Page 88 of By Invitation Only

“I want to know how serious you are because I want a divorce.”

My head felt as though all oxygen left my brain. “What?” I whispered. Sure we’d discussed it before as a possibility, but nothing was ever certain or written in stone, and now it felt as though I’d just been punched in the stomach because it made me realize I was losing my best mate in a way.

Carrie’s eyes moved to Peyton and then back to me. “I researched how you can become an American citizen.”

I knew how to become one, but I wanted her to continue. “Go on.” I leaned toward her while placing my hands on the table.

I saw her throat move up and down as she swallowed. “You meet all the requirements. For example; being a permanent resident for over five years (or three since we’re married), you have a good moral character, and you speak, read and write English. I don’t see why you’d be denied if you were to submit the Application for Naturalization, and then, when it’s time, you learn U.S. history and whatever else before taking the oath of allegiance. Of course, there’s more to it, but I think you’ll be okay. I just think that you should do it soon because it could take six months to a year to happen. Or more.”

I righted my chair and sat back down, processing what she’d said. Carrie had a good point. I had no desire to return to the UK. My life was here, my work was here, and now my woman. But if things didn’t work out with Peyton, I still wanted to be in this country.

“You should have started off this conversation saying you researched how I could become a citizen, not asking if Peyton and I were serious. That’s no concern to you.”

“But it is,” Carrie returned. “Taylor and I are serious too, and one day this secret could bite us in the ass.”

“Not if you kept your mouth shut,” I growled.

“I’m sorry, but—”

“It’s fine,” I clipped. “Let’s just eat.”

“Are you mad at me?”

My gaze flicked to hers. “I’m angry that you did this in front of our girlfriends. You should have talked to me privately.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

We all started eating in silence, the clock on the wall ticking every second that passed. “You know,” Peyton spoke, her gaze on Carrie, “I’ve been sitting here for the past hour trying to remember where I knew you from. It isn’t from when you walked into the room and told me you were waiting for your husband. You were the first person I saw at Sensation.”

“Really?”

“As I walked through the black velvet drapes, I saw two women kissing by a fireplace. You were one of those women.”

My gaze turned to Taylor. Did she know about Sensation? Was she going on Saturday?

“Bitches love making out in front of fireplaces.” Carrie laughed. “It was probably me.”

“Are you coming on Saturday?” Peyton asked Carrie.

“Of course.”

“And…?” Peyton looked to Taylor.

“Carrie has been talking about Sensation for a few weeks. I’ll be there too.”

“Perfect. We should get a limo or something. My friend Lorelei is going with Randy.”

“What?” Carrie asked, her gunmetal eyes going big and round.

“Not like that.” Peyton chuckled. “Lorelei just needed a way to get invited, and Randy said it was okay.”

Carrie’s eyes cut to me, and we both started to laugh.

“What?” Peyton asked.

“Randy’s going to do more than just get Lorelei in if you know what I mean,” I answered.

“Really? He said he was interested in her?”