He thought he could tell Marlee what to do after he broke her to fucking pieces? It took all Eli had in him not to hop in his Jeep and rearrange the guy’s nose into his eyebrows. He’d already broken her heart, wasn’t that enough? Did he have to turn her parents against her, too?
He shot a text to Sadie, letting her know they could really use this divorce.
The response he got was less than helpful.
Divorces take time. Should have something in the next day or so for you to sign.
He’d barely set the washer on permanent press and got back to the apartment before the timer on the oven started flipping out. He hurried to the kitchen to make it shut up. Careful not to burn the shit out of his hands, he used a kitchen towel to pull out the ceramic dish of enchiladas.
He hoped Marlee was into Mexican food.
Not that he was trying to impress her. He didn’t have any reason to impress anyone. If he were trying to impress her, he wouldn’t be using month-old frozen enchiladas he’d tossed in the deep freezer after the Miller wedding.
No, he wasn’t trying to impress Marlee. The fact that he hoped she liked his food was purely an ego thing. Not a husband thing.
He gulped at the thought.
He needed to get used to the word.
“Husband.” He let it slide over his vocal cords. That wasn’t so bad.
“Marriage,” he said it, but he also practically choked on it. Nope. Not there yet.
For the briefest of moments, he considered tossing a heap of margaritas in the blender, but he and Marlee didn’t make good decisions when alcohol was involved. Instead, he figured they’d have iced tea. Iced tea was safe. Iced tea was not margaritas.
Which sucked.
His phone rang. He snagged it. Shit. His mom. He hadn’t called her.
“Mom,” he said into the receiver. “Hi.”
There was a pause. He knew she was there, he could hear her breathing.
“I got a funny call today from Sadie,” she finally said. He just bet she did. “About my son’s wedding,” she continued. “I said she must be mistaken, because my son wouldn’t get married without telling his mother.”
“I literally just got back to town, swear I was stopping by to tell you in person.” He’d planned on doing that until Marlee had called. “It’s not what you think it is.”
“Then I hope you’ll tell me what it is?”
“It was a mistake, and Sadie is handling the divorce.” Not once did he have to use them-word. Go him.
The soft knock on the front door had him moving there.
“Look, Marlee’s staying with me for a little bit. Long story, but I’ll fill you in once I get her settled.”
“Eli?” his mother asked. He could hear the smile in her voice.
“Yeah?” He hustled to open the door.
“Maybe hold off on the divorce,” she said, then the line went dead.
He paused. Took three deep breaths. Smoothed his hair. Demanded his heart stop tripping over each beat.
Then he opened the door.
“Hey.” He reached for her suitcase but paused because she’d been crying.
That asshole, Scotty, had made her cry. Again.
