“What do you two have your heads together about down here?” His father materialized one riser above the basement floor. Hands in his pants pockets, he stepped off and ambled into the room, looking between the two of them. “Is this about Reece moving?”
Reece whipped his head toward his father. He spied Noah lurking in the shadows higher up the staircase, over their dad’s shoulder, shaking his head and holding his hands up as if to say, “It wasn’t me.” Reece fired ribbon-slicing daggers at him anyway.
Reece met his father’s assessing gaze. “Who told you?”
“Wait!” his mother shrieked. “Moving where?”
Dad tucked his hands under his armpits and cut Reece alook. “He’s moving to Vermont, Marilyn.”
“What!” Her yelp was so sharp it made Reece’s ears ring. “When?”
His father gave him a chin lift. “Beginning of the year, from what I hear.”
Reece’s jaw muscles bulged as he ground his back molars. “Where did you hear that?”
His mother closed the short space separating her from Reece. “If youwereto marry? Youaremarried. And what are you going to do about yourwifewhen you move, Reece?”
Dad’s eyes bugged out. “Wife? What wife?”
Noah mouthed, “Oh fuck!” in the background, then spun on his heel and jogged upstairs. The coward was escaping this quickly unfolding shit-show, and Reece’s feet wanted to follow, but his dad barred the way.
Mom pulled in a lung-filling breath and slowly let it out. To her shocked husband, she said, “Dear, I think we need to have a talk with our firstborn.” Then she turned a stern stare on Reece. “And I think it’s only fair Neve is included in this conversation since it affects her too.”
The shit-show was about to become an epic cluster-fuck.
The four of themsat in Hugh Hunnicutt’s office, with its exposed log walls and a picture window looking onto an expansive lawn that gently sloped down to a stand of pines and the creek beyond.
Reece’s parents had excused the four of them from the happy newlyweds, whom his mother set to the task of decorating the rest of the house. “You boys know how I like things placed,” she had instructed right before sharing a smile with Hailey and Joy, “but of course feel free to arrange them however you like. This is your home now too.”
Reece’s father sat behind the desk in his broad, high-backed black leather chair, while his mother sat off to his side, hands twisting in her lap as she faced Reece and Neve with brows drawn together in worry.
In a show of solidarity, Reece parked himself close to Neve, their shoulders touching, supporting one another, while his hand, resting palm up on his thigh, closed around her much smaller one. Every time he squeezed her fingers, they squeezed right back.
Steepling his fingers, his father leaned back. The chair creaked as he regarded them both, his lips pursed. “If neither of you was in your right mind, and it resulted in an action neither of you would have pursued had you been sober, then I don’t understand why you can’t simply get it annulled.”
“Dad, from our research, the process will take about the same time as a divorce.” Reece felt Neve flinch at the D-word.
“Understood, but that doesn’t answer my question. Let’s keep the time factor out of the equation. Annulment seems the logical way to go. Or am I missing something?”
Reece and Neve exchanged furtive glances before stumbling over different words at the same time.
“Well, we …”
“You see, things sort of …”
His dad raised his hands in a halting motion. “Say no more. I get the picture.”
Mom’s gaze ricocheted between all three of them. “I don’t.”
“I’ll explain it later, Marilyn.” Dad sent her a sly wink.
“Oh. Oh!” She covered her mouth with her fingers. Reece averted his gaze in case he foundmoredisappointment lingering there.
To Reece and Neve, he said, “I’m no lawyer, but I expect that by—how do I put this delicately?—taking things to the ‘next level,’ a tangled situation becomes even thornier. In other words, the defining deed is done.” He tapped his fingers on the desk. “The way I see it, whether you undo it tomorrow or months from now doesn’t make a huge difference. Better to get thingsright.”
“What if Neve finds someone she wants to date in the meantime?” Reece’s mother blurted. Why those words twisted his gut, he couldn’t say.
“That’s up to the kids, Marilyn, and I’m sure they can figure it out on their own.”
