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Chapter Twenty-Five
Ella’s doorbell rang, snapping her out of the funk she’d been in all morning and filling her with a thrill that she recognized. She’d gotten it a couple of times this morning, when she’d heard a text message chime on her phone and when a car door slamming had echoed through the neighborhood close to her front door.
This was the burst of adrenaline that came from thinking Donovan might be contacting her.
“Calm down, Ella. Geez. You’re not thirteen years old,” she muttered to herself as she hurried to the front door and opened it.
“Oh. It’s you. Hey. What’s up?” Though she tried, there was no preventing the stab of disappointment she felt when she saw that it wasn’t him, or the way that her face fell.
“Wow. I’ve been a lot less impressed with the greetings I’ve been getting since Valentine’s been back in the picture,” Genevieve groused, stepping into Ella’s living room without invitation. Or rather, Ella reflected, with a standing invitation. The two of them had never stood much on formality.
Ella chuckled. “I’m making coffee. Want some?”
“Yeah. I’m not surprised you need some coffee to warm you up. Is your hair completely dry yet?” Genevieve quipped as she moved into the kitchen, Ella following.
“Oh, God. Does everyone know?” Ella groaned.
Gen snorted. “What do you think?”
Ella closed her eyes and sighed, then dropped into one of the kitchen table chairs and slumped her shoulders, the weight of imagined public judgement weighing heavy.
Gen poured a cup of coffee, fixed it the way she knew Ella liked it, and set it in front of her without a word. She then made her own coffee and sat down across the table from Ella. At that point, finally, she broke the silence that had descended on the room. “So. Have you heard from hubby yet this morning?”
Ella shook her head.
“Yeah,” Gen continued, “I probably should’ve figured that when you yanked the door open with that ‘hopeful puppy’ look on your face. So, what’s the situation between you two, anyway? Is this just a casual sort of ‘we’ll bang in public pools when the mood strikes’ sort of a thing, or is there some kind of chlorine-based commitment involved?”
Ella barked out a laugh. Genevieve had a way of phrasing things that really got to the heart of the matter. “That’s the question, isn’t it?” she said, bitterness tinging her voice. “I mean, we’re married, Gen. Married. I laid in bed all last night thinking about that. It’s not just some kind of paperwork snafu. It means something. To me, anyway.”
“To him?”
“Don’t know. But that’s not even the thing that bothers me the most.”
Genevieve lifted the coffee mug to her lips and took an eager sip. “Do tell.”
Tears filled Ella’s eyes but she wouldn’t let them fall. “It’s what I might have to do to end it.”
Genevieve screwed her face up. “Girl, if you’re thinking of killing that man, don’t tell me about it. I’m not trying to be some kind of accessory before the fact.”
Ella laughed out loud, which felt great. No matter how melancholy she felt, Gen could always make her do that. Which was just one of the things that made her an awesome friend. “Nothing that dramatic. Don’t worry. No need to consult an attorney.”
“Okay. So what are you talking about?”
“I mean, it just didn’t occur to me that we might need to take proactive steps to undo the situation. Then, last night, it all hit me like a ton of bricks. We might have to get divorced, Gen. Divorced. I don’t think I could do that.”
Gen put her hand over Ell’s trembling one. Gently, she said, “Okay. But it’s not like you’ve really been married all this time. Like, in the real sense.”
Two tears slipped down Ella’s cheeks. “I know. I know that. And if there was some kind of paper I could sign that said we got married on accident and didn’t realize it, I’d sign that in a hot second. Obviously. It’s the truth.”
“Something tells me that’s not something that happens regularly enough to, like, necessitate an official government form.”
“Right. So I’m going to have to take a pen in my hand, put it to paper, and sign my name to it. To a document that says I want to divorce Donovan. My Donovan. How can I do that, Gen? How can I? He’s my heart.”
Gen shook her head. “I don’t know, Ell. I mean, maybe you’re putting a little too much importance on something that’s largely symbolic? I don’t want to be insensitive, but…”
“No, I get it,” Ella agreed miserably. “I probably am. I definitely am. I know that.”
Gen squeezed her hand. “Doesn’t change your feelings, though, huh?”
“Not even a little bit.”
The doorbell rang again and Ella’s head snapped up, adrenaline flooding her body again. God, she didn’t know how much longer she could take this rollercoaster of emotions before her heart gave out!
She jumped up out of her chair so suddenly she sent it crashing to the ground behind her, and Genevieve shook her head and chuckled. “Oh my God, you’re like a dog that just saw the mailman. Sit down and relax. I’ll go see who’s at the door.”
Ella put a hand over her galloping heart and then bent down to right her chair. “Yeah. Probably a good idea.”
