Just One Kiss, before divorcing me

CH 3

Calvin

He stood prowling around in Wil’s office. The man was on the phone, and it wasn’t even 9am yet. Cal was annoyed right this minute, his plan to ask for a divorce this morning had not happened. Rin had just completely blindsided him with that question about her wanting a baby with him.

“What’s got you all worked up?” Wil finally asked when he ended the call. The man had been watching him prowl around the room. “Did Rin lose it when you asked for the divorce?”

“No, I didn’t ask her for one,” he muttered.

“What? Why not? That was the plan,” Wil stated with a frown.

“I just couldn’t. She was happy last night, giggled at me and then this morning…” he sighed. “She asked me about having a baby.”

“What!” Wil stared at him now.

“Yeah, that was my reaction.” Calvin stated, “How could I ask for a divorce on the back of that conversation? She would think it was because she had asked for a baby. That’s just wrong, I’m not that cruel.”

“You say that, but that girl is in love with you, Calvin, you said so yourself. Told me she was all curled into you after your second wedding anniversary and murmured she loved you in her half-addled sleep state.”

“I know,” he muttered, and a slight smile touched his face at the memory of it. She’d been so cute, hugged into him patted his chest a little and sighed all softly, kind of dreamily murmured ‘I love you, Cal.’ She was the only one allowed to call him Cal. Everyone else called him Calvin or Mr Reeves.

“You should have asked for a divorce back then,” Wil muttered, "now look at what you’ve got yourself into."

“I wasn’t ready then.” He sighed and sat down on the man’s couch, and he hadn’t been. Yes, she was his wife, but it was contract marriage and he’d never looked at her in any other way than that. “I have to ask for it now, I just couldn’t do it today as planned.”

“Well, the sooner, the better, you know this. Even a no-contest divorce, which it will be, will take six weeks to settle and be finalized, so I suggest you start making those plans of yours come to light. Or she might just ask for it herself. Do you really want that?”

“No,” he muttered. “It has to come from me,” he nodded. “I’ll sort my end out today. I know where she dreams of going on holiday. It’s not half obvious her screen saver is the place she wants to go.”

“Then make the plans, you keep her passport, right?” Wil stated.

“Yes, it’s with mine. I’ll get it all sorted out, the flights and accommodation, the tours I know she’ll want to go on.” he nodded decisively. His mind was made up.

“It’s a lot of effort for a divorce, you know that right.” Wil shook his head.

“Mm, I’m the good guy, remember.” Though he didn’t feel like it right now, that girl had nobody, dumped in an orphanage and then raised in the foster system. He was surprised she was so well-adjusted. He shook that off and stood up. “When will the papers be drawn up?”

“When you list off what you want in them, I’ll draw it up today I got the time, no court today myself. What is she getting?”

“The house we share, and four million dollars should do it. Then that holiday all paid to her dream destination. I’ll make it first class, as well.” He would spoil her a little, she deserved it.

“Are you sure you want to do it this way, Calvin. You could simply...”

“No, it has to be this way. We have to get divorced, it’s the only way I see her being happy. She’ll understand my intent is to let her go, so she can be happy in the future.”

“It could backfire, you know, I’d be willing to bet there is a temper in that wife of yours.”

“Hmm, I’ve never seen it,” he shook his head. “She’s too sweet to yell and scream and pitch a fit. Likely just stare at me and mutter ‘right where are the papers.’” Or that was what he was hoping for. “I don’t want a big scene made out of this, keep it low-key and out of the papers.”

“So when are you going to do it? Will you be delivering the papers yourself? Or will I be the bad guy for your sweet-natured, loving wife?” Wil muttered.

“I understand you don’t like it, Wil, but we can’t go on in our marriage as it is. It’s not right and you know it. I can never tell her I love her back, so it’s time to get divorced.” He stated “If you can get everything drawn up by tomorrow, we’ll both go to the Cliffside Estate, and I’ll tell her I want a divorce and you, my friend, can hand her the papers.”

“Yay, I ain’t getting in the way if she tries to smack you one.”

“She won’t,” Cal stated, and she wouldn’t. She wasn’t that kind of woman.

“Getting her heart broken, she just might. I’ll have them ready to go in the morning. Best you sign them prior to going out there, so I can file them on the day, so that six-week wait starts right away.

Cal nodded and headed off to his own office. It was going to be a long and infuriatingly frustrating day, and he knew it. His mind was going to be distracted with those words she’d uttered this morning. A baby, she wanted to have a baby with him, inside a contract marriage. It was not the right thing to do, to bring a child into a marriage like they had.

So, no, he would not only not have a baby with her, he would divorce her to make sure she would understand him. He spent the day sorting out airfares and accommodation, checked on tours of the area and booked several of them: a vineyard tour, a hot air balloon ride, horseback riding on the beach. A dinner cruise on a nice yacht and a spa day, he booked the best hotels and made sure there were luxury transfers.

All the things she’d talked about with his own mother, all the things his mother told him he should do with her,” take your wife on vacation son, make it romantic and relax, enjoy each other.” He knew what that meant. She wanted him to have a baby with his wife. Come home pregnant is what she meant.

He looked at the list of things, and printed out the itinerary. It was quite extensive, a full month-long holiday in Italy. She would really like that, she would see he’d made the effort to give her something she was interested in, her dream destination. She’d not had a holiday in the three years they’d been married, his schedule kind of hindered that. He always had events, whether they be business or charity, here or in other states or outside the country.

He put it all together and got her passport from the safe, flipped through it. She’d been on two business trips with him, and he’d bedded her relentlessly those days they’d stayed together. His wife was beautiful and had a smile that could melt any man's heart. That was why he needed a divorce.

He wanted her to be truly happy, and she could not be that inside their contract marriage, something that was full of rules and stipulations, things he kept in place to protect her and himself. Not that it had seemed to help protect her, she’d still managed to fall in love with him. It was time to end their sham of a marriage in favour of happiness and contentment.

She wasn’t going to like it, be heartbroken, but it was for the best. He couldn’t stay in that contract marriage if he couldn’t give her what she truly wanted, and he could not.