Lost Along the Way(94)

“So, what do you want?” he asked. “What’s so important to you that you’d go through all this?”

“Cara is filing for divorce,” Nick said. “You will not contest the divorce, and you will not make her endure a protracted legal battle. You will provide her with reasonable spousal support, and since you two never entered into a prenuptial agreement, you will sell this house and split the proceeds equitably. Assuming you comply with these conditions, the pictures will disappear and you can go on with your life as a single man without ever worrying that you will one day open the New York Post and see these pictures on Page Six. These are your only two options: a quiet divorce with spousal support, or a public divorce with incriminating photos and personal ruin. Your choice. My office will be in touch.”

“Cara, if you walk out this door, don’t ever think of coming back. Once you start this ball rolling there’s no stopping it. You’d better be damn sure you’re really ready to come after me,” Reed said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, I am. Thanks for giving me the option, though. I appreciate it.”

“I had no idea you hated me so much.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Cara said as she stood to leave. “And you are f*cked up way beyond repair. You can keep the pearls. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”

Nick picked up his briefcase—which contained absolutely nothing—and nodded in Reed’s direction. “Good day, sir,” he said. Cara followed Nick toward the front door and smiled as she stepped onto the walkway and made her way back to the car.

Cara tried as hard as she could to look composed leaving the house. She knew Reed would be watching them from the window as they climbed into her car, Nick carefully placing his fake briefcase in the backseat before buckling himself into the passenger side. She pulled out of the driveway with a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, her knees trembling so badly she feared she’d crash the car into the mailbox at the curb. They drove down the street and made a left toward town, and only when her car was safely lost in traffic on the Long Island Expressway did either of them bother to speak. They’d done it.

She’d won.

“I was awesome, wasn’t I?” Nick said, so giddy he was literally bouncing up and down in his seat. “I was like a prizefighter, I mean I took him down. I was like Tyson. I was like Frazier. I was like Ali. I was like LL Cool J when he sang ‘Mama said knock you out!’ That was me in there.”

“Did you just list every pro athlete you know of?” Cara teased.

“Pretty much! And the only rapper.”

Cara chuckled, finding Nick’s enthusiasm contagious, and began to feel giddy herself. “You were great in there, really,” she said, reaching over and patting his leg. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you.”

“Do you think he bought it? I think I was convincing, although admittedly I could’ve done more with my character. I didn’t come anywhere near exhausting my legal vocabulary. I didn’t use the word ‘jurisprudence’ even once! Next time someone asks me to pretend to be a lawyer, I’ll do much better.”

They were returning to the beach, which should have been comforting. The problem was, now that it was done, now that she had forced Reed into a corner, she knew there was no going back. That wasn’t an issue. What was an issue was that she had no idea where she was going to go now. She had her entire future ahead of her, and not the first damn clue as to what she would do with it. This was how people were supposed to feel when they graduated from college, not when they were going on forty.

“I don’t know,” she said. “It will be a while before I know for sure. I think now he’s probably too stunned to process much of anything. Jane may have just solved some problems, but she also created a bunch of new ones.”

“Well, no one said that things were going to be easy. You may have a new problem, but it’s better than still dealing with your life the way it was. Now you can do anything you want. Provided he signs the divorce papers.”

“I guess so!” Cara said, though it unnerved her more than a little to know that she had absolutely no idea what to do next. She doubted Jane had a plan for that, either.

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing the right thing by leaving him. You’re way too great to deal with someone like that. I wish I had some single friends to set you up with.”

“Thanks, but the last thing I need right now is a man. I want to be alone for a while. I need to rebuild myself. More than anything I need a new job in a new place to support my new life far away from Reed. I have to start refurbishing my bank account until the house sells.”

“Why didn’t you say so? You have a friend who has a real estate firm, and you have sold real estate, have you not?” Nick asked.

“In my hometown, yeah. I don’t know the first thing about the market out east. I don’t know anything about selling vacation homes.”

“You sold one the other day! You have a passion for it, that’s clear, and it just so happens that I could use someone in my office. I don’t see why you couldn’t work out here, make a little money, and get your feet back under you. It would be mutually beneficial.”

“You’re serious?” Cara couldn’t believe what he was saying.