Haley Slater had messed up once again. In the history of divorces, she and Deacon Roth should have had the easiest divorce ever. The two of them had no romantic feelings for each other, they had no children together. They did not have anything that they'd bought together. They literally had none of the history that normally bound married couples
They should have just been able to show up, sign the papers, and be done with everything. But, like an idiot, she had hesitated. Her entire body locking up when it came time for her to just sign on the dotted line. Now, she was in the passenger side of Deacon Roth's car sitting quietly as he wove through traffic. The man himself was also quiet, and that made Haley nervous.
He had said that he was not angry earlier.
But for all she knew, he could have just been trying to hold himself together in front of other people. He was probably just waiting for a chance to explode. Prince Victor had done that a lot. Often taking offense at the smallest thing, and then just losing his mind over it.
What she had done back at the courthouse was not a minor thing at all. So most likely, Roth was about to lose it. Taking a breath, Haley decided to just face the music instead of stalling any longer. Up ahead, the light turned red, and Deacon came to a smooth stop. Fiddling with her seatbelt, Haley decided to just speak up.
"Once again, I am very sorry that I froze up back there. Tomorrow I will make sure that that does not happen. You will get your divorce, Roth," One hand drumming a beat on the steering wheel. Deacon Roth ran a hand through his hair with the other, then he turned to her.
"For the last time, Slater I am not angry at you about what happened back there," She searched his face, looking for any signs of dishonesty, and was genuinely shocked to see that there was none. Roth really was not angry, though he had every right to be.
"How can you be so calm about this? I have literally just thrown a major inconvenience in your path, you should be ranting and raving like a lunatic," Turning his attention back to the road as traffic began moving again,
Roth let out a heavy sigh.
"To be honest, Slater there is something that I would like to discuss with you. But it is a topic that is best held without me being occupied. There is a park nearby. If you want, we can go there and talk," Haley considered her options, then she realized that after the stunt she had just pulled, she at least owed him a bit of her time.
"Sure thing, Roth, let's go and talk," With that, the inside of the car became completely silent, without even any music playing in the background, and the silence was not good for Haley at all.
She had just wasted his time. What if he was going to demand a pound of flesh in return? What if he wanted a substantial amount of the Slater fortune? What if he demanded help on some of his projects. Pulling her back into a world that she had walked away from without a glance? What if he…
"Slater if you fiddle with the seat belt anymore, you might just rip it right out," Startling at the sound of his voice, she looked down and realised that she was being particularly rough with her seat belt.
"Sorry," She mumbled, and then forced her hands to let go of the material, clasping them on her lap instead.
They made it to the park soon after, and Haley could not help but gasp as she took in the riot of flowers that were all over the place.
"A while back, the city was actually intending to cut all of this down. But Roth Group bought the land," Haley could not help but smile at that. Roth did not say it in so many words. But she just knew that the reason his company had bought the piece of land was to save all of the flowers.
Being that it was the middle of the workday. There were very few people out and about, so it was easy for them to find a secluded spot, a stone bench surrounded by rose bushes. The moment they sat down, Haley decided to just get right down to business.
"So, what do you wish to talk to me about?" As she watched, Roth ran both hands through his hair. On any other man she would have worried that at the rate he was going, he was certain to start losing his hair. But Roth's curls did not seem to be feeling the effects at all. In fact, when he stopped running, his hand threw his hair. He still looked as though he had just come straight from his stylist. His hair not messy in the least.
It was very unfair.
Haley had to put in hours of work to try and tame her wild mane. But even then, by the time she stepped out the door, it had already developed a mind of its own, and was already fighting against its restraints. Why was he blessed with such gorgeous, well-behaved hair while she had her untameable hair?
"How would you feel about staying married?"
"What?" Haley wheezed then started coughing, choking on air? Had she heard him right. There was absolutely no way that she had heard Deacon Roth right.
"What did you just say?"