Chapter 25

Zeke

I wokeup the next morning with a solid cramp in my neck. Unlike what I'd led Rainey to believe, I was not hungover. I was dead sober from sleeping in my truck after spending the day at the lawyer's office, Walter Walter, Esquire. Every minute of my time there had felt like someone was crushing my heart with a trash compactor. When the pain had become unbearable, I'd left the office and driven my truck to the park where I had a partial view of our spot under the bridge. That view did absolutely nothing to help the pain, but I made myself feel it. A punishment of sorts for letting Rainey back in. I ate a mountain of junk food, but I didn't touch a drop of alcohol. The plan was to set Rainey free today, but I didn't want to numb away the ache in my chest. As long as that was still there, I still had a tiny piece of Rainey with me.

Hitting the ignition button once, I checked the time on the dash. It wasn't quite eight o'clock yet, but I couldn't put this off any longer. Plus it would start getting hot in this truck as soon as the morning sun rose fully overhead. I turned on the engine and headed back to the lawyer's office.

Joseph and John Walter were twins. Lookalike assholes. Joseph was the worst of the two, so I tried to mostly communicate with John. They'd quizzed me down yesterday to get all the details in drawing up the divorce papers, but I had a feeling some of their questions were just to slate their morbid curiosity. There was no doubt in my mind that I'd be the center of town gossip by tomorrow, once Rainey had been served with the papers. Client-attorney privilege was the only thing keeping their mouths shut so far.

When John pulled up in his Mercedes Benz and entered the office, I slid out of the truck and stretched my back. Hoping no one would see me go in, I walked through the back door to the office same as I had yesterday.

"Morning," I said to the back of John's head as he fumbled with his old-fashioned briefcase. He nearly jumped out of his Italian loafers and slapped a gnarled hand to his chest.

"Jesus."

"Nope, just Zeke."

John didn't crack a smile and neither did I.

"You know, we have a front door."

I tipped my head. "And you know Blueball."

John sighed and waved me into his office, flipping on the lights and stowing his briefcase under the ornate wooden desk. He gestured to the same leather chair I'd spent a good portion of yesterday in. "Have a seat."

I did, sinking down into the cushions and wondering how I'd gotten here. Why did I have to love a woman who couldn't love me back? Why was I destined to give my heart to her, only to have her keep tossing it back? Why couldn't I have fallen for a woman who wanted to stay in Blueball?

Why wasn't I enough to make Rainey stay?

That right there was the worst question to ask. All it did was send my brain spiraling down into a dark place.

"Did you hear me?" John's harsh scrape of a voice interrupted my self-loathing.

"Sorry. Say that again?"

He sighed like I was too much work for him, and quite frankly, I didn't need his bullshit on top of everything else. "The courthouse filed the papers right before closing last night, so you're good to go on having Ms. Shaw served. You sure you don't want to use our delivery service?"

Their service consisted of a surly teen throwing the packet at someone's head the second they answered the door. Rainey deserved better, even in this.

"I got it." I stood, hand out.

John sighed again, but pulled the packet of papers out of his briefcase and gave it to me. Joseph stuck his balding head inside the office.

"Off to end another delusional marriage?" His fuckin' dentures were too white to even whiff at being natural.

"Off to chase another ambulance?" I tossed back.

That got his damn mouth to shut real quick. He grumbled, heading back to his own office across the hallway. "Women ain't worth it. Not sure why that's so hard for the youth of America to understand."

I shook my head and left the office, heading out the back door again. Joseph Walter hated women, an outlook on life I couldn't understand, even with my heart breaking right now. I'd have to stick Marlo on grump watch, giving her permission to smack me upside the head if I started morphing into Joseph or John Walter in my aging bachelor days.

Sitting in my truck, I eyed the packet of papers on the passenger seat. It physically pained me to look at them. To know that I was ending the one good thing in my life since my father died. I simply loved Rainey too much to tether her to me when she wanted to be free. This heartbreak felt awful, but it also felt a bit like finally sanitizing a festering wound. It was a necessary pain that would allow me to live afterward.

