3: 3

"Did he hurt you?"

On the other end, my mother's voice went tight with worry.

The tears only came harder, until I couldn't get out a single whole sentence.

There was a silence of a few seconds, and then my father's steady voice came through.

"Divorce him. Come home!"

The line went dead.

I pressed my forehead to my knees and swallowed down the sob.

All these years, going in circles, and only my parents were still my parents.

Early the next morning.

I dropped my daughter off at school.

Then I got a message from Aaron.

Telling me to come to his company.

When I got there.

I saw the front doors banked with flowers.

The big screen was playing a woman's photo.

That woman was Aaron's first love.

Across it ran the words: *Les, Welcome Home*

Once, full of hope, I'd brought it up with him.

Asked if I could borrow it for my birthday, just to have one small wish granted.

He'd told me back then that the screen was for business promotion and courting investors, and couldn't be used however we liked.

Yet here it was, and he'd used it gladly, for another woman.

Welcome home, no less.

Ten years together, and he'd never once said those words to me.

I drew in a breath and went up to the top floor.

At the door, I saw Aaron in light colors for once, his hair done up on purpose.

That steady, composed man was standing there asking his assistant's opinion, over and over.

"How does this suit look on me?"

He answered his own question before anyone could.

"Les likes light colors. I think this one works, right?"

"And the hair?"

"Les likes a little something loose over the forehead. This should be fine too."

"What about the cologne, is it too strong?"

"Les doesn't like anything that hits you in the nose."

The assistant, at a loss, was about to say something when her eye caught me standing in the doorway.

"Ma'am?"

Aaron froze, then turned to look at me.

The look he'd worn a moment ago was gone without a trace.

"When did you get here? Why didn't you say anything?"

I gave a small tug at the corner of my mouth. "Just now."

Aaron gave a short hum and didn't press further.

"Come in."

The door shut.

Aaron handed me the divorce agreement. "Virginia, do you really not want anything?"

I said nothing and signed my name straight off.

Then I asked him one question. "Are you going to marry her?"

4: 4

Aaron froze for a second.

Then he nodded, certainty all over his face. "I will."

I laughed, out of nowhere. "Aaron, let's make a bet."

"About what?" he asked.

I looked at him and said it slowly, one word at a time. "I bet she won't marry you."

His face changed.

Just then his phone rang.

He pulled it out, and the contact name had already been changed from 'The One I Can Never Have' to 'I Finally Reached Up and Took My Star Down.'

My hand clenched tight before I could stop it.

He answered, and his voice went soft. "Les."

Her sweet voice leaked out of the earpiece. "Aaron, I got here early. When are you coming to pick me up?"

"I'm on my way right now."

He hung up, grabbed his coat, and headed for the door.

At the doorway he turned back to look at me. "I'm not the Aaron I was back then, the one so broke he couldn't even afford a meal when he was with you. She'll want to marry me."

My heart still gave that same helpless ache.

But it didn't matter anymore.

I went home and packed up everything that needed packing.

I was just about to pick my daughter up from school and go.

That was when I got the call from a police officer. "Is this Ms. Virginia Pruitt? Your parents have gotten into a conflict with someone. Please come to the ER at City Hospital as soon as you can."

Something turned cold in my chest.

I hailed a cab and rushed over.

The moment I arrived, I heard my mother's scream tearing down the whole corridor.

"Aaron! You think that just because we cut ties with her all those years ago, we stopped paying attention to her? Let me tell you, we know exactly what her life has been like these past years. She suffered all of that for you, she bore you a daughter, and now that you've made it, you throw her away and go running around with other women? Are you even human? Do you have a conscience? You think my daughter is someone you can just toy with—"

"She's easy?"

Aaron cut her off, contempt pouring out of him. "The second day we were together she slept with me. Isn't that easy? One month in and she was the one saying she wanted to marry me. Isn't that easy? Right after giving birth she came to a bar to pick me up and let another man run his hands all over her. Isn't that easy? A woman I married for thirty-three hundred dollars. Isn't that easy?"

"CRACK—!"