Claire returned half an hour later, wiping her eyes as she sat down and signed the paperwork. Mark looked ready to say a lot more before he finally sighed and just told her to piss off. She choked back a sob but stood up and walked away again, Mark getting up to start clearing the table, his daughters helping him. I reviewed all the details and was impressed at how much he’d managed to find by himself, though I knew Bill had hired a private investigator on his behalf to keep an eye on her.
The girls had their say when their mother returned, asking for a hug. From what they said, I learned she was very much an absent mother, left wondering if she’d been having affairs for longer than Mark suspected. I guess it didn’t really matter, but hearing both of them stand up and by their father made me smile. I think, in that moment, Claire was starting to realise just what she’d lost. Mark escorted her to the door and asked one final question, if she’d even brought him into their home and the marital bed.
She said no. Whether that was a lie or not didn’t matter. Mark merely nodded his head, opened the door and closed it as soon as Claire was outside.
Mark sent the girls off to shower and study as he finished cleaning up. Bill eventually grabbed them both a beer. Offering me a drink, I paused before accepting a glass of wine. Heading outside to the decking that surrounded the pool, Mark took a sip of his drink before he glanced at me. “Thank you, Melissa. You’re an absolute life saver.”
“What about me?” Bill asked.
“Yeah, you did me good too, mate.”
“What will you do now?” Bill wondered.
“Wait until we face court. If Claire fights this, we go nuclear. If the bitch wants a fight, we’ll give her one. But she won’t fight. She’s got what she really wants. A way out. It just hasn’t gone the way she anticipated.”
We finished our drinks, chatting about nothing important, before I told him I should probably go. He escorted me to the front door, glancing back to see the smile Bill returned. I think he could read me better than I thought. Walking me outside to my car again, it was the first time I could use the word bashful when it came to Mark.
“Your soon to be ex-wife is a fool, Mark,” I whispered, my heart thundering in my chest, before I finally leaned up and kissed him. What surprised me is that he was ready for me. It was a chaste kiss, no tongues were involved, but when we broke apart, I was feeling rather warm and he had a smile on his face that told me he liked what just happened. “Look after your girls. We’ll get this done as quickly as possible.”
“Thanks, Melissa,” he stated before hugging me. I melted into him again and didn’t want to let him go. There was finally a cleared throat, both of us breaking apart to see Bill at the front door.
Blushing again, I wished him goodnight as he opened the car door for me, waiting I was sat before he closed it. Lowering the window, I turned on the ignition as he leaned into the open window. “If you ever want a coffee, Mark…”
“As soon as I’m officially divorced, Melissa. But I’d love to have a coffee with a friend before then.”
I took his hand and ensured I gave him my widest smile. “You’ve got my number. Anytime, Mark.”
Filing the paperwork the next morning, I knew it was just a matter of it going through the court process before Mark would be free of his wife. During the conversations at the dinner table, it sounded like he’d already had more than one offer of a date, but while he didn’t turn them down, he said he’d do nothing until he was divorced. I was left thinking that, if I really wanted to be with him, I would have to fight for him.
I sat in my office and thought he might just be worth that fight.
*****
Mark
“She was very pretty, Daddy,” Hannah told me the next morning at the breakfast table.
“Who was, sweetie?”
“Melissa, your lawyer. She was very pretty.”
I smiled and couldn’t help but agree with my daughter’s assessment. The first day I’d walked into her office, I’d realised she was a beautiful woman. Long raven-black hair. Gorgeous blue eyes. Rather pale, which I didn’t mind. She wore thin glasses that simply framed her pretty face. A pair of lips that already had me wondering what it would be like to kiss every day. She was shorter than I was and rather slim. Didn’t have the largest chest but I’d checked out her legs more than once. And she did have a pert little butt.
Physically, she was gorgeous, but it was her personality that had me wondering. Bill hadn’t told me everything, just that she’d been left badly hurt and her trust in people had been completely broken. I’d put my trust in her, though, and she’d come through with flying colours. In fact, she seemed to take my case personally, another sign that perhaps what I was enduring was something she’d experienced herself.