The drive home was a silent one. I felt like each mile marker that clicked by was a countdown to the end of my marriage. Pulling up my driveway and seeing Rainey come barreling out the front door with a broad smile on her face made that final piece of my heart shatter and fall away. She was wearing a pink sundress, the one that made me lose my mind when the short hem danced along her tan, trim thighs. Turning away before I could talk myself out of this, I grabbed the paperwork and got out of the truck.

Rainey plowed into my chest, wrapping her arms around my neck as Daisy ran around our feet, barking. "Good morning! I'm so glad you're home!"

She leaned up on tiptoes to kiss me, and I turned at the last second, giving her my cheek. She pulled back a fraction of an inch to stare at me. All that happiness she'd exuded when I pulled up dissolved in an instant. She released me like I'd burned her, stepping back and eyeing me with suspicion.

"What is going on, Zeke?" she asked on a whisper.

I steeled myself, feeling like the worst human on the planet, yet fully believing I was doing what was right for Rainey in the long term. I needed to word this carefully so she understood I wasn't rejecting her.

"You know I love you, Rain," I started. Her eyes instantly teared up. She looked fuckin' scared and that cut deep. "I would go to the ends of the earth to give you what you want. I married you on a moment's notice to get you that inheritance. And I've enjoyed our time together so much."

"But. Right? There's always a but," she snapped bitterly.

I shook my head. "You've never wanted to live in Blueball. You like to be on the move. You like new places and people. You'd go crazy staying in this same house with me and Daisy."

"No, I wouldn't!" she cried. She stepped forward again, gripping my shirt in her fists.

I put my hand on hers, gently releasing her fingers. "Yes, you would. You used to have an entire spiralbound notebook with all the places you wanted to see. You're still that girl, Rainey. And no one who loves you should tie you down. You should go see all those places. You have the money to do it. Now I'm giving you the freedom to do it."

I reached back into the truck and handed her the packet of papers.

"What is this?" she asked, voice trembling as she held it.

I stared deep into her eyes, knowing the tearstained look she was giving me right now would be burned into my memory forever, haunting me. "I'm giving you your freedom. Sign the paperwork and in six months the marriage will be officially over."

The moment it sunk in, Rainey sucked in a sharp inhale of air. A tear spilled down her cheek and Daisy shifted onto Rainey's feet, whining up at us both. Even my dog could sense this was a tense moment.

"You're divorcing me?" Her voice sounded so small. Like somehow even her personality had shrunk the second I handed her that packet.

"We always knew it was temporary, right? You have your inheritance. Now I'm giving you the freedom you wanted too."

Rainey's teeth bit down on the side of her bottom lip. More tears spilled and her eyes were turning red. But she didn't look away from me. She just studied my face for a long moment and then nodded.

"Okay."

Her face crumpled but she turned and ran, racing up the porch stairs and into the house. Daisy kept whining, torn between running after Rainey and staying with me. I leaned back against the truck and buried my face in my hands. This was fuckin' awful. Daisy leaned into my leg.

Everything in me in that moment searched for a way to take it all back. To go back to living with uncertainties because at least I had Rainey for a short, however temporary, period of time. But as she flew back out of the house with her suitcase and her duffle bag thrown over her shoulder, tears still streaming down her face, I knew this was the only way.

I had to set her free.

The only way I could trust that her love for me was real was to have her choose it of her own free will. Binding her to me with a marriage she needed to inherit her father's money wasn't the kind of love I wanted. Or deserved.

Rainey dragged the suitcase across the driveway and turned away from me. The stubborn woman was seriously going to drag her suitcase all the way into town on foot.

"Rainey. Wait. Let me drive you at least."

"No!" she shouted, not bothering to turn around. "I called Grandma."

"Rainey!" I called after her. We should talk about this. Say goodbye like two adults.

She pulled the strap of the duffle bag further up her shoulder and lifted her free hand in the air, middle finger extended.

Well, fuck.

That was familiar.