After over 20 years of separation, he shouldn't have felt so shocked when she finally filed for divorce. Their kids were grown after all – that's really the only reason they'd stayed married all those years anyway. But still when the papers showed up he couldn't help feeling hurt. The hurt quickly transformed into anger – no fury – that she could throw away their marriage without so much as a phone call.
Even worse was the fact that she was claiming spousal abandonment after she'd kicked him out all those years ago. She just wanted to make sure that he didn't see a penny of the money he was entitled to. She would at least give him that much.
He'd asked his daughter what was new in her mom's life last time she visited him, but she quickly changed the subject to grad school applications. She had always resisted being put in the middle of their disagreements. He tried to respect that but sometimes he couldn't help trying to find out what she was doing.
'There has to be someone else,' he thought as he paced the floor of his apartment. He knew that her Catholic guilt wouldn't allow her to be in a relationship while she was still married, regardless of the fact that the marriage was more of a technicality than an actual relationship.
He wasn't surprised to learn that she hadn't really changed her daily routine in the two decades they'd been separated. If Sharon Raydor could be inflexible in her adherence to rules it was nothing to her desire for order in her daily life. He simply followed her as she left work for a few days until he figured it out. On Friday he followed her to her condo and parked across the street. He was about to give up and go home when he saw the silver-haired lieutenant approach the building carrying flowers.
'I've got her.' He grinned smugly as he drove away. He couldn't believe that his rigid wife would so blatantly break the rules about fraternization. Their kids definitely didn't know. His daughter would have told him the second she found out. Their son had always sided with his mother, but Amy was always Daddy's little girl. He figured it couldn't be a serious relationship if the guy hadn't even met her children. He'd just have to find a way to really set his trap and show everyone the real Captain Raydor.
His patience paid off. After spending the hottest months of the summer searching for anything he could use against Sharon, he found out she planned on a long weekend in Big Sur at the end of the summer. He figured she needed to feel like she was safely away from prying eyes to let her guard down. Neither of them would realize that they weren't really alone.
He checked into his room at a smaller hotel and made his own plans for the weekend. He knew her style and guessed which resort she would stay at. There would be no second-rate accommodations for her, he knew. He laughed at the thought of this lieutenant being able to keep up with her expensive taste. Hell, he had barely been able to on what he made as an attorney.
He figured after they checked in Friday night they would have a late dinner at the restaurant that overlooked the ocean. He'd always meant to take her up here before their marriage fell apart. She hadn't been wrong about the beauty of the area. He pushed the thought aside as he hiked the hills near Sierra Mar, the resort's famous restaurant. He wanted to be able to see when they arrived, without being easily seen himself.
He actually got lost admiring the view when a full-throated feminine laugh startled him out of his reverie. He was shocked to see that it was her. She'd never laughed like that when they were together. He watched from his spot in the shadows across the road as she stopped her date outside the restaurant. In the soft light he could see her wide grin as she pulled the man to her in a deep, lingering kiss.
He backed deeper into the shadows, but couldn't help staring at the couple. When they looked at one another it was like the rest of the world disappeared. He didn't think she'd ever looked at him even remotely the same way; he was certain he'd never looked at her that way. He never doubted they'd loved one another. Now he wasn't so sure. Was it just the idea of security that had kept them together from the beginning?
He shook his head to clear his thoughts as the couple finally broke their embrace, still oblivious to their observer. The man opened the door for her, one hand resting on her hip. Before the door closed he saw her melt back into him as his arm came fully around her waist.
He turned to walk back down the hill to where he'd parked his rental car earlier in the evening, and grabbed a quick dinner at a diner near his own hotel. After sleeping for a few hours he checked out early and headed back toward Los Angeles, still unsure what he would do after what he saw.
His rental car turned in, he got back in his own and drove south to his home in San Diego. He saw the divorce papers on his desk. He put them there when he was served weeks ago, picking them up occasionally since to read through them and look for more answers. He picked up the papers again, shuffling through them without reading. He didn't need to anyway – he had worked enough divorces to know the standard boiler plate, and had read these specific papers enough to have the specifics committed to memory.
He flipped to the last page and stared at the line for his signature. When he was served his first thought was that he needed to make her miserable. As he fumbled through his top desk drawer for a pen he wondered if, for once, he could finally make her happy. He hesitated a final time before signing the bottom of the document. He had far too many regrets already. It was time for one of them to live again.
This was sort of floating around in my head and then I heard Bruno Mars "When I Was Her Man" while driving and the idea really slammed into my brain. I have to give HUGE thanks to convenientdistraction for help with a title, because I am terrible at naming things unless the title comes to me at the beginning.