The Other Woman

Chapter I

- I don't particularly think that I have the suitable age for this kind of stuff.

William knew his best friend's reaction would be like that. Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, staring at him as if he was a complete disappointment.

- Mate, you're divorced, not dead. - Van said with a know-it-all tone that didn't suit him one bit – It's been three months since Kate left. Don't think you should get back in the game? Meet some interesting women?

- I think so, but why the hell I'd do that with an app?

- Well, how do expect to meet people nowadays?

He pondered for a moment and didn't have a come back for that.

When William was on his twenties, he used to meet girls in college, at parties and pubs he used to go. At thirty-nine, one step closer of the feared forty, he didn't feel he'd be able to find someone interesting at Mahiki – although his brother, also recently divorced, insisted otherwise.

- I can always meet someone at work – William pointed.

He recently had gone out with a social worker he met at his job with children at an organization he was patron of. She was actually a beautiful woman and very pleasant. She also had children and was divorced, but the two agreed that on the actual circumstances of her life, it was for the best that they'd be "friends".

Friends meaning occasional sex for them. When the king size bed of his bedroom became a little too big and too cold for William, he called Imogen.

- And why the hell you would want to meet someone at work? - replied his friend, frustrated – All women you work with are fat, ugly, old, divorced and with a bunch of brats.

-That ain't true. - William rolled his eyes.

It was a bit true. Imogen really was a couple of years older than him, but William found her so witty and interesting that got him captivated. On several times he thought that Imogen and he could start dating, but she still had a barely finished relationship with her ex-husband, whilst William already had everything sorted out with Kate for years.

If asked, William wouldn't know precisely when his marriage had failed. From his standing, before Kate blurted out the "D" bomb on him, William honestly thought that they had a healthy and stable relationship.

It's too healthy and too stable, explained Kate when he told her exactly that. She apologized and begged him to not ask for more explanation. She said she wanted a divorce and asked William to sort an appointment with his father, at the time Prince Regent, and now His Majesty King George VII.

His divorce with Kate had come on a very complicated moment. They were still getting over all the drama of his young brother's divorce, his precocious and irresponsible involvement with an American actress ended up creating more trouble than the Windsors could have foreseen. Then came his grandmother's stroke and her frail health started to make the British people uneasy.

His father became Prince Regent, and as it seemed, very soon he'd become the next King of Great-Britain. Evidently, there were some resistance from some. Most saying that the succession should skip Charles and the Crown should go straight to William's head. Some even swore that Charles would abdicate in favor of his son and that, sooner o later, William wouldn't have any option but become King of Great Britain.

He had made peace with his destiny for years now, but William wasn't particularly looking forward to that day. Honestly believing his father would have good and solid years occupying the throne and when the moment came and it was his turn to get the job done, well, then he would be ready. But up until then, William wouldn't lose a night of sleep thinking about when he'd be King.