The Prenup - Lauren Layne Page 0,78

things and tie up some loose ends. Ten years ago, my flight to San Francisco was one-way. This time, it’s round-trip.”

She sucks in a breath. “You’re coming back to New York for good?”

I nod and smile. “Guess you’ll have to make room for me at Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

She smiles then promptly frowns. “Well, I’m glad, but you still ran away, young lady.”

“Young lady?”

“Tell me, did you even stand still when you set the divorce papers on the kitchen counter for Colin to find, or were you still walking as you simultaneously rolled your suitcase out the door?”

I flinch, both at the mention of his name, as well as the fact that her accusation rings uncomfortably true. “You’ve talked to him?”

“Unlike you, he came to dinner last Sunday,” she says stiffly. “Why I have to learn of your divorce from my son-in-law rather than my daughter directly—”

“You’ve known this was coming, Mom,” I say gently. “I’ve never pretended we weren’t getting a divorce. It’s a little ahead of schedule but not much.”

“But why? I thought you cared about him?”

This time I let the old rebellious Charlotte out just a little bit because I can handle deserved accusations, but not that one.

“It’s because I care about him,” I retort. “I want him to be happy more than anything. That meant letting him be with Rebecca sooner rather than later, so I made that happen.”

“Yes, but I want you to be happy,” she says stubbornly.

I laugh at the unexpected sweetness of that statement. “I know you do, Mom. I want that too, and I’ll get there. It just won’t be with Colin and me riding off into the sunset.”

She doesn’t relent. “I still think it should have been a conversation between you two, not just you leaving those papers for him to find.”

“You’re right,” I admit. “But I’m not a saint. It was hard enough signing those papers as it was. I think having to hand them to him in person to watch him sign them might have torn me in two. And let’s not forget,” I continue quickly when she opens her mouth to argue. “It was Colin who initiated the divorce in the first place. I simply gave him what he wanted.”

“Are you sure that’s what he wanted? If you didn’t bother to talk to him …”

“He gave Rebecca an engagement ring, Mom.”

“But that was before you moved back, and you two—”

“No,” I cut in, keeping my voice gentle since I know how much she loves Colin and had hopes of him being her son for real. “He gave it to her just a few days ago. I saw it myself. He chose her.”

She lets out a long breath and slumps back in her chair. “Well, shit.”

“Mom!” I don’t think I’ve ever heard her curse.

She glances at the table and points at the bottle of wine. “Think I can get a glass of that?”

“Absolutely,” I say with a smile.

I spend the rest of the evening laughing and drinking with my mom and two of my best friends. It’s almost enough to make me forget about Colin.

Almost.

Chapter 40

Thursday, November 19

Now, look, I’m not going to call it rock bottom.

But I’m also not going to say that my pride isn’t stinging a little about the fact that I’m thirty-one years old and living with my parents.

Granted, it’s temporary, just until I find a place of my own and figure out what the heck comes next. I tried to tell my mom I could stay in a hotel, but you can guess how that went over. So, here I am. In my old bedroom.

Now, as I’ve said, it looks nothing like the room I grew up in, which is actually sort of a good thing. This way I’m able to tell my pride that I’m merely staying in my parents’ guest room, not “moving back home.”

I’ve been here for a couple of days now, but the unsettling sense of déjà vu hasn’t faded yet. I’m uncomfortably aware that this is the second time in three months that I’ve gotten off a plane from San Francisco to New York armed with only one suitcase and one carry-on, my other belongings to follow. It’s the second time in three months I’m living in someone else’s home, feeling a little in limbo.

This time is even more complicated since I only have some of my belongings with me; the rest is en route from California, and I left behind a handful of items at Colin’s place. I took