"You certainly look happy. I'm guessing you and Charles kissed and made up?" Kelsey slipped into the seat across from Liza at East River Bar later on Friday night, smiling at the look on Liza's face. She looked, in Kelsey's opinion, like a giant weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.
"She hasn't been able to stop smiling since she got home 2 hours ago. It's starting to freak me out." Maggie leaned into Liza, gently bumping her in the shoulder. She was ecstatic to have the normal Liza back.
"Oh, stop it, you two. But, yes we did, Kels. He's asking Pauline for a divorce tonight."
Kelsey let a low whistle. "Woah. I mean, I'm glad for you, but that's certainly going to throw her for loop. All she can talk about is how she thinks they're getting back together. Honestly, I'm glad she's leaving for her book tour soon."
"You and me both. Listen, I'm gonna go get a refill and say hi to Clare. What do you want?"
"Vodka tonic. Thanks girl!"
Liza weaved through the crowd, making her way over to the bar. She knew she had the stupidest grin plastered across her face, but she was happy. Happier than she had been in the past month, that's for sure.
"Somebody looks happy!" Clare leaned up against the bar as Liza hopped up onto a barstool. "What can I get ya, Liza? Matchmaker discount." She smiled, nodding her head towards Josh, who was up on stage with his band, getting ready to play a set.
"Two vodka tonics." She paused and added, "And a round of tequila shots for the table. We're celebrating tonight."
"Anything in particular?"
"Just had a good day. The first in a few weeks. How it's going with you and Josh?"
Clare smiled again, but Liza noticed it didn't entirely meet her eyes. "Josh is amazing, he really is. I never expected to meet someone like him while I was here. I was just supposed to come here for work, and now I've got this wonderful guy in my life."
"It sounds like you lucked out."
"I did! But," she sighed. "Liza, can you keep a secret?"
"You have no idea how good I am at keeping secrets." Claire leaned across the bar towards Liza.
"The company I'm interning for, they don't have a job opening for me here in New York. But, they offered me a job at their office in San Francisco."
"Wow, Clare, congratulations!"
"Yeah, it's great. But it means either going back to Ireland or moving to California. I'm here on a work visa, Liza. So, either way, it means leaving Josh."
"Ahh. What do you want to do?"
"I want to take the job. But I don't want to leave New York. I love it here."
"Well, listen, all I'm going to say is this – follow your heart. You're the only person who knows what will make you truly happy. And just because there isn't a job here for you now doesn't mean that there won't be one in the future. Just think about it. Thanks for the drinks." She smiled encouragingly at Clare, but she felt an ache in her heart for Josh. She knew that he was falling hard for Clare, and she knew it would break his heart if she left.
"Finally! Ooh, shots!" Kelsey reached over and grabbed a shot off of the tray before Liza had even set it down.
"Pace yourself, woman!" Liza laughed, sliding back between Maggie and Lauren, who had joined them while Liza was fetching drinks.
"Whatever, Mom." Liza opener her mouth to retort back, but Lauren cut her off. "So, Liza, I hear you caught the Empiriconda again." The 3 other girls all choked on their drinks.
"Ohmygod, Lauren."
"Do you ever have a filter?"
"No, no, I really don't."
Liza blushed as she swallowed her drink.
"You know," Kelsey said slowly, "You never did tell us if things lived up to the hype. We all saw that picture." She grinned mischievously as Liza turned a bright shade of pink.
"From some of the sounds I've heard coming out of that bedroom, I'd say so." Maggie quipped, and she joined with a grin equal to Kelsey's as Liza turned even redder."
"Liza Miller! You've been holding out on us!"
"Honestly, I don't know how he can walk with that thing." Lauren deadpans, and Liza closes her eyes and shakes her head. If she was embarrassed right now, she couldn't imagine Charles' face if he heard the things that were being said right now.
"All I'm going to say is that I am very, very happy." Lauren shook her head at her.
"C'mon, Liza, give us details!"
Liza sighed, shaking her head. "Okay, it's the best I've ever had. Ever."
"Better than Josh?" Kelsey asks.
"With Josh it was different. Great, but different. This is just, you know, toe-curling good. Not good, amazing. Mind blowing. Okay, I'm going to go bury my head in the sand now."
"Oh please." Kelsey rolled here eyes. "What's the purpose of having a squad if you can't talk to them about sex with your man? Zane's not too shabby either."
"Better than Thad?"
"Or Chad?"
"Or tram slam? Or Anton?"
Now it was Kelsey's turn to blush. "Touché. We need more shots." She hopped off of her barstool, stumbling slightly in her sky-high heels before regaining her balance.
Liza leaned back against the wall and smiled. Tonight was a good night. Surrounded by her best friends, talking and gossiping. She had Charles back in her life, and it was only a matter of time before things were back to normal. She and Josh were settling into a comfortable friendship and she was settling into her new responsibilities at work with ease. She might not end her night in Charles' arms, but he had promised to call her later this evening, after his conversation with Pauline. She only hoped it would go smoothly for him.
Charles took a deep breath outside of the brownstone before pushing the door open. It was the zero hour, and he had rehearsed what he was going to say to Pauline the entire car ride home. He had hoped that she might be out, giving him the time to sooth his nerves with a glass of scotch. But he could see the lights on through the window. Taking another deep breath, he swung the door open.
"Hey! You're home." Pauline sat on the couch in the foyer just inside the front door, near the window, sipping a mug of something warm. She had a book in her lap, but it was closed, almost as if she had been watching for him.
"Hi." He slid his suit jacket off, hanging it on the coatrack, and loosened his tie.
"So, I was thinking we should take advantage of the girls being at your cousin's house tonight." Pauline set her mug down on the coffee table. "We could go out for dinner. Or, we could stay in." She smiled at him and Charles could read her like a book. This was going to be harder than he thought.
