Chapter 20 - Carter
By the time we got back to LA, everything with Veronica’s ex seemed to have blown over. We checked the papers every day to make sure that nothing had been leaked to the press, and it looked like we were going to get away without a huge media backlash.
That was good news, because the Grammys were the next day, and a lot was riding on our performance. Doing well at this show would mean a solid start to our album launch and upcoming tour.
Spending three nights with Vee beside me made it that much harder to sleep on my own when we got back. When I got home, Maddox disappeared to his end of the mansion and I slumped on the couch. I pulled out my phone and dialed Bill’s number.
“Hi, Carter,” my lawyer answered.
“Any news?”
“Not yet. I’ve petitioned the judge to throw out Angela’s request for your music rights. It’s the last snag in the divorce, and she’s not budging. It’s up to the judge now, so we’ll see what happens.”
I sighed. “Thanks, Bill.”
When we hung up, I rubbed my temples and took a deep breath. I never imagined divorce would be so difficult. We didn’t even have any kids! I knew I’d acted like an ass for much of our marriage, but I hadn’t though that she’d be so vindictive.
The doorbell chimed through the house and I groaned. I peeled myself off the couch and dragged my feet to the door. Our hectic schedule had taken a toll on me, and the tiredness was setting into my bones. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with whoever was at my door on a Friday evening.
When I opened the door, my eyebrows shot up.
“Angela,” I said, my hand squeezing on the doorknob. She looked tired. Her face was drawn, and she was clutching her purse close to her body.
“Hey,” she said. “Can I come in?”
I stared at her for a few seconds and then nodded, stepping aside and waving her in. She took a deep breath, looking around the house that Maddox had let me move into when things with Angela had fallen apart.
I gestured towards the hallway. “Let’s go to the kitchen,” I said. “Keep your shoes on, don’t worry about it.”
She nodded, and we walked in silence. She walked a little distance away from me, and it felt like the space between us had become so vast it was hard to imagine a time when we were close. I gestured towards the kitchen island.
“Beer? Coffee?”
“You got any water?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, we’ve got water,” I replied. “Check out this fancy-ass fridge. You want ice? I can get you cubes, crushed, cold water, room temperature water, anything you want.”
Angela smiled, and I realized it was the first time in months that I’d seen anything but a sour expression on her face. “I’ll have cubes please,” she grinned. “And cold water.”
I nodded and poured us both some water. Angela nodded in thanks, sipping the glass. She held it up.
“That’s good water, Carter.”
I grinned. “You know me, I’m like a cat,” I said. “I always land on my feet.”
She laughed, then, and I saw the old Angela. A week ago, seeing her like this would have pulled on my heart strings until the pain radiated through my whole body. It would have made me long for our old life together.
But now? Now it just made me glad that she looked like her old self, but it didn’t make me want to be with her. I looked at the woman that I’d married, who had spent the past six months fighting me on every detail of our divorce.
She looked tired.
“So,” I hesitated. I sat down beside her, keeping my eyes on my glass. “What’s up?”
Angela sighed, and finally pulled an envelope out of her purse. She took a stack of papers out of the envelope and slid them towards me.
I stared at them, frowning.
“Our divorce papers?”
Angela nodded, clearing her throat. I could see the emotion in her eyes as they misted up, but she blinked her tears away.
“I asked my lawyer to take out the stuff about your music rights. I also changed the split of assets back to your original proposal.”
My eyes widened. “So this…?”
Angela nodded. “Unless you’ve changed your mind, it should be acceptable to you. It’s pretty much what you originally asked for. Except for Edgar. I’m still keeping Edgar.”
Her jaw hardened as she talked about our dog. That little Cavalier King Charles dog had been the light of our lives, and watching her take him had broken my heart. But now, when I saw the look on her face, I realized she needed him more than I did.
I cleared my throat. “Why… why did you change your mind? You fought me on all of this for months.” I thumbed through the stack of papers, and I could see she was telling the truth. It looked like exactly what I’d asked for in the original divorce papers. Her signature was on all the necessary pages, with little tabs where I had to sign and initial.
I glanced at my soon-to-be ex-wife, and she avoided my gaze. She took a sip of water and set her glass down gently. I watched her take a deep breath, as if she were preparing herself to say something difficult.
“I had you followed by a private investigator.”
I frowned. Normally, the anger would have flared up inside me but I tried to keep it at bay. She was struggling to say something, and I didn’t want to stop her. My whole attitude had shifted over this past week—ever since I’d met Veronica. Everything about me was more calm, so I just sat there and listened.
Angela continued. “He told me about your new girlfriend—the photographer. He showed me pictures. I saw what happened at the hotel bar with her ex-boyfriend. I saw a copy of the police report.” Her voice was strangled, and she took a deep breath before finally looking at me.
“My lawyer told me it was enough to break down any character references that you might be able to provide. He said that showing your aggression would be enough to get me whatever I wanted.”
I swallowed, my heart thumping. So she knew about everything that had happened in New York, and it would have been enough to take everything from me.
“So why didn’t you?”
“I saw the way you held her. He had pictures after you pushed her ex away, and you looked—” a sob shook through her, and she covered her face with her hand. Finally, she straightened herself up and took a deep breath. She turned and looked me straight in the eye. “You looked at her how you used to look at me. Before the drinking and the fame and everything that came between us.”
I hadn’t said much the whole time she was here. And at that moment, I don’t think I’d have been able to speak at all. The emotion was choking me. I struggled to swallow past the lump that had formed in my throat, so I just nodded.
Angela looked at me for a long moment. Then she shrugged. “I guess I just remembered that you’re not a bad person. Maybe we just bring out the worst in each other, and seeing those photos… I don’t know. I just remembered how things used to be.”
I still couldn’t speak. I nodded, and Angela smiled sadly. She put her hand on my shoulder and laid a soft kiss on my cheek.
“She looks wonderful, Carter. Good luck.”
She started walking back towards the front door, and finally I managed to speak. “Angela,” I called out. She turned around, her eyes glistening with tears.
“I… thank you.”
She nodded. “I’ll unblock you on Facebook so you can see pictures of Edgar.”
“I’d like that.”
She gave me a watery smile and then walked out the door, and I was alone again. I stared at the divorce papers and let out a big sigh. Veronica had come into my life and turned everything on its head—even my divorce. I shook my head and sent Vee a goodnight text before calling Bill again. I looked at the stack of legal documents in front of me and took a deep breath.
“Bill,” I said when he answered the phone. “You’ll never believe what I’m looking at right now.”