“No, wait. You’re not just calling because you expected me back by now. You’re calling because everyone expected to see me at Thanksgiving, and you haven’t told anyone I left you.”
“Mom was disappointed you weren’t there for dinner, yes.”
“What do you want, Kevin? I’m not in a good mood right now.”
“I want you to come home.”
His answer stuns me into silence. I expected a guilt trip or an offer to give me something he thinks I want as a bargaining chip. I hadn’t expected him to tell me he simply wants me to come home.
“You don’t need me, Kevin. You have Pippa,” I say, over-pronouncing the Ps with a popping sound. It’s actually really fun to do. “She’s younger and more flexible. Because she does yo-ga.”
I make a point to emphasizeyogathe way Pippa did when she met me. She suggested I go to a class with her because increased flexibility makes men happier in bed. Like she has a leg up on me because she can breathe while stretching.
“I miss you.”
“No, you don’t. We never really even liked each other. Our mothers liked us together more than we liked being in the same room.”
“I love you.”
His voice distorts as he says it, and I’m annoyed to realize he’s talking to me on a hands-free system in the car. He’s calling me while driving. Nice. “No, you don’t.”
“I do.”
“Your mother approves of me because of my background. I would make a nice addition to the family portraits, and we’d make good-looking children. Plus, I’ve proven how poised I can stay under the constant scrutiny your family always seems to be under. Pippa can’t do that, can she?”
I cover my mouth as I giggle at the way I say her name. It’s the only amusement I have right now, and it really is fun to say.Pi-ppa.
Sighing, I hear the blinker, and I know he’s in his Porsche. OraPorsche. There’s no telling where Thanksgiving was this year. “Youarepart of the family, Brynlee.”
“I have no desire to be the smiling trophy wife while my husband sleeps around,” I say, moving to lie back in my bed. I can’t tear my eyes from the pink bear sitting on the spot Rhett usually lays. “You don’t think I’m worthy enough to be the only woman in your life, and I finally know I am. I deserve to be someone’s one and only. Not just in his life, but in his bed, too.”
“I’ll do better, I promise.”
Shaking my head, I sit up and know I can’t continue lying here. I have to move. If I don’t, the anger and annoyance will build within me until I explode. I start walking out of the room, not sure exactly where I plan to go.
“No, you won’t. You’ll just get better at hiding it. I don’t want that to be my life, and that’s how it works in your world. I don’t want to change for someone, and I don’t want to be in the business of changing someone, either.”
I walk into the kitchen and grab the counter as dizziness hits me. Leaning on the counter, I decide that I don’t care how messymy life is right now. I refuse to go back to Kevin. It would be the easy option, but I don’t want that life.
“No, I—”
“Will buy me expensive gifts your mom picks out just like your dad gives her when his newest mistress comes to light? Or maybe we’ll take a vacation under the guise that it’s for me, but you’ll abandon me in the spa while you play eighteen holes of golf and come back too drunk to do anything other than sleep. And snore. Loudly. You might not even make it to the bed before you pass out, and I have to decide whether to just leave you on the floor or not.”
He chuckles. “You say that like we’ve done it before.”
“We have.”
“Oh. Look, I know you’re privy to the kind of marriage my parents have, but I don’t want that. It took losing you to realize it.”
He wants me on his arm at the functions where appearances matter. The woman he has at his side can make or break him. “I’m flattered you felt the need to reach out after months, but I’m happy with my life now.”At least, I was until yesterday.“I wasn’t happy with you.”
“I can make you happy, babe. I know I can.”
Grimacing, I shiver. I know exactly what he means, and no, he cannot. “I don’t think you can. I don’t want the city life anymore, and that’s where you thrive. We’re just different people, and it’s not our fault that we didn’t realize it sooner. Mama wanted that life for me, and I didn’t know better. Now… Now, I do.”
“We’re not that different, Brynlee. We’re not.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes. We couldn’t be more different if he was green, and I was purple.
