Bittersweet Creek by Sally Kilpatrick Page B

married the day before graduation. Only he stood me up that night.”
    â€œStood you up?” Richard’s righteous indignation warmed my heart and coaxed a few extra beats out of it. “Wait. You married him?”
    â€œYes, but we never actually lived together. Besides, he just signed the papers. That’s why he was here.”
    â€œI can’t believe you would hide something like this from me. Wait. What kind of papers?”
    â€œDivorce papers.”
    Richard ran his hand through his hair again and started pacing. “Romy—”
    He couldn’t finish the thought and went back to pacing. At first I couldn’t tell how angry he was. Finally, he turned to me again. “Romy, I can’t marry you if you’re divorced. You have to get the marriage annulled.”
    Nausea hit the pit of my stomach with such force my cow-slobber hand clamped over my mouth. Dear God, I couldn’t face Julian again. Not to tell him I needed an annulment. Not after I’d finally convinced him to sign the divorce papers. We were supposed to be done. Through. Finito .
    â€œCome on, Richard, there has to be another way—”
    He clamped his hands on my upper arms, realized his grip was too hard, and eased off. “No. Did you have sex with him?”
    My face felt as though it might burn off. “Not on our wedding night.”
    Something died behind those warm chocolate eyes. “How many times?”
    What did that matter? “I don’t know. How many women have you slept with and how many times?”
    He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fair point.”
    I couldn’t help but notice he wasn’t answering the question. I told myself I wasn’t about to feel guilty about having slept with Julian. I hadn’t asked Richard if anyone had come before me, but his response told me someone had.
    â€œRomy, I need to think this over.”
    â€œSo this is it between us?” I could hardly force the words over the lump in my throat, and tears blurred my vision.
    He grabbed both shoulders and looked me in the eye. “Of course not, you crazy woman!”
    I should have been feeling relief. So why did it feel so much like sorrow instead?
    â€œLook, I’m not happy you lied to me, but I know you haven’t been with Julian because you only come home once every few years, and—” He stopped there, his eyes crazed. “Did you?”
    â€œI swear to you, Richard, I hadn’t even seen Julian until the other day.”
    Richard plopped down on the old love seat and buried his face in his hands. “I’m sorry. This is all so crazy. I would’ve never thought that you, of all people, would have kept such a secret from me.”
    â€œI was ashamed,” I whispered.
    He stood, and I could see him shifting into solutions mode. “If you didn’t consummate the marriage, we can still work with this. I’ll call my lawyers. Tell, tell . . . him that he’s probably going to need a lawyer, too. As for these?” Richard picked up the papers and ripped them down the middle. “Never happened. I’m going for a drive.”
    I was still staring into space when the Porsche purred to life then sprayed gravel as Richard tore off down the road. I needed to cry, but I couldn’t find the tears, just an overwhelming sadness. This was supposed to have been one of the happiest days of my life.
    Instead, I’d disappointed him. Deeply. He said he still wanted to marry me, but I wouldn’t blame him if he changed his mind. He might decide while driving around the sticks that he didn’t want to have anything to do with me. Staying married—on paper, at least—to Julian was such a stupid thing to do for someone who was supposedly so smart. And to think I used to get mad at Granny when she told me I needed to get some common sense to go along with my book learning.
    Placing the engagement ring on the table, I plopped