Chapter Fifty-Five - Finn Two And a Half Months Later
Chapter Fifty-Five
FINN
TWO AND A HALF MONTHS LATER
“WHERE’S ELLIE?” I ASK, taking the beer from Josh when he returns to the backyard. He invited the me and the boys over for a pre-Memorial Day BBQ since everyone was going to be in town. I haven’t seen the Villa-Davis clan since Thanksgiving because I spent Christmas with Dean and his friends in North Carolina. Though, I probably should’ve opted for another VD holiday. The tension between Dean and Raeanne finally came to a head, and it was not pretty. That’s practically twenty years of sexual tension and hidden feelings that spilled over and ended with Raeanne leaving without saying goodbye.
And I thought I had problems.
Josh joined us for New Year’s at Jeremy and Lola’s home in Los Angeles, but only because Dean bugged him until he said yes. Elizabeth wasn’t with him, which I thought was odd. He said she was spending the holiday with Nina in New York, which I didn’t think was odd.
“She’s back in Charleston.” Josh runs a hand through his hair, longer than he usually keeps it, tugging on the ends. It’s starting to look like a sophisticated mullet. He sits back in the bright blue lawn chair and cracks open his beer, taking a long drag.
“Been gone a lot, hasn’t she?” I share a questioning glance with Nick across the fire pit. He knowingly raises his eyebrows, taking a drink of his beer instead of offering a verbal response. “Everything okay with you guys?”
“Sure, why wouldn’t it be?”
The sound of the doorbell echoes outside; and at first, no one moves. When it sounds again, Josh finally gets up to answer it with a long sigh.
“What in the hell is going on?” I ask Nick and Alex.
“You think I know?” Alex sighs, “No one tells me anything.”
Nick rolls his eyes, “Just a bit of a rough patch. They’re working on things. He doesn’t want it getting out, if you know what I mean.”
“Well, as long as he doesn’t tell Michaela, he’ll be fine,” Alex says, and they share a laugh, but my smile fades behind my beer. There’s a pang in my chest at the mention of her . I haven’t seen her since the Valentine’s Day dinner when Robert tried to introduce us. I know he was trying to help me get Sheffield House out there. He doesn’t know our history, how could he? But, I spent the entire night avoiding contact with them on purpose. I had heard David was running for office, I should’ve known they would be there, but Robert insisted I tag along. I had been doing okay after everything, until that night. Seeing her on David’s arm, a polite smile on her lips, nodding along every once in a while, but never actually being part of the conversation… It wasn’t right. It wasn’t her. Her eyes had dimmed, they didn’t sparkle when she laughed. Instead, she looked like she was trying to contain herself. It made me sick. She didn’t deserve to be his arm candy, she’s so much more than that. She made her choice, I reminded myself about two hundred times that night. It’s what she wanted.
“Divorce papers finally came,” Josh says holding up a manila envelope. “Signed, sealed, delivered.”
Divorce papers?
“Finally,” Alex says nonchalantly. How are they so calm? Josh just received divorce papers. I thought Nick said he and Ellie were working on things.
“Whose divorce papers?” I question as though about to step over a landmine.
“My sister.” Josh rips the envelope open and pulls the documents out scanning over them. “We’ve been waiting for these. David and his attorney took their sweet time sending them over.”
“Probably thinks he can convince her to come back,” Alex laughs.
“Wait, Michaela left him?” I ask. Why didn’t anyone tell me?
“About two months ago,” Nick answers with the smirkest smirk I’ve ever seen. “And she’s been Eat, Pray, Loving it all over Europe since.”
Josh tosses the envelope on the table between us. Beneath it, I notice a second envelope, but he doesn’t seem interested in that one. Instead, he reaches for the item that hangs out of the first envelope. A necklace.
“Is that her locket?”
“Yeah, David has been holding it hostage since she left,” Josh says. Sunlight reflects off the silver piece. “His campaign manager made her take it off because it didn’t go with the aesthetic they were creating for the wife of the future Congressman.”
Of course, it all makes sense now — the real reason he wanted her to come back. He needed her to save his image. There couldn’t be a divorce scandal amid running for office. “I wondered where it was the night of the Valentine’s Day dinner,” I say, and all heads turn toward me.
“What Valentine’s Day dinner?” Alex asks.
“Oh, we were at the same event and ran into each other.”
“And you’re just now telling me this?” Josh accuses.
“Nothing happened.” I shrug. “I don’t think we said two words to each other. David made sure of that.”
“Did Nina know about this?” Josh asks Nick.
“Don’t think so. They’ve only started talking again after she left him.” My face must display the what the fuck going through my mind because Nick says, “Apparently, he didn’t want her involved with Nina. He told her that our family is plain and Nina was holding her back.”
“He’s such an ass,” Alex mumbles under his breath.
Josh raises his beer, and we join him in cheering, “Here’s to never seeing that asshole again.” He stands from his chair and excuses himself to call his sister. “She’ll want to know she’s officially a free woman,” he says and walks back inside with both envelopes and the necklace.
I still can’t believe his team convinced her to take that locket off. She never takes it off, not even for the Sheffield House gala. She has worn it every day since her eighteenth birthday. Watching her open it, I remember feeling a certain sense of happiness. She loved it. She loved something I had done for her, but she had no idea the truth behind it. No one except Josh knew I picked it out. We figured it was best not to let her know since we didn’t exactly get along.
“You picked that out, didn’t you?” Nick asks me.
“How’d you know that?”
“Josh told me, made me swear not to tell MJ, though.”
“He went to Finn to help pick something out for Michaela?” Alex questions. “Why didn’t he ask one of us?”
“Your brother was a little busy handling things after your mom died.” I shrug, “I was here, and I have a knack for buying gifts.”
“You mean you had a knack for buying all of your girlfriends gifts to keep them happy.”
“I didn’t have that many,” I say rolling my eyes.
“You had enough,” Nick says.
Okay, so maybe I had fun in high school, and the small amount of time I spent in college, sue me. At least I was gentleman enough never to date more than one at a time.
Josh returns looking extra annoyed and falls back into his chair with a huff. “She’s out of her damn mind. She wants me to overnight the damn things to Estranei .”
“Estran-what?” Where in the world is that? What in the world is that?
“You remember Romy and Enzo from the wedding? Enoz’s family owns a vineyard in Italy. Nin’s great-grandfather used to work there. Mic has been staying in the vineyard guest house,” Nick explains. “She added it to the end of her little trip of self-discovery.”
“She’s supposed to leave in two or three days. Even if I overnighted it, it’ll never make it in time.”
“You know who his wife is, right?” Alex points towards his brother.
“I don’t even think Nina Villa could get it there that fast.”
“You’d be surprised by the things she can do.” Nick licks his lips with a wide smirk. Alex grimaces, and Josh and I try to ignore the obvious thoughts going through his mind.
“She’s just gonna have to wait until she comes home.” Josh shrugs. “It’ll be waiting for her with the rest of her shit in the guest room.”