A Life More Complete(54)
“Where are you staying?” I ask.
“Tomorrow?” he questions. “At the Ritz in the city. Why? Did you think I was going to stay with Charlotte?” He sounds astonished that I would have even thought it. I nod my head. “My marriage to Charlotte has been over for months. We were sleeping in separate beds and we hadn’t even been married three months. I wouldn’t even consider it.” I breathe a sigh of relief and I ask the question I probably shouldn’t.
“What’s she like? You obviously married her because you thought you loved her.”
“I thought I did love her, but it wasn’t love. It never was. I think I thought it was the next step. I saw my parents loveless marriage and just assumed that mine and Charlotte’s relationship was as good as it gets.” He shrugs his shoulders. “I felt pressured into it by her. I know that’s a lame excuse, but that’s the reason I proposed. When we first met, she was fun. She laughed a lot and we had a good time together. She was a nice distraction from you. But the longer we were together the more serious she got. Maybe she always was, I don’t know. She stopped being fun and by that time I was too far gone to leave. We lived together and her parents were crazy obsessed with us getting married. She constantly brought it up until I finally just asked to shut her up.”
“Did you ever think about calling it off?” I ask.
“Sure, plenty of times. My mother hated her with a fiery passion. Even more than she hated you, so I should have taken a hint from her and ran.” He laughs slightly. “Charlotte refused to sign the prenup for months and that took a serious toll on what little was left of our relationship. There was not a chance I was marrying her without a prenup. She became greedy and had it re-drafted so many times it was ridiculous.” He shakes his head as if he’s recalling the memory. “It always came back to the same thing. She wanted more money if we were to divorce. It was out of hand. I told her I wasn’t going to marry her unless she signed the original agreement and for some reason she signed it that night. What was done was done, though. She was miserable from then on, so I filed for divorce six months ago.”
“So what happens now? You have your hearing on Monday? Will it be officially over?”
“Yep. Done. She gets only what we agreed upon in the prenup and I get to walk away. She gets our house in Wrigleyville and gets to keep her car and that’s about all. I get the contents of the home, my law practice and my car. Any joint money we had gets split down the middle and her hands stay off my trust fund.” He makes it sound like a business transaction as opposed to the end of a marriage, but I guess that’s really all it is at this point. “It was never meant to last and I should’ve been smart enough to realize it from the start. If I hadn’t dealt with this bullshit though, I’m not sure I would have realized how wonderful you are.” He smiles at me and whatever doubts I have about us fade away.
While Tyler showers I clean out a few drawers in my dresser to make room for him. I clear out the extra bedroom closet and hope that it gives him enough room for his stuff. He said he gets the entire contents of the home and my house already has its own entire contents. I’m not exactly sure where the hell we are going to put all his shit, but I try not to dwell on it too much.
“Hey, Ty? I yell as he gets out of the shower. “What are you going to do with all your furniture and stuff?”
“Um, I haven’t really thought about it. I get everything, but I think I’ll probably just let Charlotte have most of it. There are a few things I really want, so I’ll just put them in storage until we can decide what to do with them.” It’s the “we” in that sentence that gets me. The “we” is finally him and me. It makes me excited and I hop my way to the bathroom to tell him how much it pleases me. I stop short when I see him holding the picture of Ben and me. Shit, should’ve hid that better.
“Who’s this?” he says, looking at me strangely. Tyler knows my hatred of pictures, so I’m sure one being in my bathroom drawer with my toothbrush baffles him.
“That’s Ben, my ex.” I grab it from him and toss it in my closet as he follows me. I can feel my heartbeat increase and my cheeks flush. I don’t want to talk about Ben. The connection is still there. It won’t be like talking about Tyler’s ex.
“Sorry. I made you uncomfortable,” he says coming up behind me. “I’m not used to seeing you with someone else. I’m jealous.” He wraps his arms around me and pulls me back against his chest. I reach behind and entwine my arms around his neck.