Uncharted Territory

Grace

The next morning was awkward, not that I expected any less though. I’d nearly had sex with one of my best friends and one of my boyfriend’s best friends. The worst part was that I wanted to. Oh lord, did I want to. Kennedy was like a bright light and I was the bug that didn’t stand a chance. No matter how hard I fought, I was pulled towards him. I had John though and I wasn’t going to break his heart again. I was going to suppress my feelings and needs for Kennedy. Anyway, I’m sure that a main reason for what almost took place last night was all the emotional stress I’m going through thanks to the divorce settlement.

“Are you almost ready?” Kennedy asked as he came out of the bathroom and I jumped in surprise. Those were the first words he’d said to me all morning and I’d almost expected different ones. We were obviously tiptoeing around the issue and it was almost unbearable.

“Umm…yeah,” I paused to nervously clear my throat. “I mean, yes, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

The ride to my lawyer’s office was completely silent, bordering on uncomfortable. No words were exchanged between Kennedy and I and we sat as far from each other as possible. I wanted to reach out and touch his hand but knew that was probably a bad idea.

After what seemed like hours but was only minutes we got out of the cab and made our way to my lawyer’s office. As we approached all thoughts of what happened with Kennedy the night before disappeared because I was too busy worrying about what the outcome of the divorce would be.

Kennedy and I sat down with my lawyer and waited for Evan and his lawyer who walked in five minutes later.

“Ok, I have another meeting in 40 minutes so let’s get started and make this quick,” Evan said with a smug look on his face. I was sure he thought he was going to get all the assets.

My lawyer pulled out some papers and then began to read. “After must deliberation the following terms have been agreed upon. The house and property in Chicago will go to Mr. Raymond. The income made during the three years of marriage will be split equally between both parties.”

I braced myself as I waited for my lawyer to continue. The one thing I was worried about was the company. My father had split my share of the company between both Evan and I once we were married but I wanted all of it back. I didn’t want Evan to have any part of the company after the way he treated me. I wanted him out of my life for once and for all.

“As for the share of the company….” My lawyer began. “That will fully go to Ms. Williams seeing as it was hers in the first place.”

“What? That is absurd!” Evan jumped up. “Grace doesn’t even work at her father’s company, I do.”

Evan’s lawyer calmed him down and began explained the decision reached was the best he could do. Evan grumbled but signed the papers before stomping out of the office. I quickly signed the papers and sighed in relief as Kennedy and I walked out of the building. Evan was finally out of my life and that chapter was now completed. I never planned on going back.

“Congrats, Grace. You fought hard and won what was rightfully yours,” Kennedy smiled as he pulled me in for a celebratory hug. It felt awkward and forced though.

We had a couple hours before we had to head to the airport to catch our flight back home so we decided to stop and get some pizza. We talked throughout lunch but we made sure to stay to safe topics. The deepest thing we talked about was how Kennedy wished we had pizza this good in Arizona and I said pizza was the thing I missed most about Chicago.

After lunch we went back to the hotel room and I figured it was time to finally bring up the subject we’d been carefully avoiding.

“Kennedy, about last night…” I started but he quickly jumped in.

“Grace, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have let things get as far as they did. Can we just try and forget about it though. I have Paige and you have John so I think we should just pretend it never happened.”

Part of me was disappointed in Kennedy’s suggestion because I had no clue how I was going to pretend I didn’t feel a spark around him but I knew that was the safest option so I just nodded. “Of course, Ken. That’s actually what I was going to suggest.”

We headed towards the airport and nothing else was said on the subject. The plane had just taken off when a thought popped into my head.

“Kennedy? We can’t tell anyone about what happened, especially John.”

Kennedy nodded in agreement and I knew once we stepped foot in Arizona both of us would hold true to our promise to act normally and pretend nothing had happened. It had happened though and deep down I knew this had the power to change everything.