Accidents Happen (Forever Happens Book 1)

by Josie Bordeaux

  “Well, then get back to w—“ His phone rang out and I smiled. “—work,” I finished as he winked at me and pulled out his cell phone.

  “Hey, Frank,” Cal answered. He turned to me and grinned. “Yeah, she’s here with me.” He laughed and then said, “Hey, now. I saw her first.” They continued to chat and I ignored them until I heard, “Really? You’re sure it’s hers?…Which dealership?” Cal nodded his head as he stared at me. “And you think he’ll let us get to it?” Cal pulled his brows in. “Hmm. Okay. Yeah, we’ll try that.”

  He hung up the phone but still looked unsure. “Well, we know what dealership your original car is at.”

  “Dealership? Why wouldn’t it be in police custody or something?”

  “Well, it sort of is. The detectives came by, according to a guy Frank knows over there. He’s actually calling that guy to see if we can try to get to the car to see if your files are in there.”

  “I hope we can.”

  “We’ll figure it out.” Cal kissed my forehead and then turned. “Let me wrap this up and we’ll get going.”

  I nodded as I started packing up. The thought of seeing my old car shot nervous energy through me, even more so than when I was going to drive my car for the first time since my accident. Yet this was another fear. Seeing my car, hoping to find out what the papers were, and also the fear of seeing my old car and remembering the accident.

  There was a part of me that wanted to forget all of it and go back to Cal’s apartment and relive the previous night over and over again. Then there was the other part of me—the one that filled pages upon pages with questions that needed to be answered.

  Twenty-Eight

  Cal

  “Well, I don’t know who told you that, but you can’t come in here wanting to get into a car that’s not yours. That’s illegal, and we’re responsible for missing or stolen property even though it’s back here.” The manager of the dealership stood before us, puffing out his chest as he stood there with his hands on his hips. The sun bounced off the center of his balding head, and all I wanted to do was punch the guy in the face. “We’ve already had one blondie trying to get in there,” he added at the last minute as he wiped sweat off his brow.

  “Who?” That caught my attention, and I briefly looked over at Andi. “Describe her. What’d she look like?”

  “Blonde. Tall.” He looked at me like we had some guy code together. “Hot,” he added. “She was real pissy, though. Major bitch.”

  Both Andi and I looked at each other.

  “Mallory,” Andi said, and then pressed her lips together. Despite that, I had to hand it to her—Andi stood firm. She held her driver’s license right in front of his face. “But it is mine. It’s under my husband’s name.”

  Hearing Andi saying that and being reminded that it wasn’t me made my stomach churn with disgust. I had to remember that uncovering her past wouldn’t be easy to hear. But if I wanted a life with her, we needed to uncover all the mysteries of her past—as hard as it might be to both of us.

  He held up his hands to her license. “That doesn’t mean anything. It’s registered to your husband. Not you.”

  “All she wants to do is check for some of her personal items.” I was trying to be the easygoing guy and hoped he’d relent and let us take a peek. “She had a bag that she needs to get.”

  He looked back at Andi. “Is there medicine in there?”

  “I…no, I don’t think so. Just some papers.”

  I cringed and wished I had versed her on not saying more than she needed to.

  “Then no.” The guy’s face hardened, and he went back to being an asshole again. “You can’t get in there.”

  “She had some personal stuff in there. She needs to take a quick look.” My voice was starting to shake with anger, and I tried to keep my cool. If I punched the jerk out, we’d definitely not be able to get in. “We won’t take long. It’s a large white purse we’re looking for, and there could even be a white crate we’re hoping is in there. We need to take a quick look and see if either of those things are in there.”

  “The answer is no. The police were here, they told us to keep close guard on it. No idea what the hell happened—“

  “Me.” Andi’s voice broke the manager’s speech. “I was in that accident. I lost everything because of that accident. I need to see what I left behind.” Andi’s voice shook as she said that, and it occurred to me how hard it might be for her if she saw the car. Yet if we could convince this guy, I may not be able to be there for her if they were being so strict of who could have access to the car.

  “I can’t. Sorry.” He shrugged and then turned. The jackass actually walked off. I started to take off when Andi’s hand on mine caught me.

  “It’s no use. Maybe I’ll try to see if John can get me those papers.”

  “Why would he help you out?” Even though I knew they were still married, I wanted her nowhere near him. It wasn’t only the spike of jealousy that coursed through me every time I heard that jackass’s name, it was also that I didn’t trust anything he did.

  Staring at her just then, it hit me hard. That was when I realized she could still have feelings for him. Of course she would. She had been married to him, but I guess I thought that maybe what we had was stronger. Fear actually seized me that I might lose Andi. It wasn’t enough that I had lost Laura to a car accident and then Andi had been in one too. Maybe it was that all my old feelings of losing Laura were resurfacing, but going through everything for what seemed like a second time with Andi…I couldn’t lose her now that she was alive and safe.

  What if she actually went back to that asshole? Was that possible? It hadn’t even really entered my mind after finally having her back in my arms again. After being able to finally make love to her again, I couldn’t even imagine the thought of her going back to him.

