Chapter Thirty-One
"I'm divorced, bitches!" I yell as I walk through the front door holding two bottles of Crystal.
The room immediately erupts into cheers.
By the time I make it three steps inside, Mom has already pulled me into a hug.
"You realize you just called your parents bitches," she laughs.
"I meant Simone," I reply, pulling away and immediately making my way over to Dom.
He grins as I stop beside him. "I'll be your bitch, baby."
I give him a smile just before he kisses my cheek.
Across the room, Simone makes a noise that sounds like a grunt or a groan or a pig being slaughtered.
"Can I just say..." She points between the two of us. "This. This is right."
I roll my eyes.
"It really is," Dad agrees. "That Hollywood punk never really fit."
"Maybe because you spent your entire first meeting calling him Chad."
Dad shrugs.
"Good one," Dom chuckles.
I absently whack him in the stomach.
"See how she hits me?"
Mom lowers her head dramatically and shakes it. "We don't know where we went wrong with her."
"Probably all those cookies," Dad adds, slipping an arm around her shoulders the same way Dom's is around mine.
"Where's Darren?" Simone whines. "I'm hungry."
I blink. "I could've picked food up on the way. Why'd you make him do it after work?"
"Because he gets to park near the door. I thought it'd be faster."
The room falls completely silent.
The four of us stare at her. She did not just say that.
"Hey!" Simone snaps when she sees us judging her for using her husband’s disability as a reason to make him do chores. "Don't judge me."
Her voice comes out so sharp that a cry immediately echoes from the back bedroom.
We all freeze.
"Nice one, Sim," I snap back. "You woke Sophie."
She winces and starts to stand. "I'll get her."
"Sit." Dom is already moving. "I'll go."
The relief on Simone's face is immediate. "Thanks."
"Thanks, babe," I call after him.
He lifts a hand without turning around.
Mom reaches for one of the bottles while Dad steals the other.
"I'm still surprised Brad let you file in Texas," Simone says.
I shrug.
"We'd already agreed to the terms and Texas has a sixty-day waiting period while California has six months. Even having to wait for the residency requirement to kick in, Texas was still faster."
"Thank God for that," Dad mutters, handing me two full glasses.
Before I can reply, Dom comes back holding Sophie.
At some point my daughter became completely attached to him.
Not that I'm complaining. And honestly, I don't even feel guilty about it anymore.
Not after Brad cancelled yet another scheduled FaceTime last night.
According to our agreement, he's responsible for arranging transportation and accommodation whenever Sophie visits California. Since she's still young enough that I'd be accompanying her, he offered to pay for my accommodations too, though I'd already told him I could afford them myself.
Still, that's not really the point.
I sent him the available dates like I was supposed to.
He still hasn't booked anything.
The last time he saw Sophie in person was before Dom and I even got together, which is honestly disappointing.
The video calls have been dwindling too.
In the beginning, it was every night.
Then, it was every few days.
Now it's been over a month.
He did ask if I'd bring her by his hotel before he leaves Austin so he could say goodbye, and I'm still deciding what to do about that.
Taking Dom feels unnecessary.
Taking Simone would be worse. She'd never keep her mouth shut.
"What're you thinking about?" Dom asks, stopping beside me with Sophie balanced in his arms.
I blink away the thoughts and offer him one of the glasses Dad handed me.
"To being free," I say, raising it.
I immediately have to pull it back when Sophie makes a grab for it.
"Free, baby," Dom replies, clinking his glass against mine before taking a sip and setting it down on the nearest table.
A second later he lifts Sophie over his head.
She starts squealing with delight.
"Do you wanna go with me when I take Sophie to meet Brad?"
Dom looks at me strangely. "Umm..."
"What?"
"Are you sure about that?"
I nod.
"Yeah. You're gonna be around her a lot." I glance up at Sophie as she giggles looking down at us. "I think it's about time you met."
His expression softens, though he still looks uncertain.
"Won't it cause issues?"
"It doesn't matter." I shrug. "The divorce is over."
"The divorce being over doesn't mean he'll be happy about it."
I roll my eyes.
"He lost any input on my love life right around the time he got a girlfriend while we were married."
