"Are you ready yet?" Colby yelled up the stairs as he fixed his tie in the mirror next to the front door
"Will you stop rushing me?" Rebecca questioned as she walked down the stairs, her maroon dress dragging on the floor around her
"It's hard not to rush you when we were supposed to be there 20 minutes ago."
"It's a company dinner. They can't start it without us."
He looked her up and down as she fixed her dress quickly. She looked up at him through her eyelashes for a split second before turning to grab her clutch from the table next to the door.
"Ready to go pretend everything in our life is perfect?" She asked, and he nodded
Tonight was one of the quarterly Lopez Enterprises company dinners. They were held every three months to introduce the investors to one another because investors were constantly being added, and others were interested in working with each other.
It was something Colby's grandfather had started many years ago, and it was a tradition now. Colby couldn't even remember at this point how many dinners he had attended or how many speeches he had given at them.
Despite everything happening in their lives, Rebecca knew she had to go tonight. She had to be next to her husband no matter how much their relationship was strained right now, and she couldn't let him be alone because then people would begin to speculate.
As they arrived at the banquet hall, they went their separate ways. Colby went to talk to the higher-up businessmen while Rebecca made her way over to speak to some of the charity officials they would be working with in the future.
Even though they were in separate conversations, on opposite ends of the room, Colby kept an eye on Rebecca the entire night, which didn't go unnoticed by her either. She could feel his eyes on her, and when she'd look over at him for a brief moment, he would smile at her with a nod.
"Want to dance with me?" She heard his voice in her ear from behind her, and he looked back at him
"You don't dance" she shook her head as he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the dance floor.
"I should probably practice for when we have a daughter.. she's gonna make me dance all the time," he said as he pulled her into his chest.
It was silent as they swayed back and forth. It was the closest they had been in going on a month and a half now. They knew all eyes were on them, but at that moment, it was just the two of them.
"I know our lives are messed up right now," Colby started, and Rebecca looked up at him as she kept her head on his chest. "I know we aren't in a good place right now.." He nodded
"Colby.." She pulled away from his chest and stared at him. "We're in public" she shook her head.
"I don't care" he looked down at her. "I need you to hear me right now.." He said as she held her hand above her head, and she twirled around before he pulled her back into him. "Gotta keep up the show.." He smirked with a shrug when he saw her wide eyes
"Everybody is staring at us right now.." She said, and he nodded as he looked around at the guests watching them
"Let them," he shrugged, "Like I was saying.." He brushed her hair out of her face with his finger gently. "I know We're not in an ideal place right now.. and we are far from perfect, but I refuse to give up. I refuse to give up on us, on our kids, on our family."
"You think I want to divorce you?" She asked, and he stared into her eyes. "I don't" she shook her head.
"Then why did you start the process?" He asked
"I didn't," she shook her head. "My lawyer that you met a few weeks ago?" She questioned, and he nodded. "His name is Rob. He is one of Trevor's friends that is currently in law school. I paid him to draw up some fake divorce papers and deliver them to your office."
"Why? Why the hell did you do that?" He asked as his movements stalled
"Because I needed you to get the message, I needed you to understand how quickly I could leave if I wanted to... I wanted you to fight for me because our worlds have been so consumed with work lately, and I didn't see you aside from work for more than 24 hours in a week," she said, and she wrapped his arms around her waist and his hands landed gently on her lower back as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"This whole divorce wasn't real?" He asked
"No," she shook her head, "I was going to divorce you. I thought about it right after I found out about Scarlett, but the more I was away from you and the more questions CJ was asking me.., the more I realized I couldn't go through with it... I wasn't ready to give up on us either."
Colby just stared at her for a moment in silence before he placed his forehead against hers and stared into her eyes.
"We're gonna be okay.." He said quietly, and she nodded slightly
"We're gonna be just fine," she said with a small smile
The world around them faded away as his lips met hers.
Just like with their first kiss, it felt like a million fireworks went off, the entire crowd faded away, and it was just the two of them wrapped up in each other's arms in the middle of that dance floor.
