November 23rd, 2011 Salem
"I was hoping I might find you here."
EJ looked up to place the familiar voice with the face which escaped him. It was Chloe Lane. As beautiful as the woman admittedly was he had never taken an interest to her before. Now, he eagerly invited her to sit down and join him at the small table for two near the bar of the Cheatin' Heart, swiftly stuffing his cell phone back into his jacket pocket to offer her his undivided attention.
"Chloe. What can I do for you?" It sounded good. Neat, professional, cordial...and he managed not to mention Nicole's name.
"I want to talk to you about Halloween."
He tried to maintain his poker face. "All right, well Halloween...sort of a silly holiday if you ask me. I mean, why go out begging for candy when-"
She didn't even have to command her her pointy-toed shoe to kick him in the shin...she was sure it acted all on it's own accord.
"Ow, what the-"
"Don't you dare play stupid with me. I know you know what I'm talking about!"
"Ah, I see Nicole sent out her little protector. Let me guess, you're here to get the big bad wolf to back off of her little boyfriend."
"Nate's not scared of you, but he's also not her boyfriend. If you would've stuck around long enough you might have figured that out for yourself."
"Yeah, well I saw all I needed to see, thank you so now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date this evening." Before he could fully straighten his knees into a standing position she pushed him right back down into his chair."How 'bout you let me tell you what I saw. I had to watch Nicole bawling her eyes out for the next three days because of you."
"Really? Nicole being overly emotional? How unlike her." He surprised even himself at how cool and callous he could remain under pressure.
"She knew it was you, you know."
"Well, obviously, or we wouldn't be having this little conversation now, would we?" He pulled the cell phone from his pocket and busily began typing a text message which was never intended for any person in particular, nor to be sent. He just needed something, anything, to distract himself from the unpleasant topic of discussion.
"I'm not talking about what you said to Nate. I'm talking about the kiss."
Chloe knew she had finally struck the right nerve. His face grew pale and for the first time that night, he was at a loss for a sarcastic comeback. In fact, he seemed at a loss for words all together and instead seemed to be focused on swallowing back several large lumps in his throat.
"She knew it was you. She was so happy it was you. But you...you were too insecure to believe it so, what did you do? You made a bad situation worse. You know, if you would have given her the chance she would have taken you back. But now-"
"Now, what?" His eyes were so full of desperation, regret, and sorrow that she almost felt bad for him. Almost.
"Now, I'm just here to deliver these personally," she said, tossing a large manila envelope containing Nicole's signed half of a fresh set of divorce papers in front of him. "You know, since you failed to sign the last ones she sent."
"You're mistaken. Nicole never sent me any papers."
"It's OK, I get it...these things happen. Stuff gets lost in the mail all the time." Chloe bit her lip to contain the smile trying to escape her as she watched EJ's face grow an even whiter shade of pale upon investigating the contents of the envelope. "Here, I have a pen," she said, throwing a cheap black Bic Stic pen his way. "You just go right on and sign away."
"In case you have forgotten, I'm a lawyer. I don't sign anything without reading it first."
"Well, how 'bout I just give you a quick synopsis. She's not asking you for anything except her freedom so just sign the damn papers.
"We are talking about the same person, right? Nicole Walker?"
"Um, still Nicole Walker DiMera...but she doesn't have to be for much longer if you just sign. I figured you'd be anxious to free up the Mrs. EJ DiMera title once again. You and Patti make an adorable couple. I imagine you must be speaking to your father and Kate again now since you started seeing Patti for real, right? Who knows where you'd be today if they didn't intervene and introduce you to your dream girl. You must be eternally grateful."
"I will have my lawyer look them over after the holiday, and then I will sign them and have them returned to Nicole. Now, is there anything else." He began to pray for some secret trap door to open up beneath her and swallow her whole.
"Yeah, well, whatever you do EJ, just don't wait. The longer you wait to do something, the harder it is to do. But you know all about that, don't you?"
"Nice job, Nikki," he grumbled quietly to himself after Chloe excused herself from the table without notice. "You've got an entire army working for you, eh?"
That's right, EJ. Remember, this is just a game. What probably happened was, Chad had reported the details of their conversation back to her so she sent Chloe to deliver the papers, thinking this would be the thing to send him running back to Chicago to beg her for another chance. He begin to laugh as he thumbed through the pages, fully expecting to find that they were drawn up at some DIY divorce home kit. Closer inspection would show they were perfectly legit and, just as Chloe promised, she wasn't asking for a thing, and she swore to each of the statements by signing her name below.
His fingertips traced the strokes her pen left behind as he stared down at what was the begining of an end for EJ and Nicole in disbelief. A closer look found parts of her signature were blurred, and not just on the first page, but every other page thereafter. It was the kind of smudge caused by a drop of water but he knew that in this case it hadn't been water but, a tear. Just like the fresh one which just fell from his own cheek onto the very same spot of her name.