SEDUCTIVE: A Contemporary Romance Anthology

by Anthology

  “The first thing you need to do is call Luke Grayson and explain the situation. See if he can hold the contract for a little while and if anyone were to call and ask about the status of it, he needs to have his managers tell them that the contract is still in negotiations. Then you need to get this divorce finalized as soon as possible.”

  Rebecca ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head. “I can’t involve Luke in all of this. It’s too much.”

  “Rebecca, he’s already involved and by the sound of it, he wants to be. I can’t imagine he’d be thrilled if he found out Kip profited from your hard work and his music.”

  “No, he wouldn’t. You’re right. I’ll call him now, he leaves tomorrow to go on tour and it will be harder to get in touch with him.” She picked up her cell phone and hit redial, her stomach in knots as she heard the phone ring. She felt herself smile when she heard him answer.

  “Rebecca! What a nice surprise. I hadn’t expected to hear from you so soon. Did you change your mind and decide to fly away with me for a little while?” The teasing tone of his voice gave the butterflies in her stomach flight.

  “No, though right now that sounds wonderful. I’m really sorry to bother you with this but…” she stumbled.

  He quickly interrupted her. “You are never a bother to me. What’s going on?”

  She quickly ran down the conversation her and Megan had.

  “No problem, Rebecca. I’ll call Pat right now and have him lose those papers until you let me know otherwise. Is there anything else I can do for you? Fly you out to Florida for my concert tomorrow night? It might take your mind off of things for a day or two.”

  She laughed, feeling the tension of the day ease out of her body. “No, I wish, but I have a pretty crazy schedule right now.”

  “What’s so crazy about your schedule right now?”

  Rebecca yelped as her and Megan swung around at the sound of Kip’s voice.

  “Rebecca, are you all right?” She heard Luke ask, worry filling his voice.

  Trying to force down the panic that rose to her throat, she stuttered. “No, I mean, yes, I’m ok. Kip just walked through the door so I have to go.”

  “Well, tell the SOB to get the heck out of your life, you’re moving on to bigger and better men.” Luke stated gruffly.

  She tried to hold back the nervous giggle. “I will. Thank you and we’ll talk soon.” She hung up the phone and glared at her husband. “What are you doing here?”

  “Gee, is that anyway to greet your husband?” Kip asked as he crossed the room.

  “Soon to be ex-lying, cheating husband, don’tcha mean?”

  “Megan!” Rebecca gasped.

  “You told her already?” he snarled.

  “Of course she did. She needs some support from a true friend right now.” Megan snapped back.

  “Megan, please, you’re not making this easier.” Rebecca pleaded.

  “Fine. I’ll be in the living room when you need me.” She grabbed her glass of wine and winked at Rebecca as she left the room.

  “Couldn’t even wait twenty-four hours before you blabbed to your friends, huh?” He snatched a wine glass from the cupboard and helped himself to the bottle.

  “Couldn’t even wait for our sheets to get cold before you were in bed with another?” she spat out as she sat back down at the table, taking a sip of wine as she tried to calm the anger she felt building.

  “So who else were you blabbing to on the phone? Telling your mother about mean, nasty Kip?” he asked sarcastically.

  “No. I was…” she caught herself and took another drink. “I was talking with Mom but I haven’t told her yet. I figured I should tell her in person.”

  Kip snorted and took another drink of his wine, finishing his glass and filling it again. He paused before drinking again and looked at her coyly. “So how did it go in California? Were you able to convince Luke Grayson’s managers to let you use his song at the horse show?”

  “I’m not sure.” she lied. “They said they had to talk about it and they would call me.” she finished quietly.

  Kip snorted again and set his glass down. “Silly, naive Rebecca. When business people say don’t call us, we’ll call you, it means no. But of course, you wouldn’t know that. You have no business sense at all and if it wasn’t for your daddy’s money, this joke of a ranch would’ve gone under years ago.”

  He stood up and pulled out a folded packet of papers from the inside of his jacket pocket. He threw them unceremoniously onto the table in front of her. “Here’s our divorce papers. I had my attorney draw them up yesterday.”

  She stared at them like they were coiled snakes about to strike at her. “You had them drawn up already? We haven’t even talked about how we are going to divide everything.”

  “Don’t be such a nit, Rebecca. We don’t have any children and since we have the prenup, you can’t touch my business, so don’t even think you can milk anything from me. We leave this marriage the same way we entered it, me with my software business and you with, well, your creatures.” he said nastily.

  Any feelings of sorrow she had felt because her marriage was ending left her and was replaced with anger and revulsion. The man before her was not the man she wanted to spend her life with.

  She got up and grabbed a pen out of the drawer. “So how soon will this be done?”

  He smiled and she found it reminded her of a used car salesman who had just hooked another sucker. “Well, you can look over them tonight before you sign them. If we get them filed tomorrow, the divorce will be final ninety days from the filing date.”

  She grabbed them and began to hastily sign her name on the lines that were marked. “So why wait? Let’s just get this done tonight. Obviously you have an attorney in your back pocket so you can just have him file them today.”

