Page 4 of The Way We Score

“We’ll be together when you join Jack and me in Texas. It’s only for a little while.”

It’s only for a little while.

That’s what we promised each other…

1

Olivia

Present Day

The Mont Blanc pen glides smoothly over the stiff white pages. I sign my name,Olivia Cherry Bankstonin a decisive script on the last page of the divorce decree.

I feel heavy. I feel free. I feel… so ready for this to be over.

Mason Clark, my divorce attorney’s expression matches mine in solemnity. “Initial here…”

I follow his instructions, adding a swiftOCBon the short line, exhaling my emotions over the reality of it. The finality.

“And here…” He turns the page, and I scribble once more. “And that, my friend, is that. You’re done.”

“That’s that.” Straightening, I screw the top on his fancy pen and hand it back to him.

Frustration, failure, and annoyance, all of it twists in my chest. I’ve spent six months rehashing all the “how did I let this happen” and “how did I get here” questions.

It’s been a long, difficult road, and I’ve finally landed onacceptance. I’ve accepted that I made a mistake. I’ve accepted I did my best, and I’ve accepted it was never going to be right, especially after I found out my ex had been sleeping with other women.

“You never think about the end when you’re at the beginning.” My voice is quiet, and my memory trips back to the day four years ago when I married Warner Oberon III.

It was an unusually hot day in October, and we stood in front of a massive gathering of mostly his friends and family at his parents’ estate in Mountain Brook.

I wore white lace. He wore a powder-blue suit. The humidity was unusually high, and I was uncomfortable, hot, and itchy. I looked out over that crowd, and I couldn’t find a single familiar face outside of my mother’s. She never stopped crying.

Ignoring the unease in my stomach, I focused instead on Warner’s smile. He looked like he’d just closed a deal.

“I guess not.” Mason’s tone has all the cynicism of a seasoned divorce lawyer as he calmly collects his things. “Yet almost half of them end.”

“I hate being a statistic.”

But didn’t I always worry that for Warner I was merely another successful acquisition? Love was never part of the equation for him. Was it for me? Surely I loved him at some point.

Mason reads my face and places a warm hand on my shoulder. “Stop.” Our eyes meet, and he continues. “Nothing has changed, Liv. You’re still a smart, successful lawyer, and this is merely a bump in the road of life.”

My eyes narrow. “It feels more significant than a bump.”

“If you knew how many of these cases I handle in a week, you wouldn’t fixate on it. You’d accept it and just keep swimming.”

“Sorry, it’s my first divorce.” A hint of sarcasm laces my tone, and I walk to the window of my law office.

I have a stunning view of Birmingham, facing RedMountain, which is topped by the monument of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and forge, holding his spear to the sky in defiance. A burly, bearded, bare-bottomed old god who refuses to lay down his weapon, instead lifting it to the sky.I defy you, stars.

The knot in my throat makes me wonder what I’m truly mourning. I’ve navigated one failure after another since I met Warner Oberon, from my lack of promotion to partner, to discovering our infertility issues, to discovering he was cheating on me, to now, standing here with freshly signed divorce papers.

I’m at my lowest point, but my urge to fight is strong. He humiliated me, but he won’t win. I’m not a failure.

Blinking down, I quickly swipe a hot tear off my cheek.

Mason lifts his deep-brown leather messenger bag onto his shoulder. “It’s an adjustment, but I think you’ll realize once the dust settles, you made the right decision.”

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