Page 108 of Fireworks & Forehead Kisses

“To celebrate!” Hannah enthused.

“No, this was just a formality,” I downplayed the significance since I was already acting CEO and had been doing the job for ten months.

“I meant your first Christmas as a married couple.”

Right. Hannah didn’t know that this was all about to end. I thought about telling her the truth. There was no reason why I shouldn’t. It’s not as if I’d done anything illegal. But for some reason, I just couldn’t bring myself to admit our deception—not because I had a moral or ethical problem with what we’d done. My grandfather’s stipulation was ridiculous. I didn’t want to tell Hannah because, for some reason, if she knew, then it would seem real to me. And right now, it still wasn’t.

That was probably because the only people who knew that this was an arrangement were people Ashley told. Everyone in my life believed that this was a legitimate marriage. Somewhere in my mind, I started to believe there was a chance it might be able to be one.

“Ashley’s at her sister's opening presents with her niece. I’m heading out to Firefly now.” It was the truth. I was going toFirefly. I was going to see my grandmother, but Hannah didn’t need to know that. “What about you? Got a hot date?”

“Maybe.” A small grin tugged at her lips as she grabbed her coat and purse. “Well, tell everyone I said Merry Christmas.”

“I will. Thanks again for coming in.”

I walked back to my office and sat at my desk. I had everything I’d ever wanted, and all I felt was empty. I felt nothing. I opened the top drawer of my desk and took out the pictures that Luna had drawn for me at Thanksgiving. When I did, my chest ached. Two pieces of printer paper with a six-year-old’s drawings of our wedding and Ashley and me with a baby and Mr. Purrfect made me feel more than the stack of papers I’d just signed giving me ownership of a billion-dollar company.

None of it made sense to me, but there was only one person I wanted to talk to about it. And at least for now, she was still legally obligated to talk to me. Well, not legally obligated to, but she was still my wife. I’d shown up uninvited on one holiday, and it had been a good surprise. I hoped it would be again.

41

ASHLEY

Beingthe third wheel was depressing enough… Being theninthwheel was tragic, I thought as I ran my hands through Luna’s hair. She’d fallen sound asleep on my lap while we were watchingElf.

As much as I loved the Comfort clan and was eternally grateful that they were now my extended family and had welcomed Skylar, Luna, and now Mason into their tribe, spending Christmas morning surrounded by four couples who were loved up with men who adored their spouses was about as much fun as getting a bikini wax over a sunburn.

Hank, Billy, Jimmy, and Cash couldn’t keep their hands off their wives. And it wasn’t just the PDA that was disheartening; it was the way the Y chromosome-carrying males looked at their other halves… like they were the only women who existed on earth. And it wasn’t limited to the Comforts. Love was all around me. It was the same way that Harlan looked at Daphne and Miles looked at Zoe. Even the older generation in Firefly was loved up. Harlan’s grandfather had moved into Beasley Boarding House with Mrs. B, and Zoe’s father-in-law Walter was dating Mrs. Birch.

The only other single person I had was Nadia, and she had a new man on her arm every time I turned around. If dating were an Olympic sport, she would easily be a gold medalist. She was expert level at casual dating. I was not. I needed commitment, connection, and conversation before I even considered the shorter C-word that ended in k and had o and another c in the middle.

Having a front-row seat to these madly in love men all morning was exhibit a, b, and c in the People vs. Me case of Why I Can’t Settle for a Loveless Marriage, no matter how tempting it was.

Speaking of my loveless marriage, I had divorce papers sitting on my kitchen table. The original plan had been to file them after the first of the year, but I figured there was no reason to postpone the inevitable. I wanted to get it over with before I did something stupid like talk myself into staying.

The sooner I divorced my perfect husband, who I was madly in love with, the sooner I could find happiness,was a sentence I never thought I’d say.

As gently as I possibly could, I slid out from under Luna and carefully replaced my lap with a throw pillow. Keeping my hair from falling in her face, I leaned over and kissed her cheek, then headed upstairs to the nursery where Skylar was feeding Mason.

The floorboard outside his room creaked as I stepped on it before I pushed open the door and stepped inside. “Hey, I think I’m going to head out.”

“Are you sure?” Skylar asked, lifting her head. “We’re gonna play games after I get him down for a nap.”

“Yeah. I’m tired.”

My sister’s assessing gaze narrowed. “You’re going home to sign the divorce papers. On Christmas Day.”

When she said it like that, it sounded bad, but it was something I had to do. She wouldn’t understand since she hadher brooding, badass husband who worshipped the ground she walked on.

“What?” I shook my head as if the thought had not even occurred to me. “No. I’m not.”

Skylar perfected the art of interrogation sometime during my teenage years. She had a way of remaining totally silent but giving me a look that made me talk. I wasn’t sure what it was about the expression, but whenever she did it, I confessed all my sins. I personally think she’d missed her calling as an FBI or CIA interrogator.

“Fine, yes, I am. I’m going to FedEx them to him tomorrow.”

“Are yousurethat’s what you want to do?”

“What do you mean?”

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