  He grew slightly alarmed at her frantic reaction and tried to sooth her. “Well, you don’t have to be hasty. You can read them and get them back to me tomorrow.”

  “Why?” she glared at him. “Is there something in here that gives you what is mine?”

  He laughed arrogantly. “Something of yours? All you have is this backwoods hick ranch and filthy flea-bitten beasts. No, you don’t have anything that I want. But Tiffany and I have dinner plans tonight and …”

  “Tiffany?” Rebecca snapped, hating the anger and jealousy in her voice but unable to stop it. “Is that the tramp’s name that you were with? Our divorce papers aren’t even filed and you have plans with that woman?”

  Megan, hearing the Rebecca’s raised voice, came running in. “What the hell is going on in here?”

  “Kip here wants me to hurry because he has dinner plans with Tiffany.”

  “That is not what I said. I told her to look them over tonight and I can file them tomorrow.” Kip quipped.

  “And I told him that since he has a lawyer in his back pocket, he can get them filed tonight!” Rebecca resumed signing the papers.

  Megan took a hesitant step towards her friend. “Rebecca, are you sure about this?”

  “Why not? There isn’t anything I have that he wants.” She continued flipping and signing pages, fighting the tears back. “And if anything turns up that he says isn’t there, I’ll tell the courts he inserted it after I signed them.”

  “You can’t do that. Megan is a witness!” Kip snapped.

  Megan squared up in front of Kip. “I’ll back her up one hundred percent, under oath, to anything she says.”

  Kip took a step back and shook his head. “There’s nothing this redneck has that I want. It’s all straight forward and legit.”

  “Good.” Megan said and without taking her eyes off of Kip, held her hand out to Rebecca. Rebecca slapped the papers into Megan’s hand and she shoved them into Kip’s chest. “You can file them today. We’ll be looking for the correct date on them.”

  Kip grabbed the papers and backed out of the kitchen. “Fine with me. Both a couple of psycho chicks. I’ll be glad when it’s done.
Here’s your key.” He flicked it over to Rebecca and she let it fall to the floor. “All of my stuff is out of here, been moving it out for the past month, not like you would notice. You’ve been so self-absorbed that you didn’t even have a clue.”

  Neither Megan nor Rebecca moved or said anything as he left. When the sound of his car faded, Rebecca felt her knees shake and she fell onto the kitchen chair.

  “Rebecca, are you alright?”

  “I don’t know. My whole world has been turned upside down. I don’t even recognize whose life this is.”

  “I know it’s scary right now. Unexpected change is never easy but one day, you’re gonna look back on this and praise God that it happened.”

  “I hope you’re right, Megan. I feel so lost right now.” Rebecca hiccupped, sorrow flooding her body.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  She tried to focus on her house and her horses. She had days when she felt strong and secure and other days where she could barely drag herself out of bed. The first few days after signing the divorce papers, she wandered around like a ghost, the grave sadness overwhelming as she realized Kip had been right, all of his stuff had been moved out and she never had a clue. How long had his things been “disappearing” from their home and she never saw it?

  Her home, she corrected herself. It had never really been his home. All of the furniture had been hers, all of the paintings and dishes, all the things that make a house a home. He’d just moved in computers and personal items, like his clothes. It’s no wonder she never saw him moving out.

  As the weeks progressed, she felt stronger, more sure of herself and she was able to focus on getting Othello ready for the big show. She’d had a state-of-the-art sound system piped into her indoor arena a year ago and was able to play a looped version of Luke’s music. When she had first decided on this song, she had played it while she rode in the arena, warming up her stallion. She was pleased when Othello reacted so positively to the music and picked up her cue so subtly that it appeared as though Rebecca was a part of Othello, instead of being just a rider.

  So many times she found herself lost in his song, her eyes closed and relishing her memories of when she had been with Luke and her routine to the song so flowing that at times she found that Othello had finished the routine, nothing missed, everything perfect. She felt pride well up in her heart and praised Othello lovingly. He was such an amazing stallion and soon the horse world would know that too. She knew if they won this competition, her future and the future of her ranch would be secure, regardless of what Kip thought.

  The evenings were harder for her when she couldn’t keep her body and her mind busy. She was often sad, not because she was alone but because she was used to being alone. Signing the divorce papers and Kip moving out really hadn’t changed her life and that thought depressed her.

  She’d talked to Luke a few times and that helped but he was busy being on tour and she was trying to regain her balance. She could have talked to him more often because he called every week but more often than not, she let it go to voicemail. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk to him or that she’d changed her mind about him but she still felt wounded and nervous about the divorce. She knew she couldn’t trust Kip and she wouldn’t allow herself to relax until she had the final divorce papers in her hand. After that happened, she would give herself a mini vacation to go see Luke.

  She walked over to the calendar above her desk and picked up a red Sharpie, adding another X through the day, counting down the ninety days. There were only four days left before the day, and she had decorated it with drawings of balloons and confetti, trying to make it a day of celebration as opposed to a day when her marriage officially ended. Kip hadn’t contacted her since that night and she actually felt relief. She knew they had nothing else to say to each other. That chapter of her life was almost over and she was ready to move on. She’d told her parents about what had happened and they had, of course, rallied around her and supported her. She spent two to three nights a week eating supper over at their place and she found it comforting, eating at the same table where she had grown up. One night, after her dad had gone up to bed, Rebecca and her mother had sat at the kitchen table and cried together. The tears had eventually turned to laughter as they celebrated the fact that not only was Kip out of Rebecca’s life but so was Lorena, his crazy mother.

