Chapter 1
My husband’s little childhood sweetheart was having another act, which meant he was dumping me. Again.
I fell dead inside as I looked him straight in the eye. “So, divorce number eight, huh?“]
Killian gave me this massively guilty look, his eyes practically begging me for forgiveness.[]
Come on, Avery. What am I supposed to do? Chloe’s threatening to kill herself again. I can’t just ignore her,” he sighed. “Look, once she calms down, we’ll get hitched again. Same as always.”
I didn’t bother responding. Heard that line seven times already.]
Light weddings. Eight divorces. Same guy, every single time.[]
The lady at the county clerk’s office even recognized me now. As she handed me the papers, she asked curiously. “So when you coming back for round nine?“]]
I shook my head. “Not happening this time.“]
Walking out, I spotted them right away. Killian was sweet talking Chloe, who was giggling like a schoolgirl.]
Every time I see this little scene play out, it messes with my head. Like, is this real life? Seriously?
Thirty minutes ago, this woman was holding broken glass to her throat, screaming the house down. Now? All smiles.
Today was supposed to be our three–year anniversary. [
But this whole “three–year anniversary” thing is honestly kind of a joke when you think about it.[]
I mean, three years since wedding number one.
But we’ve been on this crazy marriage–divorce–repeat rollercoaster the whole time.[]
Our latest “marriage” barely made it a month.
And now we’re split up. Again.
Three freaking years, eight weddings, eight divorces. Who even does that?
Never thought I’d end up as someone’s relationship joke.[]
When Chloe saw me walking out of the building like some kind of zombie, she threw me this smug little look that just ripped open all my wounds again.] “OMG, Killian! You actually divorced her!” she fake–gasped. “I thought she’d talk you out of it again. Bet she wishes I’d just disappear forever.”
Killian just stood there looking completely helpless.]
He didn’t even stick up for me anymore, Just handed her the divorce papers.
“See? Ali done.”
1
Chloe lit up like Christmas morning. When Killian turned away, she shot me the smuggest look ever.
Even knowing she was doing it on purpose, it still stung.]
Nobody would even believe this situation if I told them.[]
The crazy part? This whole divorce happened because Killian gave me an early anniversary gift–just a bracelet–Chloe saw it and went completely psycho–jealous. Just a month ago, we’d barely been remarried when Chloe threw such a massive tantrum that we ended up at the divorce office filling out paperwork again.
When we filed, the clerk actually laughed. “You two are here more than some of our staff.“]
Suddenly, I wanted to crawl under a rock. In three years, we’d been there like thirty times. Everyone knew our names.
That day, Killian actually stood up for me, shielding me from the words]
“Just do your job and shut up.” he’d snapped. “Our business is our business.“]
The clerk shut up real quick when she saw how pissed Killian was, and just processed our divorce papers without another word.
Ever since that day. Chloe’s been counting down our forty day waiting period like it was a freaking countdown to Christmas.
This morning, she showed up at the crack of dawn, practically dragging Killian to get our divorce finalized.]
