CHAPTER FIFTEEN Cole
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Cole
“ W hat do you mean, ‘don’t get it annulled’?” I ask, completely baffled as to why Bev would suggest I stay married.
“Because I don’t actually think you can annul it, at least not as easily as you think.”
She waits for me to speak up. I don’t. Instead, I take my hat off and place it on my knee.
She leans forward, pressing on. “Because you would be lying, kid. There’s no way you got that drunk, got married and kept it in your pants. Sorry.” Bev says all this in a whisper even though her office door is shut. She leans back in her chair, and folds her arms over her chest, her short white hair shining under the fluorescent lights.
“Fuck sakes,” I say, taking a sip of my water.
“I haven’t always been old, okay? The town is small and nobody ever stops talking. I hear things too,” she says, looking coy.
I pick up my buzzing phone. It’s Brent, so I silence it. He’ll just call me back in an hour anyway. I’m lucky if a day goes by where he doesn’t call me ten times. I look back at Bev.
“You didn’t deny it. So, the way I see it, you’ve got three options to get you through the next few months. I’ve done all the research you asked for this morning, so here goes. And listen up, I don’t repeat myself.”
I nod. Noted.
“One. You can get an exemption due to intoxication, but you have to prove you were drunk. It’s a lengthy process that isn’t done quietly.” She looks at me sternly “Two. You can just flat-out lie and say you didn’t consummate the marriage. Which is fine, but that sorta goes against everything you stand for, you know? The law? There’s also always the chance your new wife gets angry at you because you want an annulment, and she had feelings for you. She then tells someone who tells someone, et cetera—”
“Ginger doesn’t feel like that about me.” I cut her off.
She looks at me like my mother would in this instance, like she knows a fuck ton more than I do.
“Honey, you never know how a woman really feels. It’s a possibility, trust me.”
I turn my head to the side and roll my eyes at her assessment, but images of us on the dance floor, against the shower wall of the bathroom in Vegas, Ginger on her knees in front of me, all roll through my mind, and I shift in my seat.
Okay, maybe she felt something .
“Or there’s option three,” Bev says, cutting through my pornographic thoughts.
My eyes snap back to hers.
She grins. “You get creative.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means you have exactly eighty-three days left in this probationary period. So, I say the easiest thing to do is just stay married, quietly.” She taps the end of her pen on the desk in thought. “But you might want to come up with a way to do that gracefully, on the off-chance Deputy Digs-a-Lot happens to find out.”
I look up at the ceiling, wondering how the fuck I let any of this happen.
“You know he’s just waiting to find anything to gossip about to the public that proves you’re irresponsible.”
She’s right. Brent would jizz in his too-tight pants to get the word out about me getting drunk and marrying Congressman Danforth’s daughter. Irresponsible? Check.
“How the hell can I do that? I have a daughter, Bev. I won’t fake anything where Mabel is concerned. That’s a hard fucking no.”
Bev leans forward and wags a finger at me.
“That’s up to you. Like I said, get creative. But if you and your new bride can get through the three months, then quietly divorce sometime after your probation and her father’s election are up, you’re covered either way.”
“How so?”
“Either no one even finds out, best-case scenario—though they probably will because you’re the sheriff and her dad’s a congressman. The good news is that by then it’s believable for you to say you fell in love, and maybe you wanted your privacy. Is Ginger shy?”
I start to laugh. “Not a chance.”
“Okay, so maybe you just didn’t want to share the news with anyone. But after a few months you realized you couldn’t make it work. Say you’re too different.”
I nod. “That would make sense.”
“Right, then no one is the wiser, and no one can accuse you of being flaky or irresponsible. Besides, if anyone finds out after the probationary period, it will be way trickier for them to come at you with something personal.”
My phone dings on her desk and I glance at it. It’s an email letting me know the summer camp I wanted to get Mabel into is a bust.
“Three months,” I repeat, the wheels in my head turning. “Late August.”
Bev nods.
“When school starts up again.” I drum my fingers along the arms of my chair. “And after Edward’s primary election.”
I think back to the conversations I’ve had with Ginger over the last few weeks.
Her first summer with no classes. Wanting to earn some extra money. Not wanting to disappoint her father, not wanting anything to change between us.
I pick my phone up, telling myself not to overthink this.
I need you to come over tonight.
VIXEN
You know vows don’t actually say “obey” anymore, right?
Could you please come over tonight? I have an idea I want to run by you.
VIXEN
Last time you had an idea I ended up married.
True, but you said yes so what’s that say about you?
Six o’clock, don’t be late.
VIXEN
You better be feeding me.
Title of your sex tape.
VIXEN
So yes?
Yes I will feed you.
VIXEN
Happy and fed wife, happy life.
I smirk and put my phone in my pocket. I look up to find Bev eyeing me carefully from the other side of the desk.
“You have an awful gooey look on your face,” she notes, closing her notebook and placing her pen on top, “which I’m hoping means you’re going to take my advice. I like you, Cole, and I don’t want that jackass for a boss.” She nods her head to the left, where Brent’s corner office sits three doors down.
I stand, put my hat back on and grin at her.
“Time will tell, and thanks, Bev. You’re an angel,” I add before heading out the door. My plan circulates and grows as I go back to my own office. Because, suddenly, I feel creative as fuck.