Minimal for Me, Everything for Her Chapter 04

Minimal for Me, Everything for Her Chapter 04

A ring box clicked open.

“Don’t you think a pink diamond is a little flashy?” Sienna asked.

She sounded hesitant.

Her smile said otherwise.

Adrian replied, “If you like it, it isn’t a waste.”

Four years ago, I’d wanted a small wedding.

Adrian said hotels, flowers, and a wedding dress were all consumerist traps.

We invited six relatives and friends to dinner at home.

We didn’t even exchange vows.

Now Sienna held a checklist and went through it item by item.

“Roses. A live band. An oceanfront dinner. And a handwritten letter from you. I want all of it.”

“Okay.”

“And you have to put the ring on me yourself.”

“Okay.”

Every okay carved something out of the four blank years I’d spent beside him.

Then Sienna asked, “Adrian, why did you marry her?”

He was quiet for a moment.

“She was the kind of person you build a life with.”

“What about me?”

“You’re different.”

“How?”

“She doesn’t need to be coddled.”

Sienna laughed.

I pushed the door open.

The suite was covered in roses.

Photos of Sienna from childhood to adulthood covered the walls.

A four-tier cake sat in the center of the room.

Sienna. Year Four. Still breaking every rule for you.

So they had a fourth anniversary too.

Adrian shot to his feet.

“Nora?”

“You said you were only coming to pay a deposit.”

“This is for her birthday. I came to check the setup.”

Sienna tucked her hair behind one ear.

The pink diamond flashed under the lights.

“Nora, don’t make it sound uglier than it is. Adrian just feels like he owes me.”

“He gave up the person he loved most so he could give you the title of wife. Is it really so terrible that I accepted a few gifts?”

“Sienna.”

Adrian’s voice dropped in warning.

Her eyes turned red.

“Am I wrong? You promised me that even if you got married, you’d save all the romance for me.”

The room went silent.

For the first time, Adrian looked panicked.

“That was something I said years ago when I was angry. Nora, go home. I’ll explain everything there.”

I took the scrapbook out of my bag.

“Forty-three movie ticket stubs. Twelve train tickets. Four letters I wrote you.”

I held it out.

“Last time I’m asking. What do these mean to you?”

He didn’t take it.

Instead, he frowned.

“This isn’t the time for this.”

Sienna reached over, took the scrapbook, and flipped through a few pages.

“All this over a pile of paper?”

I reached for it.

She stepped backward.

The scrapbook slipped from her hands and dropped straight into the champagne ice bucket.

Icy water soaked through the pages in seconds.

Ticket stubs floated loose.

Ink bled into black smears.

I bent to pull it out.

Adrian grabbed my arm.

“Enough. Don’t lose it at Sienna’s birthday over a scrapbook. You can make another one.”

Sienna hid behind him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

Adrian offered me a tissue.

“She apologized.”

I didn’t take it.

I crouched and picked up the ruined pages one by one.

“Adrian Keller, I want a divorce.”

He looked at me for several seconds.

Then he actually laughed.

“Don’t threaten me with divorce. You’re upset. Sleep on it. You’ll feel different tomorrow.”

“I won’t.”

“I own half the house, and you don’t have an income. How exactly are you planning to live without me?”

I picked up the last movie ticket stub and stood.

“That’s not your problem.”

He clearly didn’t believe me.

He put the hotel key card back on the table.

“When you’re done throwing a fit, go home. I’m staying until Sienna’s birthday is over. I’ll be back later.”

I looked once more at the roses behind him.

For four years, Adrian had taught me to shrink my wants, lower my expectations, simplify everything.

Then he’d taken every bit of passion he’d denied me and poured it into another woman.

I walked out of the suite and called a family-law attorney.

“Can marital assets transferred to a third party be recovered?”

“If you have evidence.”

I looked through the bank-transfer records, hotel invoices, and four years of Sienna’s posts saved on my phone.

“I do. File the claim.”

The suite door flew open behind me.

Adrian rushed out and pressed a hand over my phone.

“Who are you filing against?”