After the Last Dance by Manning Sarra

sneaked down the service stairs and out through the staff entrance, and got in a cab that was dropping someone off. She’d only had twenty dollars on her, enough to tip the girl in the powder room, and it was just enough to take her back to the city and drop her off in the not-so-nice part of town.
    Jane wasn’t cut out to be anything other than a trophy wife but a six-figure salary from Microsoft and even stock options weren’t much of a prize. That wasn’t what she’d signed up for, wasn’t why she’d agreed so readily, when Andrew had asked her to marry him. Yes, she was avaricious, mercenary and materialistic but that was the shape that life had moulded her into. She couldn’t be happy with what Andrew was offering her now and if Jane wasn’t happy, then she wouldn’t be able to make Andrew happy either.
    Best to do them both a favour and get out now. When Andrew discovered that she’d bolted he might hate her for a while, but really she was doing him a kindness.
    She didn’t feel kind, though. She felt terrible. And with emotion clouding her judgement, Jane had walked into the first bar she found and, forgetting all her rules about settling for nothing less than untold riches, she’d married the first man who’d looked at her.
    â€˜Oh God, you stupid, stupid fool,’ she said out loud and she put her hands to her head.
    â€˜Hangover’s kicking in, then, is it?’
    Leo was standing in the doorway. He’d put his T-shirt and jeans back on, thank God.
    â€˜Something like that,’ she said and sat down in front of the vanity unit with her back to him, hoping that he’d get the message.
    â€˜His and her baths, I didn’t know they existed.’ He stepped into the room so he could collapse into one of two deep, overstuffed red velvet armchairs. ‘I’ve lived in houses that had less square footage than this bathroom.’
    â€˜Have you, darling?’ Jane began to slowly remove hairpin after hairpin, yet there were still more and the tiara was still firmly anchored to her head. ‘That sounds rather grim.’
    â€˜Let me help.’ Leo heaved himself up with a grunt. He stood over her, took a moment to assess the complicated arrangement of plaits and hardware then began to methodically work on one piece of hair.
    It was quite disconcerting and before the silence got spiky, Jane caught his eye in the mirror. ‘You do realise we can’t stay married?’
    There was no easy grin this morning, no twinkle in those bleary blue eyes. ‘You sick of me already, then? It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours. I think that’s a personal best.’
    â€˜You have to understand that last night… well, I was at a very low ebb and you made everything better for a while and I thank you for that, I really do, but I don’t need a husband. Well, I do, but…’ She trailed off. She didn’t need to spell it out and hurt his feelings, not when she wanted another favour from him.
    â€˜Yeah, well, I’d be a lousy husband anyway.’ Leo handed her the two falls of hair he’d unpinned. ‘We could get an annulment on the grounds of non-consummation. I won’t tell if you won’t. How would they ever know otherwise?’
    â€˜It would be rather medieval if they wanted a medical examination.’ Jane shuddered and Leo grinned for the first time that morning.
    â€˜So, you are going to get married to him, your Mr Ex? Has he called?’
    â€˜I haven’t checked,’ Jane said. Those icy fingers had a chokehold on her heart again. She’d turned her phone off before she’d walked out of the bridal suite. But it was past two in the afternoon; Andrew must have called by now. ‘I will. Later.’
    â€˜You’re not in any hurry, then?’ Leo asked. His face gave nothing away as he began to unwind the last section of hair. ‘Want to savour the last moments