  She’d decided not to tell them about Luke Grayson and assured them she was still in negotiations with his managers for his music. Of course, living in a small town, word spread quickly and she was stopped often when she went to the store, local townsfolk offering their condolences for the end of her marriage. After the second month, the words of sympathy stopped and were replaced with comments of disgust that Kip was flaunting his new girlfriend about, not even having the decency to wait for the divorce to be final. She tried to be polite, knowing that they thought they were offering her support but she didn’t want to hear about his love life.

  Now, as they were nearing the end of the third month, the talk had shifted from her and Kip’s divorce to calving and lambing season, and she was finally able to go into town without being stopped.

  The last four days seemed to drag on and though she kept busy with the horses, her mind was on her D-day, as she and Megan and dubbed it. Every day she checked the mail, worried that she would receive a letter from the court’s stating that something wasn’t filled out right or not signed properly and that the whole process would start over again. The day before D-day, she received a fat, manila envelope with the courts stamp in the upper left corner. She felt her heart drop as she made her way to the house. This was what she had been dreading, an error with how she and Kip filled out the divorce papers and now she would have to wait another ninety days after she corrected the papers and re-filed.

  She grabbed a glass of water and drank it down, trying to calm her nerves and wet her suddenly parched mouth. She picked up the envelope and carefully opened it. She read and reread the words, trying to understand the legal wording but then noticed the large words printed at the top of the first page. Decree For Dissolution of Marriage. She saw the little court stamp down at the bottom, giving the date that their divorce was approved and filed within the courts. She felt the tears flow down her cheeks and joy flow through her body. They had filled out the papers correctly and she was now divorced, single.

  Single. The word penetrated her brain and she felt the sorrow again. All of her friends were married, having children, creating a family. Now she was at square one again, single, alone. She shook her head to try to get rid of the feelings of melancholy. She picked up the phone and called the one person she knew could pull her out of this state of mind.

  “Oh my God! This is awesome! You’re free of him! We need to celebrate and I’m on my way.” Megan shouted into her phone before hanging up. Rebecca hadn’t expected Megan to come over, just talk to her on the phone. She had planned on a quiet evening to reflect and plan her future. She’d also hoped to call Luke and tell him her divorce was final, that they could re-sign the contract for his song.

  “Oh, well,” she thought to herself, “things change and I should know by now to go with the flow.” She started cooking a light supper for them, knowing Megan would be bringing their favorite wine over to share. She laughed as she heard Megan’s car horn honking as she drove up the dirt drive.

  Megan flew into the kitchen, singing and dancing towards Rebecca before swinging her around in a spin and pulling her in for a big hug. After planting a smacking kiss on her cheek, Megan sat two bottles of wine down on the kitchen table and grinned at Rebecca. “You’re free! You’re free!” She sang as she grabbed the wine glasses out of the cupboard.

  Rebecca went back to boiling the tortellini and opened a jar of alfredo sauce to heat up. “Yes, I am. Alone, single, unattached. I get to come home to an empty house and cold sheets every night.”

  “Oh, don’t start that, Rebecca. You came home to an empty house and cold sheets when you were married, so rea
lly, your life hasn’t changed other than the fact that now you can date whomever you want.” She handed Rebecca a glass, eyeing her suspiciously out of the corner of her eye. “Speaking of which, have you called Luke and told him of your wonderful news?”

  “No, he’s on tour and I don’t want to bother him with such trivial things.” she lied but knew Megan wouldn’t buy it. She wasn’t wrong.

  “Oh, give me a break. This isn’t trivial and you know perfectly well he would love to hear about this.”

  “Maybe. Let’s eat first while it’s hot. Cold white sauce is never appealing.” she laughed, bringing the plates over to the table. They enjoyed their meal together, laughing at past antics that they should have gotten in trouble for but had never been caught. Rebecca found herself laughing harder than she had in a long time. It felt good and she was very glad she had called Megan. This was what she needed, joyous laughter, good food and even better wine, not time for reflection. The past was the past; nothing could be done to change it.

  They finished their dinner and moved out onto the deck to enjoy another glass of wine. They made small talk for awhile but Rebecca braced for what she knew was coming. She wasn’t disappointed.

  “So, now that you have a full belly and time with your best friend, don’tcha think it’s time to call Luke Grayson?”

  “You won’t let up, will you, Megan?” she laughed.

  “No, not when I know it’s for your own good. Besides, you need to get the contract going again so that you can submit the sheet music to the orchestra at the competition.”

  “Yes, I will call him. But if you say a word while I’m on the phone with him, I’ll kill you. Understand?” she threatened.

  “Understood.” Megan grinned.

  Rebecca pulled out her phone and brought up Luke’s number, hesitating for a moment before she hit the talk button. She heard the phone ring on the other end, tension and butterflies building in her stomach.