SEVER

love you.’ He was about to do something stupidly brave, and I couldn’t have loved him more for it.
“And now I have a special guest with me tonight. You’ll have to go easy on him as it’s his first night on stage… ever.” The crowd cheered, and I started to sweat with nerves.
Would the crowd be forgiving of Shawn’s first time? Or would they throw rotten tomatoes if he epically failed?
“And we all know how we like to welcome our newbies,” Gary continued with an evil grin as everyone started stomping their feet on the wooden floor, sending the room into uproar. I looked to Shawn who seemed torn between commitment and the desire to run. Nobody knew who he was yet, there was still a chance to make a clean exit. “Make sure to save the heckling for at least the second bad joke. So, let’s welcome my very best friend… Shawn Cooper to the staaagggeee.”
The crowd cheered once more, and after taking a deep breath, Shawn rose to his feet and climbed the five steps up to Gary, squinting against the spotlight shining in his face. They shook hands and Gary jumped from the stage and sat where Shawn had been moments before.
“What have you done, Gary,” I teased.
He winked and said, “Have a little faith in your man, Blythe.”
We both turned to the silent man on stage, and as he cleared his throat too close to the microphone, it sent a loud, sharp twang through the speakers. The room fell silent, and the only thing I could hear was the beating of my heart in my ears.
“I’m not a comedian,” Shawn started, and a few nervous giggles could be heard behind me. “I’m not even going to be giving you a comedy routine tonight.” Giggles turned to murmurs, and I looked to Gary who stared straight ahead, wearing a proud smile. “My girlfriend, Blythe… well, she warned me not to get up on stage and make a fool out of myself with my lame attempts at making you laugh, because the only person who ever laughs at my dad jokes, is sitting right here in front of me.” Shawn met my gaze and I smiled up at him. “She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, and she seems to think the sun shines out of ass, which is more than what my own mother thinks.” I laughed because it was true. His mother was a tough nut to crack. “We’ve been coming to Old Joe’s since the first week we started dating, so I thought of no better place to do this than here.”
The audience caught on to something and it was a mix of encouraging cheers and whistles.
“What the hell is he doing?” I murmured to myself.
Shawn met my gaze once more, and this time he held it while he jumped from the stage the way Gary did moments earlier. The spotlight followed until it illuminated us both. Shawn fell to one knee the same time as my heart lodged in my throat. Taking my hand in his, he held the microphone and a gleaming ring in the other.
“Blythe Blakely,” he said, eyes brimming with love. “Will you do me the honor of officially becoming the only person who will ever laugh at my jokes, and be my wife?”
I laughed through tears, nodding as he slid the most exquisite ring on my finger.
“She said yes!” he said, sending the audience into raucous applause. Placing the mic on the table next to us, he pulled me toward him until his soft lips met mine, and we sealed our own deal. He moved his kisses over my cheek and to my ear when he whispered, “Just you and me, babe. Nothing will ever break us.”
8
“I
’m sorry, Mrs. Cooper…” Wendy, the bank manager looks nervously between me and the computer screen, “but the joint bank account has insufficient funds for me to transfer money to a new account.”
I smile although my palms grow sweaty at the unexpected news. “That can’t be right. I checked two days ago and there was still money in there. Shawn and I never withdraw from that account.”
Wendy purses her lips together, a sign she has more bad news. “Well, it appears as though he has.”
The wind is knocked clean out of me.
That asshole.
I was only planning on taking half, playing by the rules of separation etiquette. But it seems the man I love hasn’t only turned cold on our relationship, he’s decided to freeze me out of our financial assets, too.
I lean forward on my elbows, my heart racing. “Well… how much did he take?”
Wendy swallows hard, no doubt wishing she’d taken a few extra seconds with her last customer so some other staff member could deal with me. “All of it. Your husband took all of it.”
“All of it? As in every single cent?”
That fucking asshole!
She nods and a few clicks later she adds, “He emptied it yesterday, and by the looks of it, he came into the bank and withdrew it in cash.”
I feel a surge of rage and not just for my cheating husband but because of the bank’s incompetence. “He withdrew over eighty thousand dollars in cash and no one thought to alert me, the co-signer to the account, that he was doing so?”
“Mrs. Cooper, I’m sorry. Contact should have been made, and in all honesty, I’m not sure why it wasn’t.”
“Is there a way of getting it back?” It’s a stupid question, I know it as soon as I say it, but I’m clutching at straws.
“Since he withdrew it in cash, there’s no way of tracing where or if it’s been spent. Once again, I’m very sorry.”
I feel the need to be sick, and not because