As soon as Judge Price stepped off the bench and into his chambers, she made for the exit, heels clacking a steady beat against the floor.
Behind her, she heard her name.
“Nicole, wait.”
Her blood went cold.
She didn’t stop.
Didn’t turn around.
Didn’t let him see her face.
There would be no reunion, no swapping stories about wives, children, or the missing twenty years that had stretched between them.She hit the hallway, shoved through the doors, and made a beeline for the women’s restroom.
Only once she was inside, alone in the stall, did she let herself breathe.
He was here.
Tripp.
After all these years.
The man who’d married her in a moonlit chapel when they were just teenagers.The man who’d promised her forever...and then walked away like it had never meant anything.
She still remembered the email.
Cold.Distant.
“I don’t think we should talk anymore.I need to focus on school and move on.I want to chase women in college and not be tied down.Please don’t call me.”
She hadn’t.
Years had passed before the hurt dulled, before she could breathe without feeling the sting.But when it came to men, trust remained beyond her reach.The day the truth hit, she shredded her wedding dress and buried the tatters, determined to bury the memory with it.
Until now.
By the time she left the courthouse and reached the sidewalk outside her office, the heat of the afternoon sun had already made her blouse cling to her back.
She was ten steps from the door when she heard his voice behind her.
“Forever looks really good on you.”
Nicole froze.
The words hit like a fist to the spine.The son of a bitch.
Slowly, she turned.
There he stood.Taller.Older.Still beautiful, damn him.But something in his face had changed; there was a weight there now.A shadow in his eyes.
“Partying at college didn’t seem to hurt you,” she replied, her voice tight.
A flicker of confusion crossed his face.“College was twenty years ago.”
“And forever was twenty,” she said coldly.“But for you, it barely lasted twenty-four hours.”
He took a step forward.“You never returned my calls.”