Dad makes a sound, muttering something under his breath.
"It's okay, Dad. I left him."
He grunts.
"I just hate that I never got the chance to punch him. Always wanted to punch him."
I share a look with Dom. "Maybe that's where I get it from."
"When do you wanna leave?" Dom asks biting back a smile.
"Now?" I turn toward the room. "If we wait much longer it'll be nap time."
"We haven't eaten yet," Simone points out.
"We'll get something on the way," Dom offers. "You know this one needs a nap after lunch too."
I narrow my eyes. "Careful."
"What?" he asks innocently.
"Don't use your insider knowledge against me."
Dom grins. "I'll get the bag."
Before I can respond, he passes Sophie into my arms and starts retreating back toward the office my parents turned into a nursery for the girls.
Coward.
"Don't screw that up again," Simone says, making faces at Sophie.
"Hey, he dumped me."
"Yes, and you married a douche, so..." She smacks her lips together.
"Bitch," I mutter under my breath.
"Sorry it took me so long, dear," Dom says as he reappears, very clearly having heard the last bit.
I narrow my eyes at him. "I hope-"
"Better go before she starts hitting you," Simone interrupts.
Rolling my eyes, I start walking toward the front door before they can make any more jokes about domestic violence.
Sadly, my leg accidentally catches Simone on the way past.
"Oops."
"Bronwyn!"
"Bye," I yell, not sounding sorry at all.
"That was mean," Dom says as we walk toward his car parked in my parents' driveway.
"She was mean first."
"Alright, dear."
I stop walking slowly.
"You..." I say, not quite laughing but not quite mad either.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he says, pulling me into his side after I get Sophie settled into her car seat. "I was nervous seeing your folks again after so long."
"Why?" I ask. "They love you more than me."
"Trust me, they don’t."
He opens the passenger door for me before walking around to the driver's side.
We're almost halfway to the hotel when I finally can't take it anymore.
"What'd you mean before? And don't pretend you don't know what I mean. My parents have always loved you."
He glances at me out of the corner of his eye before licking his lips.
"Do you remember when you got married?"
"Vaguely." I answer sarcastically.
"Well," he says, "I was there."
"What?" I yell.
Thankfully Sophie is completely occupied staring at the bird hanging from the string we attached to the roof of the car.
"I..." He lets out a breath. "I found out you were getting married and a few buddies took me out drinking because I guess I was moping."
I can’t help but smile at that.
Dom catches that then rolls his eyes.
"Anyway, somehow I ended up at the reception. Thankfully your dad found me before I could make an entrance."
"He stopped you?"
He nods.
"Then he told me that if I'd been an hour earlier, he'd have cheered me on. But..." He shrugs. "I was too late."
I stare at him.
I had no idea that happened.
All the nerves from before the wedding disappeared the second Brad and I said I do. I'd spent the entire night celebrating. Drinking. Dancing.
A little too much celebrating, honestly.
By the end of the night Brad had to carry me back to our suite.
Not because it was romantic. But because I could barely walk.
"He never told me."
"I'm glad," Dom says quietly. "I was drunk and… frankly, pathetic."
I turn in my seat and study him thoughtfully. "You know, I thought about you... a lot."
"You did?" he asks, his head jerking in my direction before focusing back on the road.
"Of course I did. You were my first love." I shake my head. "And you dumped me for other girls."
He opens his mouth, but I keep going.
"I know now you stupidly thought you were doing it for me, but come on." The side of my head leans against the seat. "You can't tell me you didn't sleep with other women and that thought..." I trail off. "That was painful."
"Three years," he says quietly.
"What?"
"It was three years after we broke up that I slept with someone else."
My mouth falls open as I stare at him in shock. "You're lying."
He shakes his head sadly. "I kept thinking... maybe someday..."
The words hit harder than they should.
"But you never called."
"You didn't either," he says quietly.
"I never dumped you either." Even to my ears I sound defensive but dammit, how was I supposed to call him after what he’d said.
I’m just not ready to settle down with one woman for the rest of my life.
The thought that he was out there screwing other women led me to make more than one bad decision over the years.
And the truly embarrassing part?
I don't even remember most of their names.