Luke
“Yes, Your Honor,” I said.
The judge repeated her question to Juliet. “Do you believe the agreement laid out is fair and reasonable?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
And within a few minutes, I was officially a divorced man.
Juliet and I had filed an uncontested divorce agreement. She got to keep the majority of the equity in the house while I kept my retirement account intact. No kids, no pets, no joint accounts. It wasn’t until we started the discussions on how to split our assets that I realized how little we actually shared. As much as I wanted to put the blame on Juliet for our failed marriage—and she certainly wasn’t without fault—I had to admit that our marriage was built on attraction, expectation, and convenience from the very beginning. It was never about love.
I wanted so much more for myself now. I wanted towantsomeone. Wanted to spend my days and nights with someone. To share our lives fully and completely.
I wanted Scarlett.
I hadn’t felt like I did with Scarlett since I was in high school, chasing after girls and getting my heart broken. Juliet could never have broken my heart because I had never given it to her. Scarlett, on the other hand, just her friendship alone meant more to me than anything.
Thinking about Scarlett, her tight body under mine, her pouty lips open and inviting, made me want so much more than friendship with her.
Juliet followed me outside after our case was adjourned.
“How are you holding up?” I asked her as we stood on the front steps of the courthouse, the autumn sun fighting to warm the cooling air.
“I’m good. It needed to happen.” She shrugged.
“True. Not just with this though. In general. Are you doing okay?”
“Tired, sick, scared… so you know, just peachy.” She cracked a small smile at the end.
I ran my hand through my cropped hair, pulling in a breath. “Is Monroe… Matt… treating you right?”
“We don’t have to do this, Luke,” she said.
“Listen, I know it’s uncomfortable. Trust me, I get it,” I said. “But it’s a small town, Jules. We’re going to run into each other. I work with the father of your child. I’d rather be on good terms than not.”
“Matt’s been really good to me. To us,” she said, her hand rubbing small circles on her belly. It was still pretty flat, but I was starting to see the beginnings of a bump developing. My eyes homed in on the movement until Juliet dropped her hand. “I’m sorry, Luke. It shouldn’t have gone down the way it did.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Probably not. But it did. Now we justneed to deal with it like adults.”
“Oh, like punching each other in the face at a bar?”
A smirk tugged at my cheek. I tried to school my features, but I couldn’t stop it. “I mean, he did have it coming.”
She shook her head but didn’t say anything. We stood together in silence for a minute, processing the end of our lives together. This was probably the most civil conversation I’d had with Juliet in months, if not years. Apparently, all we needed was to no longer be tied to each other for us to see each other as people again.
“Well, bye, Luke,” she said.
“See you around, Jules.” I watched her walk to her car. It felt like the last step to this whole damn affair. As she drove away, all I could think was that I was finally a free man.
* * *
After going home to shower and change, I showed up at the station a few hours later for the start of my shift. I was talking to Danny Souza when the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I turned to the entryway to see Scarlett stepping past Monroe in the doorway. Her hair was tamed into a neat bun, and it looked like she was wearing makeup that made her eyes pop even more than usual. She sent me a tentative smile as soon as she saw me, and it made my chest feel tight. Behind Scarlett, Captain Langston also walked in. He clapped Monroe on the shoulder as he passed.
“Wilder, Monroe, just the people I needed to see. My office, please,” Chief Williams called from his doorway.
I caught eyes with Matt and was met with a quick brow raise. Matt followed me into the chief’s office, each of us taking a seat at his desk.
“I need additional detectives for a case that’s come up. I want the two of you on it. Is that going to be a problem?”
