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She’d understand. She’d pour him a drink, listen, then kiss all his cares away.
This was why he needed his wife back.
A year ago, he’d never imagined they could get back here. A year ago, he had still been replaying that last argument over and over in his head, trying to make sense of it.
He’d been so exhausted at the time he hadn’t even been sure he remembered it right. It had just made no sense. Yes, he’d been late home and, yes, it hadn’t been the first time. But he’d never understood what had made that time different.
He’d apologised, as always. And when she’d thrown it back at him, he’d reminded her of the truth.
This was why she’d married him. For his company. For him to work hard, to build a new family business for them—and for Frankie. He was working for his son.
Just like his papà had worked for him and Noemi. If he could do half the job his papà had, Frankie would be okay.
It was just that being even half the man Salvo Cattaneo had been, living up to that impossible ideal, took time and energy—and it didn’t leave a lot left over.
That was something Maria hadn’t understood.
But now, finally, they seemed to be understanding each other at last. Now he was on the way to being the husband she needed.
When he finally reached the chalet, most of the windows were already dark. He checked his watch—it was later than he’d thought. God, this day had gone on for ever.
Then he frowned. The one light that still shone out into the night came from a room on the second floor, to the right...yes. It was his office window. Why was that room lit?
Letting himself in, he headed straight up to investigate. He had a bottle of whisky in the drawer there anyway—a result of reading too many bad detective novels as a child, Maria had always said—and there was no point turning on all the other lights in the large chalet just for a drink. He could de-stress just as well in his office, then head to bed and see if Maria was feeling amenable to being woken up.
Then he opened his office door and found his wife sitting in his chair, drinking his whisky, her feet resting on the desk beside a familiar green, red and glittery flyer.
Santa. Frankie. That was today.
Seb stalled in the doorway, leaning heavily against the frame. Oh, God. ‘Maria, I—’
‘I don’t care,’ she snapped. She swung her legs down from the desk and pushed herself to a standing position, resting her hands on either side of that flyer as she leaned forward. ‘You promised to take your son to see Santa. And obviously that means very little to you, but it meant everything to him. He wouldn’t go without you, you realise? So he’s just been miserable here all day, despite all the ice cream Noemi and Max have fed him. And then he cried himself to sleep when you still weren’t back from your oh-so-important business trip.’
‘It was important.’ Seb sighed, running a hand over his hair as he tried to find a way to salvage this. He’d spent all day negotiating with idiots, and now he had to come home and do the same thing with his wife.
This was not how he’d imagined this evening going.
God, it was happening all over again. Just like last time, he was exhausted and strung out and nothing made any sense.
‘Frankie is important, too.’ Maria stared at him, as if she were waiting for a magical response that would make all things better. But he didn’t have one.
Finally, she shook her head and straightened up. ‘Look, I’m already packed. We couldn’t get a flight out today or we’d be gone already, but we’re booked on one at lunchtime tomorrow.’
Wait. What?
‘You’re leaving? You can’t! You...you said you’d stay for Christmas.’
‘And you said you’d put your family first for once over the holidays. You said you’d prove that if I stayed, things would be different.’
‘And they have been different!’ She’d admitted that herself last night. She couldn’t take that back now, could she?
‘Right up until the point where you got me into bed, yes.’ Maria’s expression turned hard. ‘Was that what it was all about, in the end? You just wanted to prove you could have me again, and once you’d achieved that you didn’t need to try any more?’
‘No!’ How could she think that? Well, apart from the bit where he’d slept with her then run out on her and his obligations the next morning.
How could he have been so stupid?
‘It was the contract, Maria. Remember the clause you found—’
‘Look, it doesn’t matter now.’ Maria cut him off, and sighed. ‘We tried, Seb. We really did. But I’m never going to be happy being left behind while you chase after the adrenaline high of doing business. And neither is Frankie. I thought...’
‘What? What did you think?’ Because suddenly Seb had the sinking suspicion that he’d been misunderstanding her from the first. That all this talk of partnerships and contracts had been hiding something else. And if he didn’t know what that was, how could he fix it?
