I booked a hotel room for the month—one month to wait out the mandatory cooling-off period.
One month until I was free.
In the days that followed, Kevin didn't text. Didn't call. Not once.
Word reached me through the grapevine: Christina had mentioned wanting to learn to ski in Switzerland.
And Kevin—ever the doting protector—had whisked her away to his villa there.
My phone buzzed. Hailey Brooks's voice was sharp with outrage.
"Are you kidding me right now?!"
"Everyone knows about that villa, Fern. He built it for you. After he proposed, remember? He said it was to make up for the honeymoon you never got. He swore no one else would ever set foot there."
"And now he's taking his little side piece on vacation?! What is this—is he cheating again?!"
I sat by the hotel's floor-to-ceiling windows, the divorce papers spread on the table before me.
For a long moment, I couldn't speak.
These papers weren't new.
Kevin had drafted them himself—the last time I'd caught him cheating.
Back then, the humiliation had been suffocating. So I'd called Hailey, dragged her to a club, and ordered a whole table of pretty boys to sing with us. Petty revenge. Meaningless comfort.
Kevin had found out within the hour.
He'd stormed in with a squad of men, trashed the place, and beat those boys bloody.
He seized my hand in a crushing grip.
"Fern, you're ruthless."
"Fine. I admit it—I fell for you. I can't stand the thought of another man near you. Happy now?"
Then came that livestream confession that broke the internet.
Kevin Henson swore he'd changed. Swore he'd be a devoted husband from then on.
And for a while, we really did have something sweet.
Just like Hailey said, he went all in—learning my tastes, catering to my every whim.
When he found out I loved skiing, he built me a private estate in Switzerland. Even named it after us—a blend of our names, a promise carved into stone.
But now.
I stared at Christina's latest social media post.
The estate's nameplate had been changed.
Those four characters that once symbolized us—"Kevin and Fern Forever"—had been replaced.
Now it read: Kevin Embraces Christina.
"Yes, he cheated again. So no, I don't want him anymore."
I set down my phone and signed my name on the divorce papers without a second thought.
On the seventh day after Mom's passing—her first memorial—Dad called out of nowhere, asking me to come home for breakfast.