Disclaimer: see chapter 1

She slammed her bedroom door, more than irritated that he had just made himself comfortable on the couch without even checking with her first. She had tuned him out about a half second after getting in the car. All she wanted to do was wait for Zach, to talk to him and now… now she was stuck with Ryan on her couch, a place he would probably insist on being right through till morning.

Kendall flipped open her jewelry box, dropping her earrings in, fuming at who Ryan thought he could just walk in and take over, without any thought to her. She had tried to shut the front door in his face, but he was through the door before she got the chance. She had made up her mind to rip him up one side and down the other when it caught her eye. She froze, picking up the pin out of the jewelry box, running her fingers over it, remembering…

"Thought this was a 5-star hotel. Some security. They just let strangers walk into people's rooms?"

"I'm not a stranger; I'm your husband -- for a few more hours anyway. Here you go."

"Thanks. What, they -- you just told them you were my husband, and they handed you a room key?"

"No, I had to be a little sneakier than that. Saw a couple of chambermaids, and I told them that I had a gift for my wife on the last day of our marriage. I thought it was romantic."

"So you lied. Well, that makes more sense, it being you and all."

"I didn't lie, not this time". What could he have possibly… oh my God…

"It's incredible."

"It's why I wanted you to have it."

"You're really giving me this for divorcing you?"

"I've heard it said that the devil used the dragonfly to weigh the bad in people's souls. If the bad outweighs the good, he's found himself another roommate."

"Well, if you really want to know where I'm going to end up, I could have saved you some major, major cash. Satan already has a pitchfork with my name on it."

"He's going to have to fight for you. Dragonflies, hmm?"

"Hmm."

"I don't know. I just like them, because people are scared of them. They're pretty harmless, just nature's gentle reminder that things aren't always as they seem."

"Very deep. That still doesn't change how weird it is. I mean, most husbands don't give their wives bling to commemorate their divorce."

"I'm not most husbands."

It took all her power to get up and walk away from him, to get dressed. She obsessed over her hair and makeup, making sure it looks just right before heading back out into the bedroom. The look on his face had been well worth all the time she had put into her look this morning.

"Hey. You've never looked more beautiful than you do right now."

"Today of all days. Go figure."

"If I didn't know what I was losing before, you just now made it very obvious." That look of want and need on her face made her see, for the first time, really, that…

"You want to pin it on for me?" She felt her pulse race and her breath catch in her chest as he stepped closer to her, like he had done in her living room after Thanksgiving dinner. She wondered if he would…

"There." He stepped back and put his hands in his pocket and she knew… she knew she needed to do something.

"You think -- you think I look like a woman itching to get rid of her mean old husband?"

"If you do, you are. Come on, we're going to be late."

"Zach, you -- you have been the nicest, best husband I could ever ask for."

"Hey, you're just losing my name today. You're not losing me. I'm going to be right across the courtyard. And whatever you need, whenever you need it, it'll be there for you, and no judge or no document's going to take that away."

"Wait. I don't want it to end this way."

"How do you want it to end?"

Kendall looked at herself and mirror and smiled. "Not like this" she whispered to herself, smiling brightly for the first time in days, it felt like. She looked down at the pin in her hand and ran her fingers over it one last time. She dropped it back in the jewelry box, next to the engagement ring he gave her at the Mardi Gras ball and grabbed her clothes off the bed. She was in the process of changing when she heard a knock on her door.

"Kendall, you alright in there?"

She glared at the door and the voice on the other side of it. "Go away, I'm changing." She heard him pad away from the door. "Jackass" she said to herself, giggling slightly. She sighed and threw open her bedroom door.

TBC…