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He’s come to mean so much.
The judge clears his throat, snapping me out of my thoughts. He looks at me and his face reveals nothing. He turns away like he can’t stand to look at me anymore. He addresses David’s table.
“Mr. Peña, I am touched by your contrition and the love you feel for your wife. I like to see marriages work…”
He sends a side look toward my table and nausea rolls in waves over my belly. The warmth from my memories evaporates with a single side-eye. He’s not going to grant the divorce. This judge had been screwing me over from the beginning. My throat knots and my eyes water because it’s not over. This won’t ever end and I can’t go another day married to David.
“…but I find that your marriage has been irretrievably broken. Mrs. Torres is correct, once respect is gone, there is nothing to base a union on. Therefore, I’m granting the divorce decree. I’m also ruling in favor of Mrs. Torres and upholding the prenuptial agreement. The contents of the apartment shall be divided equally, with Mrs. Torres getting first choice of the pieces she wants.”
He bangs the gavel and stands up. Carina says thank you but I’m frozen.
My heart thumps furiously against my chest.Oh my God. I’m free. Relief eases into my body and a tear drops in my hand. I swipe it away quickly. The judge exits and the minute his door is closed, Carina hugs me.
“It’s over,” she whispers in my ear. “We need to celebrate like when we were in college.”
Laughter bubbles in my chest. “Can we still party like that?”
“Saona? Can we talk?”
I turn my still smiling face from Carina to David. “No.”
“We need to make arrangements for the stuff in the apartment.”
Carina waves a hand in front of him. “That’s where I come in, David. All arrangements go through me.” She turns to me. “You can go. I’ll call you later.”
I grab my purse and exit the courtroom as fast as I can. My sister is waiting downstairs but there’s something I need to do first. I find a bathroom and go inside.
I pull out my phone and dial.
“Hey,” Jax answers right away.
“The judge granted the divorce.” My voice cracks and I have to take a deep breath. “I’m free, Jax.” And for some reason when I say his name all my emotions jumble together and I can’t breathe because I’m crying.
* * *
Jax
My chest is heavy. It’s getting dragged down with each sob from Saona. I’ve never heard her cry before, not in our late-night calls, not during all the times the judge postponed the divorce after a random request from David. She hadn’t even cried when I met her in New Jersey and she was barely holding on. But now she just keeps crying and I don’t know where she is and am three hours away.
“Don’t cry like that. It’s over now. You’re free from him. Come on, bad girl. Just breathe.”
The wheezing sounds that follow tell me she’s trying. I step up and away from my desk. I need to move away from the cubicle area I work in.
“You did it. You made it through and now you don’t have to deal with him anymore. Why is Sierra not with you?”
“She’s downstairs. They didn’t let her come up. It was just he and I with our lawyers.” Her voice is labored and thick and it splinters my chest. I should go to New York and beat the shit out of her ex-husband like I jokingly asked last night if she wanted me to.
“Do you know how strong and brave you are? Most people fall apart after their marriage collapses. They lose sight of themselves. But not you. You hung in there and rolled with all the crap. You weren’t even afraid of getting into something with me, even after we butted heads.”
The sniffing is my only answer, so I keep on.
“You’re a soldier, a boss. David will regret what he did the rest of his life because he will never find a woman as beautiful and sexy as you.”
My heart aches because all I can do is whisper these things that don’t help over the phone. I’m impotent and that pisses me the fuck off. I should’ve gone down like I wanted to. Even if she wanted to see that to the end on her own.
She clears her throat. “I’m sorry.”
Huh. “Why?”
