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“No problem.” I took the envelope from him and watched as he made his way back to his car before backing out of my driveway and heading toward the city. A moment later, Soren came up behind me.
“Who was that?”
I held up the envelope and gave him a smirk. “Grayson Woodward sent this.”
“Who?”
“My attorney friend. I’m pretty sure I can guess what’s inside.”
Soren’s face fell, the color draining out. “Our divorce papers.”
I nodded and slid my finger under the flap of the envelope. “Probably.” Putting the package on the side table by the couch, I withdrew its contents, including several thick stacks of paper stapled together. On top was a note on letterhead, which I set aside. The first stapled stack was the original marriage contract, with a stamp on it that read “Expired” in red ink. Under that was our prenup, followed by our divorce agreement. I put everything down to read the note that had been on top of the file.
Levi,
Congratulations on the expiration of your marriage contract. Included in this file are the original contract, the prenup outlining each party’s takeaway, and two copies of the divorce agreement. Please sign where I’ve flagged, have Mr. Duval do the same, and return both sets to me as soon as possible. The quicker this is returned, the sooner this is over.
Thanks,
Grayson Woodward, Esq.
I handed Soren the note to read, and he took it with shaking hands. I watched his gaze flicker back and forth as he took it all in. When he was finished, he put it on the table with the other documents.
“Does this mean… you want to get divorced?”
I shook my head without hesitation. “It means I forgot to tell Grayson the deal was off. I’m so sorry.” I ripped the note in half. “Can you shred this at work on Monday?”
He took a shaky breath and nodded slowly, a smile forming on his face. “Yeah, I can do that.” When I reached out to pull him close, he shook his head and backed away. “We can do that later.”
I raised one eyebrow, inching forward. “Later? Why not right now?”
“Because,” he said, stepping far enough away that I couldn’t reach him, a grin on his face. “We’re going to be late for the cookout if we don’t leave now.”
A frustrated growl escaped from my throat. He was always the sensible one, the one who was telling me we could fool around later, holding me to my responsibilities, even on the weekends. “If you say so.”
“I do.” He leaned in and kissed me quickly. “Now, get your ass out to the truck before I change my mind.”
An hour later, we were sitting in Cam’s big backyard, listening to too-loud music and sipping beer under the hot summer sun, hanging out and chatting with the members of Out and Kickin’. Everyone was there, including our still single teammates, Jared, Ethan, and Archer, along with the husbands of everyone who was married. We sat with Archer and Ethan in particular, the conversation meandering in no particular direction.
“How’s the theater doing,” Archer asked Soren during a lull in the conversation. Getting Soren to talk about the theater was the easiest thing in the world, and he beamed.
“It’s doing great. I know they say to be prepared to be in the red the first year or two of business, but I think we might actually break even this year. We’re still selling out shows almost every weekend and birthday party business is booming. I think I’m going to hold a one-year anniversary special in the fall. Maybe dollar tickets for classic movies in the month of October. Or maybe dollar tickets for disaster movies to remember how we almost didn’t make it open on time.”
“That’s a great idea, man,” Ethan offered, sipping his beer. “Let me know if you need any help.”
“Yeah, of course.”
The music died down then and Cam and Oliver stood up, Oliver tapping his wedding band on his beer bottle. We all turned our attention to them. I shot a questioning glance at Ethan, who shrugged, and then to Soren, who just shook his head.
“Can we get everyone’s attention, please?” Oliver called over the hum of conversation that quickly quieted. “Sorry to interrupt, but thank you. Cam and I wanted to thank you all for coming this afternoon.” Cam smiled and nodded, stepping close to Oliver, who wrapped his arm around Cam’s shoulders.
“Are you kicking us out so you can go fuck?” Parker asked. Everyone laughed, except Travis, who punched Parker on the shoulder lightly and shushed him.
“No, Parker, that would be a you move,” Cam retorted.
Oliver shook his head. “Not quite. Like I said, we wanted to thank you all for coming. We had a few things we wanted to say. First, the restaurants are doing really well these days, and I’ll be shifting my focus to the Virginia restaurant full time. Jeremiah, who’s been running Hidden Cove, is doing such a good job, I’m bringing him on as a full partner in the business, and he’s going to be coming out here to spend time and work at Metamorphosis, too. In fact, I’ll be stepping away from both restaurants significantly for a while.”
Bennett raised his hand like he was in grade school. “Is everything okay? What does this all mean?”
