nothing and ignored her need to have a baby with the man she loved. Monumentally stupid, she told herself as she stood there staring at him. Wondering if telling him she was sorry and hadn’t meant it would work to keep him by her side. Though it was only a fleeting thought, she knew he'd made up his mind.

Her eyes moved to Wil as he opened the envelope he was carrying and pulled out the documents inside it. It wasn’t just a simple piece of paper, it looked to be quite extensive. She could well imagine there was a non-disclosure agreement there as well, for her not to ever talk about their marriage contract.

“It’s a no-contest divorce as per our marriage contract,” Cal stated. “I have also organised for you to go overseas on a holiday. You’ve not been able to take a vacation in the past three years, that we were married. I’ve accounted for that and an all-expenses paid trip has been organised for you, as part of the divorce agreement.”