Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

Evie

At least the week had gone by quickly. I had taken today off because I had to be in court at nine for the ridiculous lawsuit my ex had filed against me. My lawyer had said it would only take an hour or two of my Friday, that the judge would hear any motions and the trial calendar would likely be set. It was the absolute last thing I felt like doing after Merrick’s disappearing act this week, but I tried to make the best of a day off and scheduled my bed for delivery this afternoon. I could finally move into my apartment this weekend.

I arrived at the courthouse early and waited outside at the top of the steps for my lawyer, but while I scanned the crowd coming in, I saw Christian instead. The jerk had the balls to wave. I greeted him with a less friendly flick of my hand—flipping him the middle finger.

This week had been such an emotional one, and seeing his face brought so much animosity to the surface. I hadn’t heard from Merrick again after his short text response on Monday, and seeing Christian was a flashing-neon-sign reminder that I had misplaced my heart and my trust before.

It all bubbled to a boil once we got to the courtroom.

“Your Honor,” my lawyer said. “I have a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Even if everything in the plaintiff’s petition were true, Mr. Halpern has no damages.”

Christian’s lawyer shook his head. “His reputation has been ruined by the defendant, Your Honor.”

I leaned forward and scowled at my ex. “I think your reputation was ruined by you sleeping with my best friend the night before our wedding.”

The judge narrowed his eyes at our table. “Please keep your client from speaking out of turn. She’ll get to say her piece when the time comes.”

Yeah, like any of this would bring me peace. I rolled my eyes but shut up.

My lawyer responded. “Yes, Your Honor. But back to the matter at hand. There is nothing in the petition that remotely indicates how Mr. Halpern was harmed that he should be made whole by my client. What is the basis of any damage claim? How was it calculated?”

“The damages are non-economic,” Christian’s lawyer said. “He was humiliated, suffered emotional anguish, had a loss of enjoyment of activities—”

I couldn’t help myself. I leaned forward again. “He was humiliated? He suffered a loss of enjoyment?”

The judge wagged his finger. “Not another peep, Ms. Vaughn. I’m warning you.”

My attorney held up his hand. “Could I have a word with my client, Your Honor?”

“By all means.” The judge threw up his hands. “We have nothing better to do with our time this morning.”

“Just one moment, Your Honor.”

My lawyer leaned over to me. “You’re going to wind up locked up for contempt if you don’t listen. This is the judge who’s going to rule over a trial, if it comes to that. You do not want to start off like this.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Sorry.”

My lawyer held my eyes. “Tread lightly.”

I managed to refrain from speaking for the next forty-five minutes. In the end, the judge set a trial date, but stressed that he believed it was in both our best interests to settle the matter out of court.

After it was over, my attorney and I spoke for a while in the hall. Then he had to go upstairs to a different hearing, so I headed out on my own. As I made my way down the marble stairs, Christian was suddenly by my side.

“Can we talk for a minute?” he said.

“Why?”

“Because I want to put this behind us as much as you do.”

I kept walking. “So drop the lawsuit.”

“I will…if you just have dinner with me.”

That stopped me in my tracks. My entire face wrinkled. “What?”

“Have dinner with me. And I’ll drop the lawsuit.”

“What are you talking about?”

Christian looked down. “I fucked up, Evie.”

I snort-laughed. “You think?”

“Please have dinner with me.”

“For what? What would be the purpose of that?”

“So we could talk?”

“We’re talking right now. Say what you have to say and drop the lawsuit. I just want to move on with my life.”

Christian looked up. “I can’t move on with my life without you, Evie.”

Oh my God. Is he serious? I shook my head and held up my hands. “I don’t even know what to do with that. I’m not having dinner with you.”

“Come on, Evie…”

I had no words. So I started to walk again. “Just sue me, Christian. I’d prefer that than having to look at your face for an hour over a meal.”

• • •

I went into the office on Saturday morning to take care of a few things since I’d been out yesterday. There were a few people milling around, but Merrick’s door was still closed. I’d taken out my notepad and started reviewing my scribbles so I could type up a session summary when I noticed my hairclip on my desk.