“Daddy?” I looked across the table at Katie. “When you’re divorced, what will you do?”
“Focus on you two for a while. I’m hurting but I know you are too.”
“She’s a bitch,” Hannah muttered.
I wanted to agree, but I didn’t want to be the one to ruin the relationship mother and daughter shared. Claire was more than capable of fucking up her own relationships. “Melissa suggested you two go to therapy due to everything. It will look better when you sit in court and explain who you want to stay with and why.” Both shared a glance and looked ready to argue. “Girls, would I suggest it if it was going to backfire on me?”
They both smiled. “No, Daddy,” Hannah replied.
“Melissa has my and your best interests at heart. If she thinks talking to someone about all of this will work, then we should trust her.”
“You like her, Daddy,” Katie stated, almost a knowing smile.
“You think she’s pretty,” Hannah added.
“Finish your breakfast and get ready for school.”
“Daddy likes Melissa,” they both sang. I tried glaring at them but it didn’t work as we all started laughing.
I didn’t hear from Claire for the next couple of days, and left the house early on Saturday to take the girls to netball. Bill kept me informed of what was going on at the house and what she was taking. I made sure she was gone before I returned home. She’d written each of us a latter, asking the girls to actually read it before throwing it away. My letter was full of the usual bullshit, though she actually admitted that our marriage was over and she wasn’t going to fight it too much. She thought it was blackmail but realised nearly every we had done was legal.
Calling Melissa that night, I was left thinking she was pleased to hear from me. “How about getting that coffee tomorrow?” I finally asked after talking about nothing important for a few minutes.
“I’d love to. Where and what time?”
“Well, I can head closer to you, if you’d like.”
“There’s a little coffee shop five minutes from where I live that I adore. Meet me there around 11am. I’ll send you the details.”
“Cool. Just got your message. I’ll see you then.”
The girls were pleased to hear I was heading out for coffee, seeing me off at the door the next morning, each of them giving me a kiss on the cheek, wishing me luck. Telling them it’s just coffee, they giggled and told me it was a coffee date. And, if I was smart, coffee dates would turn into proper dates. When I retorted, stating I wouldn’t do that until my divorce was finalised, they told me that it was about time I started living my own life.
In a way, I guess they were right.
Melissa was waiting for me outside the coffee shop. Standing up, I’d never seen her in a dress before. I’m fairly sure I stared at her for a few seconds, long enough that she got a little self-conscious. Stepping towards her, she was ready for the embrace. Feeling her head resting against my chest, I pulled her a little tighter.
“Now this is nice,” she whispered.
“Thanks for meeting me. Are you thirsty?”
“I’ll never say no to coffee and a piece of cake.”
After buying two coffees and two slices of cake, we ate outside as the sun was out and far warmer than inside the cafe. Though we did chat a little bit about the divorce, I spent more time attempting to get to know her better. She tried fobbing off most of my questions before she finally sighed and moved her seat closer. “Hold me,” she whispered in such a tone, I wanted to hold and protect her from a world that had clearly damaged her.
She took a deep breath before she told me everything. The life shared with her best friend. Meeting and the life she’d started with her husband. Then the job she did and the fact she was working long hours, but her husband had always stated he understood, and when she wasn’t working, her focus was entirely on him. But it was walking into the bedroom they shared to find him and her best friend in bed that destroyed her.
The fact there was no apology. In fact, they both blamed her for forcing them together. He said he was lonely. She claimed it started as just sex before they finally said they’d fallen in love with each other. Melissa admitted she just fell apart. The two people she’d trusted most had stabbed her in the back and taken a dump on everything she’d believed in.
Divorce was obviously the only option. She didn’t want to remain where they lived so moved out. She heard that, within a month, her best friend had moved in with him. Apart from seeing her at the divorce proceedings, she hadn’t seen nor spoken to her again. She never spoke to her husband again, any communication going through her lawyer.