  “Hey.” Her hand squeezed my arm, bringing me back to reality. “I…it was only a thought. Nothing else. I need to figure out this puzzle so we can move on. I’m not sure what else to do.”

  I nodded, still not liking her answers or anything about the situation. If it were up to me, I’d tell her to get to the attorney’s office, take a small settlement to finalize the damn divorce, and marry me. But I knew things wouldn’t be that simple—not to mention that Andi needed to uncover her previous life. Whatever papers were in the white crate or in her briefcase, Andi needed to see them. We turned and started to head back to my truck.

  A sales guy popped out from between two cars, and I was about to tell him we weren’t shopping when he said, “I heard you guys talk about that car. Frank called me asking about that same one.”

  I turned, hoping this might be our way in. “Can you help us out?”

  “I checked for Frank earlier. I didn’t see anything in the car itself. Was there something out of the trunk you needed?”

  “Yeah, we’re thinking it might be in there.” I told him. “It’s an almost white type of bag. Like a lady’s briefcase.” I tried describing it from memory, knowing that Andi, at least before her accident, would have cringed at my description. “And there should be a white crate full of folders. Like an old college crate.”

  The guy nodded and said, “Hang tight. I’ll see if I can try to get in there.”

  “Thanks,” I told him right before he started taking off.

  “Cream.”

  “What?” I asked, although I knew exactly what she was saying. I started laughing, a slight relief flowing through me that she hadn’t changed much.

  “The color. It’s cream and you know it.”

  “Yeah, well, that guy didn’t look like he’d know what the hell color ‘cream’ would be. Almost white, he’d get.” I was still chuckling when we pretended to look at the next car.

  “Why would Mallory want this information?” Andi shook her head, her face clearly red with anger. It was bad enough that her husband had cheated on her—but that it was with her best friend had to cut deep. It was like she had a doubl
e stab to her back.

  A few minutes passed and we both were silent, looking around the lot, hoping he’d be able to find the stuff for us. When I looked past Andi, I saw him again. I’d have to make sure to thank Frank for being such a nice guy and making friends everywhere.

  He came slinking around the outside cars, looking at the office the whole time. While I couldn’t see what he had in his hands, I hoped he wasn’t going to get into too much trouble.

  Once he came around the last car, he pulled out the same bag I had watched Andi put papers into. Relief spread through me as he smiled proudly and handed it to Andi.

  “I didn’t see a crate anywhere in there.” He frowned but accepted Andi’s hug and her shower of thank yous.

  “That’s okay. I’m hoping what we need is in here.” I shook his hand, thanking him again for his help.

  After getting in the truck, I started driving off. From the corner of my eye, I saw Andi opening the briefcase and pulling out a file folder. She began to flip through the papers, her eyes scanning the pages, and I hoped she was finding something that might help her. I kept silent, letting her sift through it all, while what I really wanted to do was pull over and go through them myself. But it wasn’t my place. It wasn’t my fight, and I needed to remember that I was there to support her. Nothing more.

  “A laptop!” she declared, and I peeked real quick before bringing my eyes back to the road. Pulling it out, she flopped it onto her lap and opened it. “I think it’s dead,” she huffed and then shoved it back into her briefcase.

  After the night we’d had—and this morning—I knew I’d fight to have Andi in my life no matter what. But driving through the streets on our way to her attorney’s office, there were things I knew I wouldn’t have control over at all—like when she’d actually be divorced.

  After all I had gone through when my wife died, I knew I wanted to have Andi in my life as soon as possible. I wanted to move on to the next stage of our relationship. Having her in two accidents so close together messed with my emotions on a whole other level. Knowing someone was causing it on purpose rather than it being an accident, I wasn’t about to let that person walk away from it a free man or woman. Not at all.

  “I really hope my attorney will have more answers for me. I can’t imagine what I was thinking, letting him go with the prenup.”

  How long was the divorce going to take? Was she really carrying my child? If she wasn’t, was I really ready to raise another man’s child?

  “Hey…” The softness of her hand on my arm sent amazing chills through me, reminding me of what we had between us. Yet when I thought about how she kept this one huge fact from me, it made me question everything.

  “Yeah.” I swallowed and looked over to her, hoping she couldn’t see all the concerns coursing through my mind.

  “I was thinking that maybe after the attorney’s office, I should call Lana and get my locks changed. I’ve been thinking that it had to be Mallory who broke into my apartment.”

  I nodded. “If you think you’ll feel safe there. I mean, you’re welcome to stay at my place as long as you need to.” I wasn’t sure why I didn’t look at her—maybe it was all my fears of losing her in a different way that were making me act so crazy. But if Andi already wanted to be back at her place, maybe we didn’t have something as strong as I thought. Or maybe I was being stupid and she needed her space to clear her thoughts. I was trying to be rational. She had found all this out within a two-week period, not to mention her hormones must have been making this tough to deal with too.

  “I’d feel safer with you, but…I don’t want to impose.”

  I almost hit the car in front of me when she said that. There I was feeling horrible things, and she really was thinking of me. The need to make sure she understood how I felt was overwhelming. I probably should have tried to make it less dramatic than swinging my truck into the next open spot and slamming on the brakes. Andi’s hand on the dashboard proved that, and immediately I regretted my actions. Surprised would be an understatement of her expression, but I felt like I needed her to understand as much as I needed to remind myself of us.

