“I think the mistake was made well before tonight,” I say, and this time I see emotion in her eyes. She’s in pain. This marriage isn’t just hurting me. If I’d known this was simmering below the surface I would have fixed this before now.
“I know you’re his friend and you’re just trying to protect him,” Caroline says as she puts her hand on mine. “I care about Aiden, too, and this is a sticky situation.”
“You can say that again,” she mumbles and tosses her napkin onto the table.
“But…” Caroline continues like she’s not having to deal with Savannah’s shit right now. “You don’t have to like me, and we don’t have to be friends, but Aiden and I are going to be together. We can figure out how to navigate this together or we can do it on our own.” She looks at me for a moment and my chest aches to pull her into my arms. She smiles at me and then surprisingly she reaches her other hand out and opens it up for Savannah to take. “But you’re special to him for a reason and I’d really like the chance to get to know you.”
Savannah glances down at her hand and then at me. There’s a long pause and not surprisingly Savannah crosses her arms and ignores Caroline’s hand.
“I think you two can handle things without me.” She’s trying to look tough, but I know her better than anyone and I can read between the lines. I’m going to have to just rip the metaphorical Band-Aid off.
“I didn’t want to do it this way,” I say, and I grab the briefcase beside me and pull out the documents I’d had drawn up in the middle of the night. I was unable to wait for the next day and dragged my lawyer out of his bed. I pay him enough. He could get his ass up.
“What is that?” she asks when I lay the folder down on the table.
“It’s an annulment.” Her eyes widen with shock and Caroline tenses next to me. “I had our lawyer draw them up last night. You’ll get the house and keep all your assets. Our premarital agreement outlines everything else.”
“Aiden—”
I hold up my hand to stop whatever she was about to say. “All you have to do is sign and it’s over. I care about you, Savannah, but we can’t pretend anymore. It wasn’t a problem until I fell in love, but now that I’ve found Caroline, this isn’t right.” Caroline squeezes my hand and I keep going. “You have to face your father and live your life. You can’t keep hiding in this fake marriage.”
She stands up so quickly her chair falls over backwards on the floor. I can see tears form in her eyes as she looks at me and then looks at Caroline.
“Jealousy is a powerful thing,” she whispers and looks down to where our hands are linked. Her eyes come back to Caroline’s and I watch her swallow. “I gave you a hard time because he’s my friend and he deserves the best. I might never get to fall in love and have what you have, so I hope you appreciate what you’ve got.” She swallows again and I know this is difficult for her to admit. “Be good to him, because if you’re not you’ll have to answer to me.”
Before I can open my mouth she grabs the pen and scribbles her name. Then she tosses it onto the table and stomps out of the room.
“I’m so sorry,” Caroline whispers to me, and I look over at her.
I take her chin in my hand and shake my head. “You have nothing to be sorry for. She’ll be fine. This is what she does when she gets emotional. She’ll come around in time, but this is something that she’s been avoiding her whole life.”
“Let me take you home,” I say, and she nods.
This time I drive to Caroline’s place and the ride over is quiet. When I park in the garage we take the elevator up and I hold her hand as we walk to the door of her apartment. When she opens it up the lights are off and Elvis is asleep on the couch.
“So I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” Caroline says it like a question and I just smile and shake my head.
“No,” I say, and her eyebrows pull together in confusion.
“Oh, are you working?”
“No,” I say again and step inside, closing the door behind me.
Her eyes widen as I turn the lock and then take her keys from her. I place them on the counter and stalk towards her. For every step I take in her direction, she takes one back. Her breathing is speeding up and I can see her nipples press against her sweater.