My mom lifted her napkin to her eyes to wipe away her tears.
"Sometimes, you guys are so sappy." Vivie rolled her eyes.
I clinked my glass with my parents and my sister, trying to decide whether what my parents had was one in a million. But then I thought of my Uncle Daniel and Aunt Bri. They seemed blissfully happy. So did my Uncle Zach and Aunt Eleni. Sam and Kate were well on their way to wedded bliss as well. All the Clarke men had found their one true love. All of them except me. As I drank my mimosa, I vowed it would never be me.
Later that day, Sam called to wish us Merry Christmas and announce that he and Kate were now engaged and planning to get married on New Year's Eve. My mother and father exchanged a look that suggested they worried it was too soon, but they didn't say anything. They were letting him live his life.
He asked me to be his best man, which of course I was honored to be. Vivie was asked to be a bridesmaid. But then they told us the wedding was going to be in Las Vegas. I never wanted to step foot in Las Vegas again. I remembered learning that once the annulment papers were filed and served, if someone didn’t show up, the annulment would automatically be granted. That meant I never had to go to Las Vegas again. And when Sam started talking about a Las Vegas club, I’d find another city. Atlanta, maybe.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid going to Las Vegas for his wedding. There was nothing I could say to try and talk them out of the location without giving away my stupidity.
Later that night, I was glad to be back at my own place where I didn't have to work to pretend to be happy. I’d always loved Christmas, but this year, it had really been the shits.
The next day, I went to work, even though many of the office staff were still off for the holiday. The clubs would be open, so we had to run with a minimal office staff.
It would have been nice to get lost in work and forget Amelia, but I couldn’t afford to. I had to figure out how to protect myself financially. I had failed to protect myself emotionally, but I was sure as shit going to make sure that neither Amelia nor her father got ahold of any of my money or assets. In fact, I made a list of things that I could do. The first was to sign over my half of the business partnership to Sam. There was no reason he should suffer because I was an idiot.
I was going through lawyer possibilities, trying to decide whether I wanted to get a lawyer in New York or hire one in Nevada, when my phone beeped that I had a text. I looked down and saw it was from Amelia. My instinct was to delete it and block her. But I needed to know what her next move in her little scheme would be. I opened the text.
The papers are filed. I need to serve you. Shall I send them by courier?
I sat back, studying the text. What did she mean by paperwork? The annulment paperwork or a divorce, in which case she would ask for money? I supposed it didn't matter at this point since she'd already filed them.
I texted back.
I'll be in Vegas on New Year's Eve. We can meet then.
I had an urge to ask her whether she was really so coldhearted, if every minute that we had spent together had been a lie? But she’d humiliated me enough, so I wasn't going to put myself in a position that she could do so again.
I tossed my phone on my desk, pressing both of my palms on the desktop and taking deep breaths to settle my nerves. In less than a week, this would all be done, if I was lucky. I would take care of the papers, and on January first, focus on putting Amelia and our marriage behind me.
CHAPTERTWENTY
Amelia
When Max didn't show up as planned just before Christmas, there could be only two reasons that he didn't call or text to let me know he wouldn't be coming. The first was that he was in an accident or something happened that was preventing him from reaching out to me. When I called his office in New York, I was told he wasn’t available, indicating he hadn’t been in an accident or otherwise detained.
The second possible reason that he was a no-show was that he’d overheard my father talking about his deranged scheme and decided he needed to get away as fast as he could. I could only imagine the anger he felt. My father had drugged us and forced us to get married like an evil villain in a superhero movie. I couldn't blame Max for taking off and cutting all contact.
It occurred to me that Max’s actions also meant that he thought that I was a part of my dad’s scheme too. If he thought I was a victim of my father's actions, wouldn't he have shown up? At the very least, he could've confronted me. So the only real answer was that he had overheard my father, and he decided I was complicit too.
I wanted to defend myself and at the same time, I knew that severing all connections with Max was the best thing I could do for him. Completing the annulment and never talking to him again were the only way to keep him safe from my father. My father might try to ruin Max’s reputation with lies and gossip about what happened, but I had to believe the Clarke family was big enough to squash my father's attempts.
It occurred to me that what my father had done was illegal. Maybe I should call the police, but until I talked to Max, I had to keep our agreement that no one was to know about our marriage.
Angry and heartbroken at what my father had done, I had to get away. I was able to find a rental near Death Valley and drove down on Christmas Eve. There was no way I was going to celebrate Christmas with my father. I felt bad about leaving my brother alone with Dad, but then just as I settled into my rental in the beautiful desolation of the desert, James called to apologize for skipping out on Christmas. He and a friend decided to head up to Lake Tahoe to ski. I had no idea whether the ski slopes were open on Christmas, but even if they weren't, being in the snow-covered mountains on Christmas was way better than being with my father. I texted back my apology that I had run away too, only I’d gone to the desert.
After that, I turned off my phone. I turned off the world for two days. My life didn’t improve in that time. I had still lost Max. My father was still going to make my life a misery. But for two days, I put all that on hold.
The day after Christmas, I rose and left the desert early in the morning, returning to Las Vegas just before eight. I stopped home to pick up the papers I’d filled out the night Max was supposed to come over, and I drove down to the county clerk’s office to file them. Once I left the clerk’s office, I texted Max to let him know the papers were filed and that I needed to serve him. His response was that he would be in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve. He didn't ask how I was. There wasn't the usual lightness or innuendo in his communications like we had before. Then again, my text to him didn't have the same tone as it had before, either.
I wanted to call him to find out for sure whether he’d overheard my father and if he thought I was to blame for our situation. In the end, the answer didn't really matter because regardless of the answer, I had to let Max go.
For the next few days, I buried myself in my work, creating the best social media marketing campaigns I could for all my clients. I began making lists of new clients I could pitch to. Now more than ever, I needed to get lost in my work to distract me from the pain of losing Max.
But at night in my dreams, I couldn't hide from him. He entered my dreams, but now there was a distance. He was with me, but not with me. Sometimes, I'd wake up and wonder what would've happened had I told him that I'd fallen for him. Would he have broken off with me right then because he didn't want a relationship? Or would the truth about my feelings hurt him more when he discovered what my father had done?
When I wasn't working or sleeping with Max haunting my dreams, I was crying. Sometimes, it was an angry cry toward my father. Other times, it was soul searing. I’d had the most precious gift with Max, and my father took it away.