  “You’re never an imposition, Andi. I want us to get through this as fast as possible so we can get on with our lives. But if you’re having any doubts about us, I need to know that ahead of time. I want us to be like it was before, and I keep saying that knowing it’s never going to be like it was.”

  I inhaled and tried to calm down. I was rambling, and by the looks of it, she wasn’t sure what to make out of what I was saying.

  I placed my hand in hers. “Andi, I know this is going to be tough for you. Whatever you’re walking into, I want you to know that I’m here for you—no matter what.” I swallowed. “This divorce might get bitter, but if you want me—I’m here for you.”

  Reaching over, I swiped a tear that was teetering on the lower corner of her lashes and then cupped her chin. She kissed my palm while closing her eyes, letting the rest of her tears spill over.

  “Thank you,” she whispered. “I may not deserve you, but I’ll prove to you that I know how much you mean to me.”

  I smiled. “You’re alive. You have no idea how much that means to me after what happened with—” I stopped short. I didn’t want her taking it the wrong way. What if she thought I was trying to replace Laura or something crazy like that?

  “Happened with whom? What are you talking about?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing.”

  With that, I pulled back into traffic to get to her attorney’s office, hoping he had some answers and ideas for a quick divorce.

  Hopeless romantic…

  Twenty-Nine

  Andi

  Cal continued to drive toward my attorney’s office. Cars streamed by my window, but I didn’t notice them at all. The silence in the cab of the truck…that I had noticed. I wanted to say something, but I also wanted to continue reading all the notes from the bag. As patient as Cal had been through all of this, I wasn’t sure he’d really want to stick around when it came down to the actual trial, if there was one.

  It was clear from the notes that I was going to name Mallory as the person he’d had an affair with. There were some scrawls that had the dates and times she’d called me, and as it stated in what I thought was my handwriting, she had begged me not to name her. There was something about the senator, but I couldn’t figure out what that would mean. What would it matter, since she told me during our spa time that they weren’t married?

  Then there were the notes about the prenup. I had written questions about the validity of it, because according to one of my scribbles the day before our wedding, some man named Harold had shown up with John, asking me to sign it. After his name in large letters were “PRESSURE TO SIGN,” and then another, “for the sake of the business.”

  There were a lot of mini notes on the prenup that I was trying to decipher. When I finally got to the next part, my stomach felt sick, and I looked up quickly needing to get some air.

  “What? Are you all right?” Cal asked.

  “This…prenup states that I need to give John an heir.”

  Cal choked out a laugh. “That’s not legal, Andi. Why the hell would you have signed that to begin with? Any idea how John got you to sign it? Are there witnesses on there?”

  I looked back down at the document and then skimmed to the second page, looking for more signatures before glancing back to Cal. He was still watching the road but he seemed amused by this.

  “This can’t be legal. Is that what you’re trying to say? This says he’ll divorce me if I don’t produce him an heir.” I made sure to enunciate heir as if I were British. The whole idea of him needing one to continue the family lineage was ridiculous.

  That’s when I saw the “witness” names. “Oh my God.” I glared at the space ahead of me, grinding my teeth as hard as I could when I saw her name. “Mallory was a witness to this. Why…?” I didn’t want to punch her for having sex with my husband, but now I did for how
she was involved in dictating my future. All I saw was red, and not the red from the dress she had worn to fuck my husband in.

  “Maybe she happened to be nearby when John asked you to sign. Only to witness your signature.” Cal’s gaze went back to the road while he slowed down, and I realized he was searching for a parking space.

  I glared at Cal. “Don’t give that witch any excuses. She had a hand in this. I know it.”

  Cal smirking made me want to punch him too. He must have sensed it, because as soon as he threw the truck into park, he leaned over, putting his hand on mine.

  “Hey, whatever this is all about, we’ll figure it out, okay?”

  I nodded.

  “I don’t want you jumping to conclusions. Maybe there’s something else you’re not seeing there. Don’t let your anger cloud your judgment.”

  My door opened and I quickly gathered all my notes, shoving them back into the briefcase while Cal waited for me.

  “You sure you have everything?” he asked as I stepped out. Checking back, I grabbed one wayward note that had fallen to the floor. I stared at the note, wondering how long after I hired my attorney I had written it. “Why would I make a note to call Sarina’s dad?”

  “I’m not sure. Have you spoken to Sarina yet?”

  “You know of her?”

  He chuckled. “She went out with Trevor.”

  “So you know about her hookup with him?”

  “Yeah, well, he really likes her. For him, that’s saying a lot.”

  “He…dates a lot?”

  “Uh, yeah. Pretty much. He tried to hit on you. Actually, you went out to meet him and brought Sarina along. That’s how they hooked up.”

  My mouth dropped. “I what?” Why would I have gone out on a date with Trevor?

  “He asked you out when you came by the same day I hit your car. You came by so I could pay you, and then we figured out taking your car to Frank would be best. Trevor gave you his number before I could get out to your car to meet you and talk.”