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Because our time together had passed a long time ago.
five
Presley
With the West Coasttime difference, I was able to wake up fairly early and head out to the stables to check on the horses before getting in a few hours of work. My horse, Honey, had definitely aged since I’d seen her last, but I couldn’t wait to take her out for a ride. She was a gorgeous golden-brown Dutch Warmblood, which was the best jumping horse money could buy. But she’d become more of a friend to me than anything. I’d won my last national competition riding her my senior year of high school, and I’d decided to stop competing after that.
There was a peacefulness that came over me when I was here, breathing in the country air with the morning sun just peeking through the clouds. The ocean sat in the distance, and there really wasn’t much that compared to this beauty.
My father wouldn’t be up and moving for a while, so the timing was perfect. I’d just finished a meeting with a client and my boss, Phillip, had wanted an update, so we’d agreed to have a Zoom meeting so we could meet face-to-face.
“Good work, Presley. I told you that you could have some time off while you’re home, but from the looks of it, you’re working quite a bit from there.”
“Trust me, I’m not working nearly as much as I normally do. But I’d rather not cancel meetings with clients if I don’t have to.”
“That’s the work ethic that has made it impossible not to make you partner.” He chuckled. “How’s your dad doing?”
“It’s going to be a long road to recovery, but I think he’s up for the fight. It’s been a tough week, but I’m seeing improvement.”
“Yeah, he’s going to be just fine. Shall we discuss the elephant in the room?”
“I told you that we don’t need to discuss Wes. I know he is your client and your friend, and this is… complicated.” I fiddled with the handle of my coffee mug. “You knew him before you knew me.”
“Yeah. But I like you much better,” he said with a chuckle. “Obviously, we represent his production company. I’m assuming he’s seeking his own personal legal representation since you’ve filed for divorce.”
“I honestly don’t know. He hasn’t responded. We have a prenup, so this whole thing could be very simple if he’d just sign. But you know that isn’t really Wes’s style.”
Wes wasn’t a bad guy. Hell, it was the reason I’d agreed to marry him. I may not have loved him the way I should have—the way I’d loved Cage—but he had this vibrant personality that I’d always found attractive. When Wes entered a room, he captivated everyone in it. He was charming and funny and kind. But he was also arrogant and spoiled and entitled. He wanted to have his cake and eat it, too.
They say most people’s strengths are also their weaknesses. Wes was a perfect example of that. He required a lot of attention, and he liked to win whatever conquest he found attractive at the moment.
I’d quickly learned that after I’d agreed to marry him. He still sought female attention everywhere we went, and after our first year of marriage, I poured myself into work and stopped traveling with him.
So, he traveled without me.
Which clearly brought us to our current situation.
At the end of the day, we grew apart. And we’d never had a strong enough foundation to make either of us fight for the other.
“Is Stew going to apply a bit of pressure?” he asked about my divorce attorney. Stew Bearman was one of the best, and he also happened to be a personal friend.
“Yes. And I have no doubt that he’ll get it done.”
“Good. You know I’m here for you. Veronica wants me to drop Wes as a client, but Grant and Ben are pushing back a bit, of course. They are all about the bottom line.” Veronica was Phillip’s wife, and she’d become a close friend of mine. The partners at the firm weren’t loyal to me, nor should they be. This was a business, and at the end of the day, Wes was a good client.
He just wasn’t a great husband.
But I certainly wasn’t winning any Wife of the Year awards either, though I’d never strayed. I wouldn’t disrespect him that way. I may not be in love with him, but I did care about him.
“Don’t drop him as a client. This will all blow over, and we’ll move on at some point. I just want to have it all behind me before returning home. I don’t need to be sharing an apartment with him.” I forced a chuckle, dreading everything that needed to happen before this was all over.
“That magazine article is going to press this week. No one will be talking about your creep of a husband when they see that you’re blazing the way for women in the legal world.” He smiled as he tapped his pen against the desk.
“Thank you. It’s nice to have something going right in my life.”
“You’re tough, and you’re going to be just fine. I’ll let you go. Keep me posted. We’ll talk soon.”
I said my goodbyes and made my way to the main house. I wanted to be present for both speech therapy and physical therapy today, just to get an idea of how he was doing and what they’d be expecting of him moving forward. I’d stay out of the way so he wouldn’t be embarrassed about me being there.