"I don't think that's a good idea, Pauline." He said diplomatically.
"What? Staying in or going out? We can do whatever you'd like, sweetheart."
Charles closed his eyes and exhaled. His back was to her as he poured himself a drink. He turned slowly and settled onto the edge of a chair as she folded her legs up underneath her on the couch.
"Pauline," he started slowly, "this isn't working."
"What isn't working?"
"You. Me. Us. It isn't working."
"What are you saying, Charles?" Her voice was shaky. "I thought we were doing okay."
"I'm saying that I love you, Pauline, but I'm not in love with you. I'm asking for what I should have asked for two years ago. A divorce."
Pauline leaned back and let out a huff, shaking her head. "You're kidding me, right?"
"No. I'm not. I can't pretend that everything is okay anymore. We've been over for a long time, and I think you and I both know that. We were over before you even left, or you wouldn't have left in the first place."
She stood, pacing the room. "So, you're blaming this on me?"
"No, I'm not. We both are responsible for this marriage breaking down. We both contributed to this. I just, I can't do this anymore."
"How can you be so calm, so cold?! I thought you asked me to move back in because you wanted to reconcile?"
"I'm not calm, Pauline. I'm just tired. I've had two years to be angry, to be emotional. Two of the darkest years of my life. I asked you to come back here for the girls, so you could spend some time with them. But that's over now."
"Well, I'm so glad you're making all these life decisions for us. For our family." She tossed him a dirty look as she poured some vodka into glass and tossed it back.
He could feel his temper rising, bubbling under the surface. "Like the decision you made to leave? To make me a single dad to two little girls who didn't know where Mommy went? A little hypocritical, don't you think?"
"How long are you going to throw that back in my face, Charles? I'm here now, aren't I? Doesn't that mean something?"
"Maybe. For the girls, but not for me. I'm done."
"I can't believe you're doing this."
"Well, you need to believe it. You have until the end of next week to find a new place to stay. If you don't have room for your things, I'll pay for a storage unit. I had Bob draw up divorce papers, so he'll be contacting you. Get a lawyer, Pauline."
"Are you threatening me?"
"No. I just want to do this civilly. I'm not throwing you out onto the street, but I need to protect myself, the girls, my company. We'll work out a schedule with the girls."
"How generous of you."
"I'm not going to keep them from you. You can see them this weekend. They'll be at the picnic tomorrow. You can see them whenever you'd like, but they are going to live with me."
Charles set down his glass and went to climb the stairs.
"Is there someone else?" He turned to look at her from his spot a few steps up. Her arms were crossed, her eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"Is there someone else?" She repeated. "Is that why you're doing this to me?"
"I'm doing this because I don't want to be married to you anymore. I don't know who you are anymore, Pauline, and I don't really care to. And it's really none of your business if there is someone else. My decision wouldn't be any different. Good night."
He climbed the stairs to his bedroom and leaned against the door as he closed it, breathing out a sigh of relief.
Liza was curled up in bed, half asleep, a book propped up on the pillow next to her, when her phone started vibrating on the nightstand.
"Hello?" She yawned, sitting up a little straighter and stretching.
"Did I wake you?" His voice was soft and quiet, but the sound of it had Liza sitting straight up in bed, wide awake.
"Nope, I was just reading."
"Anything good?"
"Anna Karenina. Only the good parts, though." She smiled, remembering the time he stumbled across her reading at their favorite diner.
"Ahh, a fan favorite." She could hear him smiling through the phone.
"So," Liza started, unsure of how to ask what she wanted to ask him, "how did things go?"
"They went. It wasn't pretty, but I told her exactly what I told you I was going to say. That I wasn't in love with her and hadn't been for quite a while. I told her she needed to get a lawyer, that I wanted to handle things like mature adults, but I wasn't going to budge on custody of the girls. We'll see how that goes. She yelled a little and she's definitely angry, but she had to know this was a possibility."
"I agree. I hope she realizes that this is what's best for everyone, in the long term. I certainly know what it's like to stay in a marriage past its expiration date."
"She's been stomping around the house and slamming doors for the last 20 minutes. I feel like a teenager, hiding in my bedroom."
Liza giggled, and the sound made his heart soar. He loved to hear her laugh.
"I missed that sound the past couple of weeks."
"I missed you." Liza said, quietly. "More than I ever imagined I could."
"Let's not do that again, okay? I don't know if my heart can take it."
"Mine either." They sat on the phone in silence for a moment, both crawling under the covers in their respective beds. Charles ached for Liza, craved her touch. He wished he could reach through the phone and pull her to him, wrap his arms around her and show her how much he loved her.
"She asked me if there was someone else."
Liza paused for a moment. "What did you tell her?"
"That is was none of her business. That regardless of if there was or wasn't, I would still want to end things with her."
"Would you?"
"Yes. It may have taken me a bit longer to realize it, but yes. She's the mother of my children, and I love her, but I'm not in love with her. Somebody else has that part of my heart now. Has my whole heart, actually."
Liza put a hand to her heart and sighed contentedly. "So, I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yes. I'm leaving first thing in the morning. Pauline may be there. I told her to come if she wanted to see the girls."
"Okay. Ahh, Josh will be there too. Kelsey invited him, since we invited all of our other authors."
"Should be an interesting day."
"Yes, a whole day of refereeing yard games, per Diana's instructions. She has a schedule and everything."
"Well save a little energy for me, okay? I'll give you the full tour." He tried his best to sound flirtatious and elicited another giggle from Liza.
"Of course, Mr. Brooks."
"I'll see you soon. Good night, my love."
"Goodnight, Charles." Neither of them spoke, but neither of them hung up the phone, and they drifted off to sleep together.