Page 111 of The Backup Groom

Amber is miserable without you.

I hated the thought of her suffering, but it gave me a sliver of hope.

If only I had that divorce decree.

Speaking of that . . .

I logged into the San Diego Superior Court website to check the status.

“Please, please, please,” I said, hoping, praying, waiting, since the system was slow.

When the status finally showed, I froze.

“You’re kidding,” I mumbled to myself.

I swallowed hard, reading it again, making sure there was no mistake.

Nope, that wasn’t good enough.

I printed the blasted page, needing to hold the words in my hands, my heart rate picking up pace. Was it really possible? Had the day finally come?

That was when I was sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me.

It wasn’t a mistake.

The decree was signed by a judge and had been processed by the court.

I was finally, officially divorced.

My eyes filled with tears as I jumped to my feet. “Dean! Get your butt in here! Dean!” My heart slammed into my ribs, and my lungs couldn’t fill fast enough in my chest as I read the status for the third time.

It was the best news ever.

Dean flew into the office a few seconds later, out of breath. “What happened? Are you okay?”

I blinked rapidly, so emotional I could not speak, powerless to get the words out. All I could do was gesture to the printed page in my hand.

Dean glanced down at the page dangling from my fingertips.

His eyes went wide. “The divorce is final?”

I swallowed again. “Yes.”

Dean bolted around the desk and gave me a big hug. “Finally.” He clapped me on the back, pulled away, but left his hands on my shoulders. “Don’t wait. Go now. Go get Amber back.”

I pushed away. “Whoa. Slow down. Not so fast.”

His jaw dropped, and he held up his palms, a look of utter disbelief on his face. “Are you serious? Why would you even think about waiting? This is what you’ve been waiting for! She needs to know. This changes everything.”

“It changes nothing!” I said. “Believe me, I get your point, but you still have to remember that I hurt her badly. It’s not as simple as me showing up and saying, ‘Hey, I’m officially divorced now! Let’s pick up where we left off! Do you still have the wedding dress?’ No way. I need to earn her forgiveness. I need to show her how bad I feel for breaking her trust, and how much I love her. I’m not sure it’s possible, but I’m going to sure-as-hell try.”

“Okay, that makes sense, but the clock is ticking,” Dean said. “She can still get her inheritance, if you hurry. Please tell me you have a plan.”

“Not yet, but I have to figure out something good.” I paced back and forth in my office, deep in thought. “It has to be big.”

“Enormous,” Dean said in agreement.

I sat down in front of my laptop and opened up a new browser window. “Hang on, I need to check a couple of things. I thought I remember seeing something—”