I picked it up and stared at it. I hadn’t left it there, had I? I didn’t think I’d ever brought one of these to the office. The only time I ever used one was when I washed my face and got ready for bed. Then it hit me—I might’ve left the one I’d used at Merrick’s on his bathroom sink. I thought back to a week ago Friday night…

I’d gone into the bathroom off Merrick’s bedroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I was just finishing when Merrick walked up behind me. He looked in the mirror with a dirty smile, unclipping my hair as he reached up underneath the T-shirt I’d been wearing. I couldn’t remember putting my clip back in my bag after that. I suppose Merrick could have left it on my desk the other day when he placed my bag on the couch. But I can’t imagine I wouldn’t have noticed. And why would he have placed it there and not in the bag with the other stuff he’d collected?

The only logical explanation was that he was back, and he’d left it on my desk either yesterday when I was out, or this morning. If that was the case, he might be upstairs right now. I thought about texting him again or picking up the phone and calling, but something was clearly going on, and I needed to see his face to know he was okay. Merrick was not the type of man to shy away from things, so maybe he was hurting more than I understood. I took a deep breath and went to the elevator.

Halfway up, I started to second-guess my decision, and I pushed the button to go back down to the office. But it wasn’t like the elevator had a cancel button, so I had to ride up to the top floor before I could take it back down. Which is exactly what I’d planned to do, until the door slid open and Merrick stood in front of me.

“Oh…hey,” I said.

Merrick looked up and frowned. My heart nearly broke right then and there.

“Hey.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked anywhere but at me.

“I was just coming up to see if you were back. I, uh, found my hairclip on my desk today so I thought you might be.”

He nodded. “I found it in the bathroom last night.”

Merrick didn’t look well. His skin was sallow, and dark circles rimmed his normally bright green eyes—which were pretty damn bloodshot. He was also a wrinkled mess, which was very unlike him.

I stepped forward and reached out. “Are you okay?”

Merrick stepped back. It would have been less painful if he’d slapped me across the face.

“Are you sick?”

He shook his head.

“Are you hurting because of seeing Amelia’s daughter?”

His eyes jumped to meet mine. I’d never mentioned that the man had filled me in on who he was.

“He told me after you left the store,” I whispered.

The elevator doors slid closed behind me. It made the hall feel so much smaller.

“Will you talk to me? Maybe I can help.”

Merrick shook his head. “I don’t want this.”

For some reason, I assumed he meant me giving him therapy. “I won’t try to psychoanalyze you or treat you like a patient. Whatever is going on, I can just listen as your girlfriend.”

“I’m sorry, Evie. I made a mistake. We should never have happened.”

I instantly went from sad to angry. It was one thing to dump someone, but another to say it was a mistake. “A mistake? You’re calling what happened between us a mistake?”

“It’s my fault.”

My hands flew to my hips. “You’re damn right it is. You know why? Because you wore me down. I wasn’t ready to go down this road—you chased me. Not to mention, I thought it was a bad idea to get involved with someone at work, the boss, no less.” I looked up and laughed maniacally. “Oh my freaking God. I did it again. Fell for a guy who is full of shit. Tell me, Merrick, is there a woman in your apartment, too? Because I left my phone downstairs, so you don’t have to worry about any video going viral, at least.” I shook my head. “Is that what this is? You were growing bored so you went back to fucking models? I mean, your neighbor would be convenient and seemed pretty interested.”

Merrick hung his head. “No one is inside. I’m sorry. It’s just… I can’t be in a relationship and be responsible for someone else.”

My neck pulled back. “Responsible for me? When did I ever ask you to be responsible for me? I’m an adult and perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Now you’re just pulling excuses out of your ass. You know what, you were right to begin with. This was a mistake. But the mistake was completely on my part. I should have never fallen for your shit. That’s what the mistake was.”

Merrick met my eyes, and I waited a few heartbeats. A small part of me held out hope that he’d apologize and say he was wrong. But realizing I was clinging to that hope only made me more upset. I needed to get the hell out of here.

So I spun around and pushed the button—ten times. Merrick didn’t seem to have moved from where he stood, though I couldn’t be sure since I didn’t turn back to check. Luckily, the elevator was super quick. I slipped inside before the doors had even finished opening. Pushing the button, I looked up at Merrick one last time. “You’re just like the rest of them.”