“I’m going to kill you.”
“Sorry. Sorry. Only joke, I swear.”
“That’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one.”
“Maybe one more,” she said, smirking.
I smiled and shook my head again. Leave it to Jessica to make me smile during one of the most panic-inducing experiences of my life.
“So, how did you guys find out about all of this?” she asked.
“Two fun phone conversations with the staff downstairs and scrolling through his bank account transactions,” I said.
“Oh! That’s good. Okay. What did the transactions reveal? Those didn’t jog any memories?”
“Nope. But they were numerous. I mean, there were charges to several different bars over the course of, like, a three-hour period.”
“Then that explains the ‘not remembering’ things.”
“I mean, for hell’s sake, we woke up with an empty tequila bottle underneath the bed.”
“Oh, girl. That’s my kind of party,” she said.
“There was a transaction at a pawn shop, which is where I assume our rings came from. Then there was a transaction for Cupid’s Wedding Chapel and a refunded transaction in progress from the front desk for some platinum premium honeymoon or whatever.”
“Wow. You guys just did it all. I can’t believe I missed my best friend’s wedding.”
I slapped Jessica’s arm as she threw her head back and laughed.
“That was your second one,” I said.
“I know. I know. No more jokes. At least out loud. Lots of them will happen in my head.”
“But none of them will make it back to Lucas.”
“Girl, I promise on that part. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“So, I take it this officially means you don’t hate Everett anymore? Because you really hated Everett when we first got here.”
I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath as I considered her words. Images flashed in my mind. The shoulder massage. How worried he had been about my shivering. How easy it was to talk with him. Confide in him. Images of him unraveling my hair from my ring bombarded my mind and him trying to console me while I lost my mind.
“No,” I said. “I don’t hate Everett anymore.”
“Is he secretly a sweetheart?”
I opened my eyes and found Jessica wiggling her eyebrows at me.
“Yes. He’s secretly a sweetheart,” I said.
“Oh, this is so great. I mean, not remembering and all that stuff is not great. But I’m really glad you found a guy to shake all those cobwebs off with.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I groaned.
“You said you guys had a plan. What’s the plan?”
“Everett’s supposed to be calling lawyers today to help us handle an uncontested divorce.”