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“We sure are better than most.”
“I’m glad,” she whispers.
“Me too.”
Then I feel her eyes on me. “You gonna spill now on what you were wanting to talk about earlier?”
There’s no escape now, the time has come. “Umm, sure.” I palm the back of my head as I stand awkwardly in the middle of the barn. My heart rate kicks up a notch or two. “Are you sure you don’t want to go get that drink first?”
She laughs. “Do I need one?”
I shrug. “Maybe.”
“Brook, you’re starting to worry me again. What the hell is it?”
“Okay…” I sigh. “Before you get mad, I just want you to know that whatever I’m about to say, I didn’t do it on purpose, okay?”
She bites her lip, wary, her eyes never leaving mine. That only makes it all the more intimidating.
“Just remember I am a great dad to our daughter and I’d never…”
“Out with it, Brook!”
I laugh without humor. “Okay, well you know how you were asking for the divorce papers?”
“Yeah…” she says slowly, waiting for the clincher. I think it’s pretty obvious by now that there’s one coming.
“Well, the good news is I found them. The bad news is… I sorta, kinda, only in the littlest sense… I forgot to file them.”
She blinks a couple of times taking in my words. I can see her mind ticking over for a second.
“You forgot to what?”
“To file them,” I confirm, like we’re just discussing the sun going down.
“Brook, what are you saying?” The alarm in her voice rises as she takes in the severity of my claim.
“What I’m saying is, we’re still married, E. You’re still my wife.”
9
Eden
“I’m what?” I try not to screech, but what he’s saying isn’t making sense, even though he said it perfectly clear.
He forgot to file the divorce papers?
“You’re my wife,” he clarifies again, in a much smaller voice. His eyes drop down to the wood floors of the barn briefly and then slowly drag back up to mine.
“That’s impossible.” I shake my head. “We sorted that years ago, right? What’s going on?”
“Look, I found the papers we both signed but I never filed them with the court when you were out of town that week. It was by total accident, E. I must’ve… just gotten busy…”
I stare at him, aghast. I can’t say I’ve ever been so lost for words in all my life.
“Just gotten busy?” I stammer.
“Huh.” He shoves his hands in his pockets like a school boy who’s being told off by the headmistress.
