“Divorced.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t be. It was …” A shadow passed over her eyes, and I wanted to find that no good ex of hers and hurt him, even if I didn’t know the details of what happened between them.
Audrey continued. “It was for the best. Actually, that’s the reason I was at the bar that night. I was celebrating one year of freedom.” Audrey smiled ruefully before looking up at Sarah in apology. “Shit, sorry. I don’t mean that marriage is something to be free of, just mine. Yours will be wonderful, I’m sure.”
Sarah waved her off, completely unbothered. “Mom and Dad freaked out when Matt initially proposed and ended up inviting all their divorced friends over to,” she air quoted, “‘tell us that marriage isn’t some fairytale’. I thought it was hilarious, but Matt still can’t look at a gravy boat without feeling sick.” She noticed Audrey’s confused response. “Don’t ask.”
They veered into a conversation about table settings and floral arrangements while we ate, while I was content to enjoy how well this was going.
I should have known better.
“So …” Sarah started innocently, and I was at least grateful that Audrey hadn’t shown any discomfort with Sarah’s blunt style of questioning so far this morning. “What was it like getting divorced?”
“What was it like?” Audrey and I spoke at the same time. “Sarah …”
“Sorry, no offense.” Sarah had the decency to shy away from my disappointed glare. “It’s just I’ve never met anyone who did it so young. All Mom and Dad’s friends were in their sixties with kids and all that. Was it hard?”
Audrey’s hand found my knee under the table, and I was at least thankful that she wasn’t offended by my sister’s overly nosy nature. I placed my hand over hers and gently squeezed.
“Well, it wasn’t easy.” Audrey’s eyes were downcast, and I didn’t expect her to continue. “But I was lucky that Brad didn’t want to drag it out. He set the terms when he left, and that was that.”
I wasn’t an angry person by nature, but I definitely wanted to punch this guy in the face.
“Do you ever speak to him?” Sarah asked, and I knew this would be the last question I’d allow. It was obvious this wasn’t something Audrey was comfortable talking about, and despite my own strong curiosity, it was absolutely not Sarah’s place to dig into it.
“No." It was said with a coldness I’d never heard from Audrey.
“I wonder what Matt and I will do if we divorce?” Sarah sounded shockingly calm and almost curious about the idea, and I was extremely glad Mom and Dad weren’t here to hear it. Mom would probably faint.
“I don’t think you need to worry about that, at least not for a long time.” I decided a change of subject was at hand. “Did I tell you I missed out on the role inSubversion? Terry called me last week.”
Both of them whipped their attention to me so fast. I thought I was seeing double for a second. “What?!” They said in unison.
“Apparently, Addison Michael’s has someone specific in mind, so I’m out.” I shrugged. “They might have been chasing this actor the entire time and just put out interest as a ploy to get him to agree.”
“Well, that’s bullshit.” Audrey dryly replied.
Sarah pointed in her direction, “Yeah. What she said.” Then she placed one hand on my arm, “I’m sorry, Jace. There’ll be other stuff.”
“And there’s nothing you can do?” Audrey asked.
“That’s what I have to work out. I’m not about to walk away if there’s something I can do. Until the contract is signed, I still have a chance; you just have to know who to talk to, so the next step is getting a hold of Addison and convincing him.”
An hour later, Audrey excused herself to collect her things, saying she needed to get home and shower, and although I wanted to convince her to stay the rest of the day with me, I walked her out.
“Your sister is really great. It’s obvious how much she cares about you. Makes me wish I had siblings. I mean, apart from Tiffany.”
“I hope that wasn’t too much. Sarah can be a little …” I searched for the word, “overprotective.”
“She’s looking out for you. It’s sweet.” Her gaze dropped, nervous. “I had a really nice time this morning.”
“So did I. We should wake up together more often.”
“I’d like that.”
And before I could say anything more, Audrey kissed me goodbye and walked down the street.
