Neve chewed her thumbnail as she traded glances with Reece. “Um, well …”
The attorney’s gaze bounced between them. “So youdidshare a bed.”
“Yes.” Neve tucked her hands under her butt to keep them from fidgeting.
“This is getting more complicated. Was one of the beds … broken? Did you merelysharemattress space?”
Reece cleared his throat. “Not exactly.”
“Penetrative sex?”
He straightened, like a little kid in trouble. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Were pregnancy precautions taken?” Ms. Carlisle furiously wrote on a legal pad.
Jeez, the attorney was getting mighty personal, wasn’t she?
She seemed to sense the effect her probing questions had because she looked up at the camera. “I only ask because if there’s a chance a child was conceived as a result of the, ah, activity, it can muddy the waters further.”
Reece cleared his throat. “Neve’s on birth control. But the whole thing was my fault. I started the … activity.”
“Not really,” Neve countered. “I think I’m the one who, um, initiated. Oh, and I’m definitely not pregnant, if that’s what you need to know.” No, her period had come and gone like clockwork, as it always did—thank God. That would “muddy the waters” all right.
Neve could’ve sworn she saw the ghost of a smile on Ms. Carlisle’s lips as she continued jotting notes. “Am I safe to assume the sex was consensual?”
They both nodded vigorously.
“And it’s still ongoing?”
Again, they nodded in unison.
“Annulment is probably not an option.” She canted her head. “I understand you were under the influence, that you didn’t intend entering into this union, but are you bothcertainyou want to proceed with terminating it?”
Neve’s mouth went slack as she searched Reece’s eyes.
He swallowed and addressed the attorney. “Yes. We’ve discussed it, and we’re both on board.” Glancing at Neve, he mouthed, “Right?”
Neve’s eyes clouded, so she wasn’t sure if she read his mossy greens right, but she thought she saw a mixture of hope and regret in them.
She mustered logic—he was leaving for Vermont, they hadn’t meant to get married—even as her heart was tearing in two. “Yes,” she whispered, the word catching in her throat and nearly choking her. Unshed tears burned her eyes.
“As long as you’re both in agreement.” Ms. Carlisle’s tone was more question than statement, but when neither Reece nor Neve spoke up, she continued. “It sounds as if there’s no urgency on either party’s part, so give me a week to research. I’ll get back to you with a plan of action.” Her gaze, along with her voice, softened. “In the meantime, if either of you has a change of heart, I urge you to let me know right away.”
“Yes,” Reece agreed for them both. Neve couldn’t speak for fear those tears of devastation might break through her fragile walls.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly after they ended the video call.
Averting her eyes, she lied. “Fine. I have a yoga class I need to get ready for.”
“Today?”
She was already halfway out of the room, her back to him. “Yes. They needed me to fill in.”
Hopefully, she wouldn’t go to pieces in front of the entire class.
Neve not only heldit together, but she got a lift from instructing a mother and her eight-year-old daughter trying the class for the first time. She had walked to the rec center this time, and the brisk air helped clear her head and steel her spine on her way home. No ninjas lurked behind trees, and the sky overhead was achingly blue. All was right with the world. Life would go on, and she would survive.
Someone once said that when one door closed, another opened. Her mind wandered to what future might be awaiting her behind the door she could not yet see.