‘You can’t give me what I need. You’re not capable of it.’
He’d given her everything. Why wasn’t it enough?
What wasn’t she asking for?
‘I thought it could be enough. If you could live by my rules, follow the plan...if we could make all that work, I thought a business partnership marriage would be enough.’ Maria looked up and met his gaze, her eyes so open and honest that he knew that, finally, they were getting to the real reason she’d left him. Yes, he’d been a lousy husband and a workaholic, and he’d forgotten important things like anniversaries and birthdays and Santa. But she’d known that and had married him anyway. She’d known that and had come back anyway, ready to give him a second chance.
So why was this time different?
‘But I know now I was wrong. Yes, you messed up today. But that’s not why I’m leaving.’ Maria took a deep breath. ‘I’m leaving because even if you met every objective I set, it still wouldn’t be enough.’
There was something more, he was sure.
‘Enough for what?’ he asked, his voice soft. He had to listen. He had to understand.
‘Enough to make up for the fact that you were never going to love me the way I’d fallen in love with you.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
WELL, THERE IT WAS. She’d done it now. He’d probably be grateful she was leaving. He’d wanted a business wife, one who knew the terms of the deal—entertaining clients, bringing up his heir, and basically reliving her own mother’s miserable life for the next fifty years. But he’d compromised—he’d offered her a job in the company, allowed her to have a say in what she needed, agreed to everything she’d asked for.
And it still wasn’t enough.
Because she’d never been able to bring herself to ask for what she really wanted—until now. Maybe she was to blame, at least a little bit, for everything that had happened between them before. She’d never been honest about what she needed.
But now she was.
She’d been furious when she’d woken alone, and had realised that Seb had skipped out on their plans and let Frankie down. But if she was honest with herself, she knew that wasn’t why she was leaving.
She was leaving because, if he loved her, she wouldn?
??t need a contract or objectives or any of the other tactics she’d used to turn him into the husband she wanted.
If he loved her, he’d have woken her up and explained, and they’d have worked it out together. She could have even gone with him and held his hand on that awful helicopter for moral support if he’d needed it. But it hadn’t even occurred to him to ask.
‘You...’
‘Fell in love with you. Yes. Before we were even married, probably. Definitely, actually.’ She may as well own her truth now it was out there. ‘Seb, I’ve loved you since I was fifteen—since the night you sneaked me out to go ice-skating. And then I fell in love with you all over again when we got married. And since I’ve been back...that feeling has only grown stronger, if I’m honest.’
‘Then why are you leaving? If you love me, why do you have to go?’ Maria could hear the frustration and confusion in Seb’s voice. Of course he didn’t understand. This wasn’t the deal they’d struck. And Seb only understood negotiations and deals.
They couldn’t negotiate love, though.
‘Because you don’t love me.’ It was that simple and that impossible, all at the same time.
‘Of course I love you!’ Seb objected.
Maria shook her head. ‘Okay, I know you love me as a friend and partner. But you’re not in love with me. You never have been.’
‘I don’t see what the difference is,’ Seb said tiredly. ‘Of course I love you, and Frankie. You’re my wife. It’s kind of part of the deal.’ As if it were automatic, a foregone conclusion.
‘That’s the thing, Seb. It isn’t.’ Maria sighed. ‘Think of it this way. When we got married, I was a business asset. And when we discovered that we actually got along and connected, well, physically, that was an added bonus, right? Then Frankie came along and you figured the job was done. You had the wife to support you and entertain clients, and you had an heir to take over the business when you were ready to retire. Right?’
Seb’s uncomfortable expression told her that she’d got it exactly right.
‘But that’s not enough for me,’ she said.
‘I get that!’ Seb exploded. ‘That’s why I’ve been jumping through hoops for the last week and a half to meet all your objectives! To give you what you want. You can have the job—hell, you can have the whole company if you want. After today, I’m not sure I’d miss it. But it’s still not enough for you.’
