They had stayed the night at his parents’ house and opened presents with them in the morning. It had been completely different than what she was used to. An interior designer had decorated everything, and all of the packages had been perfectly put together under the tree. Her parents usually used whatever wrapping paper was around that year and hand-wrapped the packages. They liked to overdo it, too, and they would get a ton of small presents to fill the tree past capacity.

Lexi and Ramsey hadn’t been able to escape the country club until well into the afternoon, and by the time they had arrived at her parents’ house, they had already eaten, thinking she wasn’t going to show up. Overall, it had been more stressful than it needed to be.

Next year, she was determined to do better. Though, her mother had told her about how difficult it had been to accommodate everyone’s schedules when they first got married, and sometimes it was just better to do her own thing and see people when she can.

Lexi had smiled and agreed. Next year.

New Year’s had been uneventful.

Lexi had gotten the flu and couldn’t leave the house. She had been pretty bummed because they had been planning to spend the weekend in Florida at his beach house, away from the rest of the world. Needless to say, Lexi hadn’t been able to make the trip, so they had just cozied up in front of the fireplace and watched the ball drop in the comfort of their own living room.

Once she had gotten over her sickness, they had taken engagement pictures at a local plantation. Lexi thought they were kind of cheesy, but the wedding planner had insisted because they needed something for the save-the-date cards.

It all seemed to be happening so fast. One day, Ramsey had proposed, and five months later, they had picked a date at the end of October. Now, they were sending out save-the-dates to their guests.

It all felt a bit surreal.

Lexi wandered into the small Mexican restaurant in Buckhead and took a seat in the back corner. Her new client actually wasn’t the worst thing she had ever suffered through, so she was back on a normal schedule where she actually…ate. What a luxury!

“Hey, Lex,” Jack said as he approached the table. “Sorry I’m late.”

“I just got here.”

A waiter came over and brought them drinks before disappearing just as quickly.

“How is work?” Jack asked.

“Fine. Nothing to complain about.”

Lexi always felt the weight of her engagement ring during these encounters. He didn’t even have to say anything. He could just look at her with those big blue eyes and know…

“How is the apartment shopping going?” she asked, just so he would stop looking at her like that.

“I found a place a couple days ago. It’s not as nice as what I had before…but I don’t really need much. I’ve always been more of a minimalist.”

“Says the man who drives a BMW,” she joked.

“You have to at Bridges.” He just shrugged, defeated.

He didn’t even like saying the name right now. She didn’t ask him about work anymore. It was clear that it was not an ideal situation. He was pretty miserable there, dealing with Bekah.

“I suppose so.”

“It’s kind of strange, having my own place again. Really…quiet,” he said.

Lexi nodded. She had never had her own place before. All through college and graduate school, she’d had roommates, and now, she lived with Ramsey. She could imagine a world without other people being very quiet, especially after living with someone like Bekah.

“You should come see it sometime.”

“Yeah, sure,” she said because, God, did she feel bad for him.

This was not a feeling she was used to. Jack was supposed to be in control. She had a hard time grasping the person in front of her.

And then, his eyes met hers, and she remembered. He was still Jack.

“How are the divorce proceedings?” Lexi asked about the elephant in the room.

Jack shrugged again. “Richard says that things are going smoothly. He got them to agree to mediation.”

“That’s great! If you can settle this out of court, it will be better.”

“I guess. That’s what he keeps telling me.”

“When does that begin?”

Jack laughed sardonically. “This afternoon actually. I’m supposed to meet Richard after this to go over our case and how they want to handle proceedings. Then, we’re heading straight into mediation.”

“Well, good luck. What kind of outcome does he want?”

“Fifty-fifty split,” he told her.

But something in his posture showed her that he was thinking something else. She just wanted to reach out to him, but she didn’t dare move.

“What do you want?” she whispered.

“I thought I wanted my wife back,” Jack answered honestly.

Lexi couldn’t help but cringe. Bekah and the word wife had never sat well with Lexi. It certainly didn’t now when the Bitch was working so hard against him.

“You thought?”

“I feel kind of like an idiot that I didn’t see it before.”

“What?” Lexi asked.

“Bekah is kind of a bitch.”

“Kind of?” Lexi asked, laughing.

“Am I late to the game on that one?” he asked sheepishly.

“Way late.”

“I’m not sure how I missed it. When we were dating…” Jack trailed off, shaking his head. “You probably don’t want to hear this.”

Lexi sighed softly. Jack needed her. He didn’t have anyone else, and if he needed to rant about Bekah, Lexi could oblige him. She didn’t even like to think about Bekah. At least if she got to add a jab in there every now and again, then it might be worth it.

She forced herself to continue. “You can talk to me.”

“You know that you’re something wonderful, right?” he asked, staring up at her, from across the table.

Her heart jumped out of her chest, and she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Looking at her like that should be outlawed. It wasn’t fair that he still had that much control over her body.

“Um…thanks.”

“You and your obsession with your hair…”

“It has a calming effect!”

Jack laughed. “I’m just messing with you. I like it. It tells me what you’re thinking without having to ask.”

“You know what I’m thinking anyway.” At least, it always felt like that.

“I’m pretty sure if I knew what you were thinking without asking, I wouldn’t have been such a fuck-up,” he said.

Silence lingered between them as Lexi stared back at him. He was not making this easy. Part of being around Jack was so easy. He just got her. They had been around each other so long that she didn’t have to explain herself. In the past, he had known exactly when and where to touch her. He had known her. But then, there were things about Jack that were so difficult, such as his need to always pick someone else, the heavy weight of their history, the hint of desire that always sprang up between them, unbidden, at the most inopportune moments. So much was there between them, swirling around, that at times, it felt suffocating. And Lexi just wished she could see past those emotions.

The waiter interrupted them by dropping off drinks and taking their orders. Lexi wasn’t that hungry to begin with, and the turn of the conversation didn’t seem to help.

When the waiter disappeared, Jack started talking again. “We got off track. What I was saying before is that when Bekah and I were dating, she was a really different person, to me at least. She was sweet and sincere and acted like she loved me. We were together all the time. I was hesitant about marrying her. I was worried that she was into me a bit more than I was into her.”

Lexi ground her teeth together. She wanted to shake him. She wanted to reach over the table and slap some sense into him. Didn’t he know what he had done by being so stupid? Argh! It just made her blood boil.